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Deploy Nginx on the Microsoft Azure Cobalt 100 processors
Signed-off-by: odidev <[email protected]>
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‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/nginx-on-azure/_index.md

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---
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title: Deploy NGINX on the Microsoft Azure Cobalt 100 processors
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minutes_to_complete: 30
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who_is_this_for: This Learning Path introduces NGINX deployment on Microsoft Azure Cobalt 100 (Arm-based) virtual machine. It is intended for system administrators and developers looking to deploy and benchmark NGINX on Arm architecture with minimal adjustments from traditional x86_64 environments.
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learning_objectives:
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- Start an Azure Arm64 virtual machine using the Azure console and Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS as the base image.
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- Deploy the NGINX web server on the Azure Arm64 virtual machine running Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS.
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- Configure and test a static website using NGINX on the virtual machine.
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- Perform baseline testing and benchmarking of NGINX in the Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS Arm64 virtual machine environment.
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prerequisites:
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- A [Microsoft Azure](https://azure.microsoft.com/) account with access to Cobalt 100 based instances (Dpsv6).
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- Familiarity with the [NGINX architecture](https://www.nginx.com/) and deployment practices on Arm64 platforms.
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- Network settings (firewalls and security groups) should allow inbound communication on ports 22 (SSH) and 80 (HTTP).
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author: Jason Andrews
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### Tags
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skilllevels: Advanced
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subjects: Web
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cloud_service_providers: Microsoft Azure
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armips:
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- Neoverse
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tools_software_languages:
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- NGINX
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- Apache Bench
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operatingsystems:
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- Linux
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further_reading:
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- resource:
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title: NGINX official documentation
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link: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
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type: documentation
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- resource:
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title: Apache Bench official documentation
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link: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/programs/ab.html
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type: documentation
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- resource:
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title: NGINX on Azure
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link: https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/deployment-guides/microsoft-azure/virtual-machines-for-nginx/
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type: documentation
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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# ================================================================================
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weight: 1 # _index.md always has weight of 1 to order correctly
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layout: "learningpathall" # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper
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learning_path_main_page: "yes" # This should be surfaced when looking for related content. Only set for _index.md of learning path content.
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---

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/nginx-on-azure/_next-steps.md

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---
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# ================================================================================
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# FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE
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# ================================================================================
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weight: 21 # Set to always be larger than the content in this path to be at the end of the navigation.
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title: "Next Steps" # Always the same, html page title.
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layout: "learningpathall" # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper for Hugo processing.
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---

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/nginx-on-azure/backgroud.md

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---
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title: "Overview"
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weight: 2
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layout: "learningpathall"
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---
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## Cobalt 100 Arm-based processor
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Azure’s Cobalt 100 is built on Microsoft's first-generation, in-house Arm-based processor: the Cobalt 100. Designed entirely by Microsoft and based on Arm’s Neoverse N2 architecture, this 64-bit CPU delivers improved performance and energy efficiency across a broad spectrum of cloud-native, scale-out Linux workloads. These include web and application servers, data analytics, open-source databases, caching systems, and more. Running at 3.4 GHz, the Cobalt 100 processor allocates a dedicated physical core for each vCPU, ensuring consistent and predictable performance.
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To learn more about Cobalt 100, refer to the blog [Announcing the preview of new Azure virtual machine based on the Azure Cobalt 100 processor](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurecompute/announcing-the-preview-of-new-azure-vms-based-on-the-azure-cobalt-100-processor/4146353).
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## NGINX
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NGINX is a high-performance, open-source web server, reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache. Originally developed by Igor Sysoev, NGINX is known for its event-driven, asynchronous architecture, which enables it to handle high concurrency with low resource usage.
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There are three main variants of NGINX:
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- **NGINX Open Source**– Free and [open-source version available at nginx.org](https://nginx.org)
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- **NGINX Plus**- [Commercial edition of NGINX](https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx/) with features like dynamic reconfig, active health checks, and monitoring.
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- **NGINX Unit**- A lightweight, dynamic application server that complements NGINX. [Learn more at unit.nginx.org](https://unit.nginx.org/).

