Installing NGINX Plus

This article explains how to install NGINX Plus on different operating systems, upgrade existing NGINX Plus installation, install and enable dynamic modules, install in rootless mode or when offline.

Prerequisites

• An NGINX Plus subscription (purchased or trial)
• Credentials to the MyF5 Customer Portal, provided by email from F5, Inc.
• A supported operating system
• root privilege

Install NGINX Plus on Amazon Linux 2023

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Install the ca-certificates dependency:

   sudo dnf update
   sudo dnf install ca-certificates
   

7. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

8. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

9. Add the NGINX Plus repository to your Amazon Linux 2023 instance. Download the plus-amazonlinux2023.repo file to /etc/yum.repos.d:

   sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/plus-amazonlinux2023.repo
   

10. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

    sudo dnf install nginx-plus
    

11. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

12. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

13. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on Amazon Linux 2

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Install the ca-certificates dependency:

   sudo yum update
   sudo yum install ca-certificates
   

7. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

8. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

9. Add the NGINX Plus repository to your Amazon Linux 2 instance. Download the nginx-plus-amazon2.repo file to /etc/yum.repos.d:

   sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/nginx-plus-amazon2.repo
   

10. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

    sudo yum install nginx-plus
    

11. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

12. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

13. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on RHEL 7.4+, CentOS 7.4+, and Oracle Linux 7.4+

Deprecation notice
CentOS 7.4, RHEL 7.4, and Oracle Linux 7.4 are deprecated as of NGINX Plus Release 32 (R32) and are not supported in Release 33 (R33) or later. For the list of supported distributions, refer to the NGINX Plus Tech Specs.

1. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

2. Download the SSL certificate and private key associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.

3. Install the ca-certificates dependency:

   sudo yum update
   sudo yum install ca-certificates
   

4. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

5. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

6. Add the NGINX Plus repository by downloading the nginx-plus-7.4.repo file to /etc/yum.repos.d:

   sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/nginx-plus-7.4.repo
   

   Learn how to pin NGINX Plus to a specific version

   Tip: Pin NGINX Plus to a specific version
   

   To pin NGINX Plus to a specific version (for example, R32):

   1. Edit the /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx-plus-7.4.repo file.

   2. Update the repository base URL to the desired version:

      baseurl=https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/R32/centos/7/$basearch/
      

   3. Save the changes and exit.

7. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

   sudo yum install nginx-plus
   

8. To enable the NGINX service to start at boot, run the following command:

   sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
   

9. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

   nginx -v
   

10. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on RHEL 8.1+, Oracle Linux 8.1+, AlmaLinux 8, Rocky Linux 8

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Install the ca-certificates dependency:

   sudo dnf update
   sudo dnf install ca-certificates
   

7. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

8. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

9. Add the NGINX Plus repository by downloading the nginx-plus-8.repo file to /etc/yum.repos.d:

   sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/nginx-plus-8.repo
   

   Learn how to pin NGINX Plus to a specific version

   Tip: Pin NGINX Plus to a specific version
   

   To pin NGINX Plus to a specific version (for example, R32):

   1. Edit the /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx-plus-8.repo file.

   2. Update the repository base URL to the desired version:

      baseurl=https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/R32/centos/8/$basearch/
      

   3. Save the changes and exit.

10. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

    sudo dnf install nginx-plus
    

11. To enable the NGINX service to start at boot, run the following command:

    sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
    

12. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

13. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

14. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on RHEL 9.0+, Oracle Linux 9, AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Install the ca-certificates dependency:

   sudo dnf update
   sudo dnf install ca-certificates
   

7. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

8. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

9. Add the NGINX Plus repository by downloading the plus-9.repo file to /etc/yum.repos.d:

   sudo wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/plus-9.repo
   

   Learn how to pin NGINX Plus to a specific version

   Tip: Pin NGINX Plus to a specific version
   

   To pin NGINX Plus to a specific version (for example, R32):

   1. Edit the /etc/yum.repos.d/plus-9.repo file.

   2. Update the repository base URL to the desired version:

      baseurl=https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/R32/centos/9/$basearch/
      

