Nginx to serve static page before dynamic - php

Question

I want to serve static HTML files with NGINX, but if the file is missing, it should load a PHP file instead and PHP should handle the content.
I've been testing several combinations of try_files, but I can't get my head around it. I have a dummy PHP app that looks like this:
./
../
dynamic.php
index.php
static/
static/static.html
Then I have a small PHP code on index like this:
<?php
$path = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$pattern = '/^\/(.*)\.html$/';
$matches = [];
$results = preg_match($pattern, $path, $matches);
if (count($matches) > 0) {
if ($matches[1] == "dynamic") {
require 'dynamic.php';
} else {
echo "Not found!";
}
} else {
echo "Index page!";
}
The results of browsing to each page should be:
http://foo.bar/ - Loads index.php
http://foo.bar/static.html - Loads static/static.html
http://foo.bar/dynamic.html - Loads index.php & PHP requires dynamic.php
http://foo.bar/baz.html - Loads index.php with "not found" message
This is what I got in the NGINX config file:
server {
listen 80;
server_name .foo.bar *.foo.bar;
access_log /var/log/nginx/foo.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/foo.error.log;
root /var/www/foo;
index index.php;
location / {
# Trying with 'try_files' here. No success.
}
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm-foo.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
}
I've been trying repeatedly and evidently utterly failing with this line:
try_files $uri $uri/static /index.php;
I am missing something. Help?

Answer 1

I would use your static directory as document root. This ensures that nobody can execute /dynamic.php directly, however, it will be forwarded to your index.php by the named location block #php.
This configuration example is untested!
server {
index index.php;
root /var/www/foo/static;
server_name foo.bar *.foo.bar;
location / {
try_files $uri #php;
}
location #php {
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm-foo.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /var/www/foo/index.php;
}
}
You don't need the listen directive if it only contains 80 since this is the default.
The server_names should not contain a leading dot.
The $uri always contains the requested URI including the leading slash (e.g. /static.html) and nginx will prefix them with the document root upon invocation of try_files (e.g. /var/www/foo/static.html). Hence, you need to set your static directory before the $uri (e.g. /static$uri becomes /var/www/foo/static/static.html).
You don't need fastcgi_split_path_info because you are not using that feature.
Your try_files in your PHP location makes it impossible for nginx to properly forward things. A request for /dynamic.html does not end on .php, hence, try_files always fails.

Answer 2

There are a number of ways of hiding the static directory from the URL. For example, manipulating root, clever use of try_files or a rewrite.
Possibly the most obvious is this:
root /var/www/foo;
location / {
root /var/www/foo/static;
try_files $uri /index.php;
}
location ~ \.php$ { ... }
so that nginx looks in the static folder for normal files, but the parent folder for .php files.
What you were trying to achieve was something like this:
root /var/www/foo;
location / {
try_files /static$uri /index.php;
}
location ~ \.php$ { ... }
which will prefix /static to any URI before testing for existence. The /index.php must be the last element as it required processing in a different location. See this document for more.

Answer 3

Based on the specific example case you have given, the configuration below will return the results you listed.
server {
listen 80;
server_name .foo.bar *.foo.bar;
access_log /var/log/nginx/foo.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/foo.error.log;
root /var/www/foo;
index index.php;
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm-foo.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
location ~ /static {
rewrite ^/static\.html$ /static/ last;
index static.html;
}
location ~ / {
rewrite ^ /index.php last;
}
That is ...
http://foo.bar/ - Loads index.php
http://foo.bar/static.html - Loads static/static.html
http://foo.bar/dynamic.html - Loads index.php & PHP requires dynamic.php
http://foo.bar/baz.html - Loads index.php with "not found" message