How do I send or set arbitrary HTTP headers using nginx web server?
You need to use add_header directive. It sends arbitrary HTTP header when the response code is equal to 200, 204, 301, 302 or 304. You must compile nginx with NginxHttpHeadersModule. Once compiled edit nginx.conf:
# vi nginx.conf
Add the headers as follows in http, server, or location section:
add_header name value
In this example, set X-Whom to www-node01:
add_header X-Whom www-node01
Save and close the file. Reload nginx:
# /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -s reload
How Do I Test It?
Simply use curl as follows:
$ curl -I example.com
Sample outputs:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:40:58 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Connection: keep-alive
X-Whom: www-node01