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/nginx-on-azure/baseline.md

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---
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title: NGINX Baseline Testing
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weight: 5
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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### Baseline testing with a static website on NGINX
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Perform baseline testing of NGINX on an **Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS** virtual machine by deploying a custom static HTML page. This verifies that NGINX is correctly serving content on the Arm64 platform.
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1. Create a Static Website Directory:
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Prepare a folder to host your HTML content.
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```console
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mkdir -p ~/my-static-site
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```
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2. Create an HTML file and Web page:
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Create a HTML file `nano my-static-site/index.html` with the content below to design a visually appealing static landing page.
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```html
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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8">
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<title>Welcome to NGINX on Azure Ubuntu Pro</title>
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<style>
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body {
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background: linear-gradient(to right, #4facfe, #00f2fe);
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font-family: "Segoe UI", Tahoma, Geneva, Verdana, sans-serif;
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display: flex;
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justify-content: center;
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align-items: center;
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height: 100vh;
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margin: 0;
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color: white;
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text-align: center;
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}
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.box {
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background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
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padding: 40px;
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border-radius: 12px;
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box-shadow: 0 0 15px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);
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}
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h1 {
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margin-bottom: 10px;
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font-size: 2.5rem;
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}
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p {
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font-size: 1.2rem;
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}
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</style>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div class="box">
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<h1> Welcome to NGINX on Azure Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS!</h1>
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<p>Your static site is running beautifully on ARM64 </p>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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```
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3. Move the Website to NGINX's Accessible Directory:
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Since NGINX runs under the `www-data` user and may not have access to files inside `/home/ubuntu`, move the site to a directory where NGINX has permissions by default:
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```console
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sudo mkdir -p /var/www/my-static-site
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sudo cp -r ~/my-static-site/* /var/www/my-static-site/
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sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/my-static-site
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```
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4. Create NGINX Config File to Serve Static Website:
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Point NGINX to serve your static HTML content.
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```console
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sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/static-site.conf
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```
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Now, add the following configuration:
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```NGINX
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server {
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listen 80;
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server_name localhost;
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location / {
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root /var/www/my-static-site;
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index index.html;
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}
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access_log /var/log/nginx/static-access.log;
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error_log /var/log/nginx/static-error.log;
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}
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```
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Make sure `/home/ubuntu/my-static-site` is the correct path to your **index.html**.
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5. Test the NGINX Configuration:
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```console
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sudo nginx -t
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```
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
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nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
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```
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6. Reload or Restart NGINX:
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Apply configuration changes and restart the web server.
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```console
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sudo nginx -s reload
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sudo systemctl restart nginx
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```
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7. Test the Static Website on browser:
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Access your website at your public IP on port 80.
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```console
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http://<your-vm-public-ip>/
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```
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Make sure port 80 is open in your Azure Network Security Group (NSG).
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8. You should see the NGINX welcome page confirming a successful deployment:
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![Static Website Screenshot](images/nginx-web.png)
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This verifies the basic functionality of NGINX installation before proceeding to the benchmarking.

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/nginx-on-azure/benchmarking.md

