Setup Nginx with HTTP/2 Support on Ubuntu 17.04

HTTP/2 is the new version to HTTP/1 which has been the default protocol since it was standardized way back in the year 1999. It has functioned as the defacto protocol since until HTTP/2 (version 2) was standardized.

Major webservers like Apache2, Nginx and others are including HTTP/2 (version 2) support into their builds and making the protocol readily available. This brief tutorial is going to show you how to enable HTTP/2 on Nginx webservers on Ubuntu systems.

Some of the key features of HTTP/2 are:

Single, persistent connection
Multiplexing
Header compression
Resource prioritization
Secure transport layer

So, as you can see, there are great benefits for those who upgrade to HTTP/2.

Since HTTP/2 only works with webservers that have SSL/TLS enabled, your first task to getting Nginx to support HTTP/2 is to configure Nginx with SSL/TLS support.

Step 1: Nginx SSL/TLS Support with Self-Signed Certificates

SSL/TLS certificates can be created in two ways.. one is by generating a certificate and signing it yourself.. also know as self-signed certificates or going to a trusted certificate authority (CA) to obtain one. Whether the certificate is self-signed or from a trusted CA, HTTP/2 should work just fine.

For this tutorial, we’re going to be using a self-signed certificate. To get a self-signed cert functioning in Nginx, read our post below:

How to Secure Nginx Websites using SSL/TLS on Ubuntu 17.04

Step 2: Configuring Nginx with HTTP/2 Support

The tutorial above on setting up Nginx with SSL/TLS support should help you install a self-signed certificate on Nginx web server. Follow Step 1 guide until it’s complete.

When done setting up Nginx with SSL/TLS support, continue with Step 2 to enable HTTP/2. All you need to do to support HTTP/2 after following step 1 is to add the highlighted block of codes in the Nginx site configuration file.

Use the example configuration as shown below to enable HTTP/2.

# HTTPS server
server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name example.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen     443 ssl http2 default_server;
    listen    [::]:443 ssl http2 default_server;
    server_name example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/example.com.key;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
    ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!3DES:!MD5:!PSK:!RC4;
location / {
  root   /var/www/html;
  index  index.html index.htm;
 }
}

Save the changes and you’e done.

Summary:

Again, this post shows you how to enable HTTP/2 (version 2) on Nginx webservers on Ubuntu systems. This post assumes you already have Nginx webserver installed and functioning and that you followed the guide for Step 1 for setting up SSL/TLS support on Nginx.

Once you’ve completed those requirements, HTTP/2 should be functioning on websites powered by Nginx webservers.