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Duvaryne — Duvaryne LLP

Case Study

High-Performance Web Edge: Nginx with Automated TLS Termination

Grade A on Qualys SSL Labs. Zero-touch certificate renewal. Nginx, TLS 1.3, HTTP/2, Certbot.

  • Nginx
  • Ubuntu LTS
  • Let's Encrypt
  • Certbot
  • TLS 1.3
  • HTTP/2

Last updated

Qualys SSL Labs rating
Grade AQualys SSL Labs rating
Manual steps in certificate renewal
0Manual steps in certificate renewal
Multiplexed delivery with gzip and cache headers
HTTP/2Multiplexed delivery with gzip and cache headers

Context #

Deploying a web presence requires more than just installing a server; it demands a configuration optimized for speed, security, and reliability. This project focused on architecting a production-ready Static Web Host using the industry-standard Nginx engine on a hardened Linux kernel.

Beyond simple content serving, the focus was on establishing a "Secure-by-Default" posture. This involved configuring rigorous DNS routing policies and implementing an automated SSL/TLS certificate lifecycle, ensuring that all data in transit is encrypted. The result is a robust, low-latency web endpoint capable of handling high concurrency while maintaining an A+ Security Rating.

Client identity withheld under NDA. Architecture and outcomes described as delivered.

Constraints and objectives #

  • Optimized Content Delivery: Configure Nginx for high-throughput static asset serving, utilizing gzip compression and efficient caching headers to minimize latency.
  • Identity & Routing: Establish authoritative DNS records (A/CNAME) to ensure rapid global domain resolution and seamless user connectivity.
  • Encryption Everywhere: Enforce HTTPS-Only traffic policies using TLS 1.3 and Let's Encrypt, preventing "Man-in-the-Middle" attacks.
  • Server Hardening: Disable insecure protocols and default server banners to reduce the attack surface against potential reconnaissance.

Architecture and implementation #

Hardened Nginx edge diagram: a DNS A record and Certbot-managed Let's Encrypt certificates feed an Nginx server running HTTP/2, gzip, TLS 1.2 and 1.3 with HSTS, on a hardened Ubuntu LTS host restricted to SSH key-only access.
  • Web Engine: Nginx (Configured as a high-performance static server).
  • Operating System: Ubuntu LTS (Hardened with SSH Key-only access).
  • Domain & Network: DNS Management (A Record propagation), TCP/IP flow control.
  • Cryptography & Security: Let's Encrypt (Certbot) for automated certificate rotation, OpenSSL for handshake verification.
  • Protocols: HTTP/2 for multiplexing, TLS 1.2/1.3 for encryption.
  • Methodology: Secure Administration: implementation of SSH key pairs for remote server management, disabling root password login.
  • DNS Validation: utilized dig and nslookup to verify global propagation and TTL settings.

Outcomes #

  • Grade "A" SSL Security: Achieved top-tier security scoring on Qualys SSL Labs by configuring strong cipher suites and implementing HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security).
  • Zero-Touch Certificate Renewal: Implemented automated cron jobs (Certbot) to handle SSL renewals, eliminating the risk of certificate expiration downtime.
  • High Availability: Delivered a stable, publicly accessible web endpoint with sub-millisecond response times for static assets.
  • SEO & Trust Compliance: Ensured the domain is trusted by modern browsers (Chrome/Safari) by enforcing valid HTTPS connections, boosting search ranking potential.

What we would do differently #

Certbot on a cron job is correct but it is a single point of failure on a single host. We would move renewal to a process that can fail loudly — a monitored job with an alert on certificate age rather than on renewal failure, because a cron that silently stops running looks identical to one that has nothing to do. For anything carrying real traffic we would terminate TLS at a managed load balancer and keep the origin simpler.

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