   3. Save the changes and exit.

10. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

    sudo dnf install nginx-plus
    

11. To enable the NGINX service to start at boot, run the following command:

    sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
    

12. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

13. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

14. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on Debian or Ubuntu

NGINX Plus can be installed on the following versions of Debian or Ubuntu:

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

7. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

8. Install the prerequisites packages:

   • For Debian:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt install apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates wget gnupg2 debian-archive-keyring
     

   • For Ubuntu:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt install apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates wget gnupg2 ubuntu-keyring
     

9. Download and add NGINX signing key:

   wget -qO - https://cs.nginx.com/static/keys/nginx_signing.key \
       | gpg --dearmor \
       | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
   

10. Add the NGINX Plus repository:

    • For Debian:

      printf "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg] \
      https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/debian `lsb_release -cs` nginx-plus\n" \
      | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx-plus.list
      

    • For Ubuntu:

      printf "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg] \
      https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/ubuntu `lsb_release -cs` nginx-plus\n" \
      | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx-plus.list
      

    Learn how to pin NGINX Plus to a specific version

    Tip: Pin NGINX Plus to a specific version
    

    To pin NGINX Plus to a specific version (for example, R32):

    1. Edit the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx-plus.list file.

    2. Update the repository base URL to the desired version:

       • For Ubuntu:

         https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/R32/ubuntu
         

       • For Debian:

         https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/R32/debian
         

    3. Save the changes and exit.

11. Download the nginx-plus apt configuration to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d:

    sudo wget -P /etc/apt/apt.conf.d https://cs.nginx.com/static/files/90pkgs-nginx
    

12. Update the repository information:

    sudo apt update
    

13. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

    sudo apt install -y nginx-plus
    

14. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

15. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

16. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on FreeBSD

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /usr/local/etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/nginx
   cd /usr/local/etc/nginx
   

5. Rename the downloaded JWT file to license.jwt and copy it to the /usr/local/etc/nginx directory:

   sudo cp license.jwt /usr/local/etc/nginx
   

6. Install the prerequisite ca_root_nss package:

   sudo pkg update
   sudo pkg install ca_root_nss
   

7. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

8. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

9. Copy the nginx-plus.conf file to the /etc/pkg/ directory:

   sudo fetch -o /etc/pkg/nginx-plus.conf http://cs.nginx.com/static/files/nginx-plus.conf
   

10. Add the following lines to the /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf file:

    PKG_ENV: { SSL_NO_VERIFY_PEER: "1",
    SSL_CLIENT_CERT_FILE: "/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt",
    SSL_CLIENT_KEY_FILE: "/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.key" }
    

11. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

    sudo pkg install nginx-plus
    

12. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

13. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

14. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

7. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

8. Create a file bundle of the certificate and key:

   cat /etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo.key > /etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo-bundle.crt
   

9. Install the required ca-certificates dependency:

   zypper refresh
   zypper install ca-certificates
   

10. Add the nginx-plus repo.

    For SLES 12:

    zypper addrepo -G -t yum -c \
    "https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/sles/12?ssl_clientcert=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo-bundle.crt&ssl_verify=peer" \
    nginx-plus
    

    For SLES 15:

    zypper addrepo -G -t yum -c \
    "https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/sles/15?ssl_clientcert=/etc/ssl/nginx/nginx-repo-bundle.crt&ssl_verify=peer" \
    nginx-plus
    

11. Install the nginx-plus package. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

    zypper install nginx-plus
    

12. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

13. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

14. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install NGINX Plus on Alpine Linux

1. Check if your operating system and architecture are supported. For a complete list of supported platforms and architectures, see the Technical Specifications.

2. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

3. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

4. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

5. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

6. Upload nginx-repo.key to /etc/apk/cert.key and nginx-repo.crt to /etc/apk/cert.pem. Ensure these files contain only the specific key and certificate — Alpine Linux doesn’t support mixing client certificates for multiple repositories.

