Search code examples
shellnginxproxyenvironment-variablesdocker

nginx: use environment variables

I have the following scenario: I have an env variable $SOME_IP defined and want to use it in a nginx block. Referring to the nginx documentation I use the env directive in the nginx.conf file like the following:

user www-data;
worker_processes 4;
pid /run/nginx.pid;

env SOME_IP;

Now I want to use the variable for a proxy_pass. I tried it like the following:

location / {
    proxy_pass http://$SOME_IP:8000;
}

But I end up with this error message: nginx: [emerg] unknown "some_ip" variable

Solution

  • The correct usage would be $SOME_IP_from_env, but environment variables set from nginx.conf cannot be used in server, location or http blocks.

    You can use environment variables if you use the openresty bundle, which includes Lua.