# Best way to protect an http service with nginx (possibly encryption?)

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-to-protect-an-http-service-with-nginx-possibly-encryption/236484>\
**Category:** NGINX\
**Created:** [September 6, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-to-protect-an-http-service-with-nginx-possibly-encryption/236484 "2013-09-06T11:46:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![addis\_a](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@addis\_a](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/addis_a)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-way-to-protect-an-http-service-with-nginx-possibly-encryption/236484/1 "2013-09-06T11:46:18Z")

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Hi – I’m an nginx newbie who is looking to maybe use nginx to provide  
security for an HTTP service that previously ran in a trusted  
environment,  
but that now needs to run on the open web.  
I was thinking of having nginx listen on an arbitrary port, authenticate  
requests to the service on that port, then proxy them on to the service.  
I guess my first question is – is this a correct use of nginx? My  
research  
so far suggests that it is.  
And my second question is – what is the best way to achieve this?  
I thought maybe encrypting a username and password as part of the  
request  
(in a cookie?) and using agentzh might be an approach, but I am rather  
out  
of my depth, and would really appreciate any tips or references to docs  
that might help we work it all out.  
Or if anyone’s read a good book that covers this, that would be a very  
appreciated recommendation! 🙂  
Thanks very much,  
Doug.