7. Put the NGINX signing public key in the /etc/apk/keys directory:

   sudo wget -O /etc/apk/keys/nginx_signing.rsa.pub https://cs.nginx.com/static/keys/nginx_signing.rsa.pub
   

8. Add the NGINX repository to the /etc/apk/repositories file:

   printf "https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/alpine/v`egrep -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release`/main\n" \
   | sudo tee -a /etc/apk/repositories
   

9. Remove all community-supported NGINX packages. Note that this will also remove all NGINX modules:

   sudo apk del -r nginx
   

10. Install the NGINX Plus package:

    sudo apk add nginx-plus
    

11. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

    nginx -v
    

12. In the nginx.conf file, configure license reporting to F5 licensing endpoint using the mgmt {} block. By default, no configuration is required. However, it becomes necessary when your NGINX Plus instance is installed in a disconnected environment, uses NGINX Instance manager for usage reporting, or uses a custom path for the license file. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

13. If you are using NGINX Instance Manager in your infrastructure, install and enable NGINX Agent. See Install and Configure NGINX Agent for details.

Install Dynamically Loadable Modules

NGINX Plus functionality can be extended with dynamically loadable modules that are not included in the prebuilt packages:

• NGINX-authored dynamic modules – Modules developed and maintained by F5 NGINX. These modules can be installed directly from the official repository:

  • GeoIP
  • Image-Filter
  • njs Scripting Language
  • OTel
  • Perl
  • XSLT

• NGINX-certified community dynamic modules – Popular third‑party modules tested and distributed by F5 NGINX, with installation and basic configuration support provided. These modules are also available directly from the official repository:

  • Brotli
  • Encrypted-Session
  • FIPS Status Check
  • GeoIP2
  • Headers-More
  • HTTP Substitutions Filter
  • Lua
  • NGINX Developer Kit
  • OpenTelemetry
  • OpenTracing
  • Phusion Passenger
  • Prometheus-njs
  • RTMP
  • Set-Misc
  • SPNEGO

• Community dynamic modules – Modules written and distributed by third‑party members of the NGINX community. To use these modules, download the source code from the author’s repository and compile it against the NGINX Open Source version corresponding to your NGINX Plus version. These modules are not available in the official repository but can be found in different community resources such as awesome-nginx GitHub project.

Install Dynamic Modules from Official Repository

NGINX‑authored and NGINX‑certified dynamic modules can be installed directly from the modules repository. To install the modules:

• For RHEL, Amazon Linux 2, CentOS, Oracle Linux:

  yum update
  yum install <MODULE-NAME>
  

• For Amazon Linux 2023, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux:

  dnf update
  dnf install <MODULE-NAME>
  

• For Debian and Ubuntu:

  apt update
  apt install <MODULE-NAME>
  

• For FreeBSD:

  pkg update
  pkg install <MODULE-NAME>
  

• For SLES:

  zypper refresh
  zypper install <MODULE-NAME>
  

• For Alpine Linux:

  sudo apk update
  sudo apk add <MODULE-NAME>
  

See NGINX Plus Dynamic Modules for detailed installation instructions for each dynamic module.

Note that some modules may not be available for certain OS versions because of operating system limitations. For details and descriptions of the modules, see the NGINX Plus Technical Specifications.

After installing the module, you need to enable it in the NGINX Plus configuration file. For more information, see Enabling Dynamic Modules.

Install NGINX Community Modules

For a community dynamic module to work with NGINX Plus, it must be compiled alongside the corresponding version of NGINX Open Source.

1. Prepare the build environment.

   We strongly recommend compiling dynamic modules on a separate system, referred to as the “build environment”. This approach minimizes the risk and complexity for the system where NGINX Plus will be upgraded, referred to as the “production environment”. The build environment should meet the following requirements:

   • The same operating system as the production environment
   • The same NGINX version as the production environment
   • Compiler and make utilities
   • PCRE library (development files)
   • Zlib compression libraries (development files)

   To verify that the required prerequisites are installed in your build environment, run the following commands:

   • For Debian and Ubuntu:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt install gcc make libpcre3-dev zlib1g-dev
     

   • For CentOS, Oracle Linux, and RHEL:

     sudo yum update
     sudo yum install gcc make pcre-devel zlib-devel
     

2. Obtain NGINX Open Source.

   • Identify the NGINX Open Source version that corresponds to your version of NGINX Plus. See NGINX Plus Releases.