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---
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title: NGINX Benchmarking
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weight: 6
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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## NGINX Benchmarking by ApacheBench
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**ApacheBench (ab)** is a lightweight command-line tool for benchmarking HTTP servers. It measures performance metrics like requests per second, response time, and throughput under concurrent load.
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1. Install ApacheBench
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On **Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS**, ApacheBench is available as part of the `apache2-utils` package:
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```console
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sudo apt update
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sudo apt install apache2-utils -y
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```
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2. Verify Installation
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```console
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ab -V
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```
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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This is ApacheBench, Version 2.3 <$Revision: 1923142 $>
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Copyright 1996 Adam Twiss, Zeus Technology Ltd, http://www.zeustech.net/
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Licensed to The Apache Software Foundation, http://www.apache.org/
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```
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3. Basic Benchmark Command Syntax
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```console
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ab -n <total_requests> -c <concurrent_clients> <http://host:port/path>
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```
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Example:
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```console
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ab -n 1000 -c 50 http://localhost/
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```
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This sends **1000 total requests** with **50 concurrent connections** to `http://localhost/`.
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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This is ApacheBench, Version 2.3 <$Revision: 1903618 $>
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Copyright 1996 Adam Twiss, Zeus Technology Ltd, http://www.zeustech.net/
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Licensed to The Apache Software Foundation, http://www.apache.org/
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Benchmarking localhost (be patient)
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Completed 100 requests
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Completed 200 requests
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Completed 300 requests
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Completed 400 requests
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Completed 500 requests
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Completed 600 requests
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Completed 700 requests
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Completed 800 requests
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Completed 900 requests
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Completed 1000 requests
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Finished 1000 requests
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Server Software: nginx/1.24.0
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Server Hostname: localhost
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Server Port: 80
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Document Path: /
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Document Length: 890 bytes
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Concurrency Level: 50
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Time taken for tests: 0.032 seconds
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Complete requests: 1000
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Failed requests: 0
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Total transferred: 1132000 bytes
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HTML transferred: 890000 bytes
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Requests per second: 31523.86 [#/sec] (mean)
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Time per request: 1.586 [ms] (mean)
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Time per request: 0.032 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
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Transfer rate: 34848.65 [Kbytes/sec] received
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Connection Times (ms)
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min mean[+/-sd] median max
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Connect: 0 1 0.1 1 1
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Processing: 0 1 0.1 1 1
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Waiting: 0 1 0.2 1 1
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Total: 1 2 0.1 2 2
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Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
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50% 2
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66% 2
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75% 2
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80% 2
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90% 2
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95% 2
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98% 2
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99% 2
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100% 2 (longest request)
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```
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### Benchmark Results Table Explained:
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- **Requests per second** – How many requests were served per second.
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- **Time per request** – Average latency per request.
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- **Transfer rate** – Data throughput.
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- **Connection times** – Breakdown of min/mean/max connect, processing, and total times.
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- **Percentage served** – Percentile distribution of response times.
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### Benchmark summary on x86_64:
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Here is a summary of the benchmark results collected on x86_64 **D4s_v6 Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS virtual machine**.
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| **Category** | **Metric** | **Value** |
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|---------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
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| **General Info** | Server Software | nginx/1.24.0 |
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| | Server Hostname | localhost |
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| | Server Port | 80 |
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| | Document Path | / |
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| | Document Length | 615 bytes |
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| **Test Setup** | Concurrency Level | 50 |
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| | Time Taken for Tests | 0.038 sec |
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| | Complete Requests | 1000 |
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| | Failed Requests | 0 |
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| **Transfer Stats** | Total Transferred | 857,000 bytes |
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| | HTML Transferred | 615,000 bytes |
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| | Requests per Second | 26,592.21 [#/sec] |
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| | Time per Request (mean) | 1.880 ms |
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| | Time per Request (across all) | 0.038 ms |
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| | Transfer Rate | 22,255.39 KB/sec |
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| **Connection Times (ms)** | Connect (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 0 / 1 / 0.2 / 1 / 1 |
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| | Processing (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 0 / 1 / 0.2 / 1 / 2 |
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| | Waiting (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 0 / 1 / 0.2 / 1 / 1 |
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| | Total (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 1 / 2 / 0.2 / 2 / 2 |
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| **Latency Percentiles** | 50% of requests served within | 2 ms |
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| | 66% of requests served within | 2 ms |
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| | 75% of requests served within | 2 ms |
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| | 80% of requests served within | 2 ms |
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| | 90% of requests served within | 2 ms |
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| | 95% of requests served within | 2 ms |
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| | 98% of requests served within | 2 ms
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### Benchmark summary on Arm64:
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Here is a summary of benchmark results collected on an Arm64 **D4ps_v6 Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS virtual machine**.
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| **Category** | **Metric** | **Value** |
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|---------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
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| **General Info** | Server Software | nginx/1.24.0 |
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| | Server Hostname | localhost |
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| | Server Port | 80 |
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| | Document Path | / |
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| | Document Length | 890 bytes |
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| **Test Setup** | Concurrency Level | 50 |
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| | Time Taken for Tests | 0.032 sec |
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| | Complete Requests | 1000 |
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| | Failed Requests | 0 |
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| **Transfer Stats** | Total Transferred | 1,132,000 bytes |
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| | HTML Transferred | 890,000 bytes |
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| | Requests per Second | 31,523.86 [#/sec] |
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| | Time per Request (mean) | 1.586 ms |
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| | Time per Request (across all) | 0.032 ms |
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| | Transfer Rate | 34,848.65 KB/sec |
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| **Connection Times (ms)** | Connect (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 0 / 1 / 0.1 / 1 / 1 |
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| | Processing (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 0 / 1 / 0.1 / 1 / 1 |
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| | Waiting (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 0 / 1 / 0.2 / 1 / 1 |
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| | Total (min / mean / stdev / median / max) | 1 / 2 / 0.1 / 2 / 2 |
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### Highlights from Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS Arm64 Benchmarking
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When comparing the results on Arm64 vs x86_64 virtual machines:
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- Achieved **31,523.86 requests/sec**, demonstrating high throughput under concurrent load.
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- Response time per request averaged **1.586 ms**, indicating efficient handling of requests with minimal delay.
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- **Zero failed requests**, confirming stability and reliability during testing.
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- Consistently low **connection and processing times** (mean ≈ 1 ms), ensuring smooth performance.
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You have now benchmarked NGINX on an Azure Cobalt 100 Arm64 virtual machine and compared results with x86_64.

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