   • Download the sources for the appropriate NGINX Open Source mainline version, in this case 1.27.2:

     wget -qO - https://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.27.2.tar.gz | tar zxfv -
     

3. Obtain the source for the dynamic module.

   The source code for the dynamic module can be placed in any directory in the build environment. As an example, here we’re copying the NGINX “Hello World” module from GitHub:

   git clone https://github.com/perusio/nginx-hello-world-module.git
   

4. Compile the dynamic module.

   First establish binary compatibility by running the configure script with the ‑‑with‑compat option. Then compile the module with make modules.

   cd nginx-1.27.2/
   ./configure --with-compat --add-dynamic-module=../<MODULE-SOURCES>
   make modules
   

   The .so file generated by the build process is placed in the objs subdirectory

   ls objs/*.so
   objs/ngx_http_hello_world.so
   

5. Make a copy of the module file and include the NGINX Open Source version in the filename. This makes it simpler to manage multiple versions of a dynamic module in the production environment.

   cp objs/ngx_http_hello_world.so ./ngx_http_hello_world_1.27.2.so
   

Enabling Dynamic Modules

Dynamic modules are located in the /etc/nginx/modules directory, which is created automatically at NGINX Plus installation.

To enable a dynamic module:

1. In the main (top-level) context in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, add a load_module directive for each dynamically loadable module you installed.

   load_module modules/<MODULE-NAME>.so;
   

2. Check the new configuration for syntactic validity and reload NGINX Plus.

   nginx -t && nginx -s reload
   

NGINX Plus Unprivileged Installation

In some environments, access to the root account is restricted for security reasons. On Linux systems, this limitation prevents the use of package managers to install NGINX Plus without root privileges.

As a workaround, in such environments NGINX Plus can be installed with a special script that modifies NGINX Plus configuration file to allow it to run from a non-root user. This script performs the following actions:

• Downloads the NGINX Plus packages

• Extracts the content of the archives into a user-defined directory of the packages

• Updates the paths in the NGINX configuration file to use relative paths in the specified directory

• Makes a backup copy of the configuration directory

• Has an option to upgrade an existing unprivileged installation of NGINX Plus

Comparing to a standard installation of NGINX Plus, an unprivileged installation has certain limitations and restrictions:

• Root privileges are still required in order to listen on ports below 1024.

• The script is not intended to replace your operating system’s package manager and does not allow for the installation of any software other than NGINX Plus and its modules. Modifications to the script for other installations are not covered by the support program.

• NGINX Plus will not start automatically, so, you must add custom init script/systemdunit file for each unprivileged installation on the host.

• all dependencies and libraries required by the NGINX Plus binary and its modules are not installed automatically and should be checked and installed manually.

The script can be run on the following operating systems:

• RedHat, CentOS
• Amazon Linux 2
• Amazon Linux 2023
• Debian, Ubuntu
• Alpine Linux
• AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux

Before starting the unprivileged installation, make sure you have all the prerequisites listed in the Prerequisites section (excluding root privileges). For RPM-based distributions, verify that you have rpm2cpio installed.

To perform an unprivileged installation of NGINX Plus:

1. Obtain the script:

   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nginxinc/nginx-plus-install-tools/main/ngxunprivinst.sh
   

2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x ngxunprivinst.sh
   

3. Download NGINX Plus and its module packages for your operating system. The <cert_file>, <key_file> and <license_file> are your NGINX Plus certificate, private key, and JWT license obtained from MyF5 Customer Portal:

   ./ngxunprivinst.sh fetch -c <cert_file> -k <key_file> -j <license_file>
   

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT license file (<license_file>) is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

   If you need to install a particular version of NGINX Plus:

   • first, list all available NGINX Plus versions from the repository:

     ./ngxunprivinst.sh list -c <cert_file> -k <key_file>
     

   • then specify a particular NGINX Plus version with the -v option:

     ./ngxunprivinst.sh fetch -c <cert_file> -k <key_file> -v <version>
     

4. Extract the downloaded packages to the provided NGINX Plus prefix <path>. An optional -y option will overwrite an existing installation (if any). Starting from version R33, the -j option that specifies the <license_file> is mandatory:

   ./ngxunprivinst.sh install [-y] -p <path> -j <license_file> <file1.rpm> <file2.rpm>
   

5. When the installation procedure is finished, run NGINX Plus. The -p parameter sets a path to the directory that keeps nginx files. The -c parameter sets a path to an alternative NGINX configuration file. Please note NGINX Plus must listen on ports above 1024:

   <path>/usr/sbin/nginx -p <path>/etc/nginx -c <path>/etc/nginx/conf.d
   

With this script, you can also upgrade an existing unprivileged installation of NGINX Plus in the provided . An optional -y option performs a forced upgrade without any confirmation:

./ngxunprivinst.sh upgrade [-y] -p <path> <file1.rpm> <file2.rpm>

NGINX Plus Offline Installation

This section explains how to install NGINX Plus and its dynamic modules on a server with limited or no Internet access.

To install NGINX Plus offline, you will need a machine connected to the Internet to get the NGINX Plus package, JWT license, SSL certificate and key. Then your can transfer these files to the target server for offline installation.

Step 1: Obtaining files on the machine connected to the Internet

1. Download the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT license file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   • Log in to MyF5.
   • Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   • Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   • Download the nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key from the subscription page.
   • Download the JSON Web Token (JWT) from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

2. Transfer the files to the target server that doesn’t have online access and where NGINX Plus will be installed.

Step 2: Installing NGINX Plus on a server without Internet connectivity

1. Back up your NGINX Plus configuration and log files if you have an older NGINX Plus package installed. For more information, see Upgrading NGINX Plus.

2. Make sure you’ve downloaded the SSL certificate, private key, and the JWT file required for your NGINX Plus subscription. You can find these files in the MyF5 Customer Portal. For details on how to obtain these files, see Step 1: Obtaining files on the machine connected to the Internet.

3. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for the JWT license file:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/
   

4. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
   

   Replace <downloaded-file-name>.jwt with the actual name of your downloaded JWT file.

5. Create the /etc/ssl/nginx directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/nginx
   

6. Copy the downloaded nginx-repo.crt and nginx-repo.key files to the /etc/ssl/nginx/ directory:

   sudo cp nginx-repo.crt /etc/ssl/nginx/
   sudo cp nginx-repo.key /etc/ssl/nginx/
   

7. Install the NGINX Plus package or a dynamic module. Any older NGINX Plus package is automatically replaced.

   • For RHEL, Amazon Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux:

     sudo rpm -ihv <rpm_package_name>
     

   • For Debian, Ubuntu:

     sudo dpkg -i <deb_package_name>
     

   • For Alpine:

     apk add <apk_package_name>
     

   • For SLES:

     rpm -ivh <rpm_package_name>
     

8. Check the nginx version to verify that NGINX Plus is installed correctly:

   nginx -v
   

9. Install NGINX Instance Manager 2.18 or later in your local environment to enable usage reporting, which is mandatory since R33. For more information, see Disconnected environments and About Subscription Licenses.

10. Configure usage reporting of the NGINX Plus instance to NGINX Instance Manager which is mandatory starting from R33.

    In the nginx.conf configuration file, specify the following directives:

    • the mgmt {} block that handles NGINX Plus licensing and usage reporting configuration,

    • the usage_report directive that sets the domain name or IP address of NGINX Instance Manager,

    • the enforce_initial_report directive that enables the 180-day grace period for sending the initial usage report. The initial usage report must be received by F5 licensing endpoint during the grace period, otherwise traffic processing will be stopped:

    mgmt {
        usage_report endpoint=NIM_FQDN;
        enforce_initial_report off;
    }
    

11. In NGINX Instance Manager, prepare and send the usage report to F5 licensing endpoint. For more information, see Report usage to F5 in a disconnected environment.

12. Upload the usage acknowledgement to NGINX Instance Manager. For more information, see Report usage to F5 in a disconnected environment.

Upgrade NGINX Plus

Note:
Starting from Release 24 (R24), NGINX Plus repositories have been separated into individual repositories based on operating system distribution and license subscription. Before upgrading from previous NGINX Plus versions, you must first reconfigure your repositories to point to the correct location. To reconfigure your repository, follow the installation instructions above for your operating system.

To upgrade your NGINX Plus installation to the newest version:

1. If your system has previous NGINX or NGINX Plus packages on it, back up the configuration and log files.

   • For Linux distributions:

     sudo cp -a /etc/nginx /etc/nginx-plus-backup
     sudo cp -a /var/log/nginx /var/log/nginx-plus-backup
     

   • For FreeBSD:

     sudo cp -a /usr/local/etc/nginx /usr/local/etc/nginx-plus-backup
     sudo cp -a /var/log/nginx /var/log/nginx-plus-backup
     

2. Get the JWT file associated with your NGINX Plus subscription from the MyF5 Customer Portal:

   1. Log in to MyF5.
   2. Go to My Products & Plans > Subscriptions to see your active subscriptions.
   3. Find your NGINX products or services subscription, and select the Subscription ID for details.
   4. Download the JSON Web Token from the subscription page.

   Note:
   Starting from NGINX Plus Release 33, a JWT file is required for each NGINX Plus instance. For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

3. Create the /etc/nginx/ directory for Linux or the /usr/local/etc/nginx directory for FreeBSD:

   • For Linux:

     sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx
     

   • For FreeBSD:

     sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/nginx
     

   Using custom paths
   

   If you plan to use a custom path for the license file, note that custom paths won’t work until after the R33 upgrade. You’ll need to create a placeholder file at /etc/nginx/license.jwt or /usr/local/etc/nginx/license.jwt on FreeBSD before upgrading.

   1. Before upgrading: Create the placeholder file by running:

      touch /etc/nginx/license.jwt
      

   2. After upgrading: Update the license_token directive in the NGINX configuration mgmt block to point to your custom path:

      mgmt {
        license_token <custom_path>;
      }
      

4. After downloading the JWT file, copy it to the /etc/nginx/ directory for Linux, or to the /usr/local/etc/nginx directory for FreeBSD, and make sure it’s named license.jwt:

   • For Linux:

     sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /etc/nginx/license.jwt
     

   • For FreeBSD:

     sudo cp <downloaded-file-name>.jwt /usr/local/etc/nginx/license.jwt
     

5. Upgrade to the new NGINX Plus package.

   • For RHEL, Amazon Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux:

     sudo yum upgrade nginx-plus
     

   • For Debian and Ubuntu:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt install nginx-plus
     

   • For FreeBSD:

     sudo pkg upgrade nginx-plus
     

6. Configure NGINX Plus usage reporting which is mandatory starting from R33. By default, no configuration is required. However, configuration is required in specific scenarios, such as NGINX Plus is installed in an offline environment or if the JWT license file is located in a non-default directory.

   For offline environments, usage reporting should be configured for NGINX Instance Manager 2.18 or later. In the nginx.conf configuration file, specify the following directives:

   • the mgmt context handles NGINX Plus licensing and usage reporting configuration,

   • the usage_report directive specifies the domain name or IP address of the NGINX Instance Manager,

   • the enforce_initial_report directive enables a 180-day grace period for sending the initial usage report. The initial usage report must be received by F5 licensing endpoint within this grace period. If the report is not received in time, traffic processing will be stopped:

   mgmt {
       usage_report endpoint=NIM_FQDN;
       enforce_initial_report off;
   }
   

   In NGINX Instance Manager, prepare and send the usage report to F5 licensing endpoint. For more information, see Report usage to F5 in a disconnected environment.

   If the JWT license file is located in a directory other than /etc/nginx/ for Linux or usr/local/etc/nginx/ for FreeBSD, you must specify its name and path in the license_token directive:

   mgmt {
       license_token custom/file/path/license.jwt;
   }
   

   For more information, see About Subscription Licenses.

7. To verify that the new NGINX Plus version is upgraded, run:

   nginx -v
   

   The output of the command:

   nginx version: nginx/1.27.2 (nginx-plus-r33)
   

Upgrade NGINX Plus Modules

The upgrade procedure depends on how the module was supplied and installed.

• NGINX‑authored and NGINX‑certified community dynamic modules are updated automatically together with NGINX Plus.

  Note:
  For FreeBSD, each NGINX‑authored and NGINX‑certified module must be updated separately using FreeBSD package management tool.

• Community dynamic modules must be recompiled against the corresponding NGINX Open Source version. See Installing NGINX Community Modules.

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