This module can be thought out as a reverse byte-range request header. It's main utility is to allow Nginx to slice a big file in small pieces (byte-ranges) while permitting to use on-the-fly gzip compression.
A typical example is for allowing someone to download a large video file while keeping the bandwith usage minimal. This might also be used as device for selling a video file by pieces where each link points to different zones of the file splitted by file ranges.
Other use would be to use a generic CSS file and use only part of it for each section of a site. Granted that byte-range slicing isn't the most intuitive for such.
Note also that using arguments is more useful than byte-ranges in the sense that they can be set in a normal link, while byte ranges require a special HTTP header.
Examples
location ^~ /video-dump/ { |
So we would request the first 1k of the file like this:
http://example.com/video-dump/large_vid.mp4?s=0&e=1024
Notice s=0
, start at 0
and e=1024
, stop at 1024
bytes (1k).
Directives
slice
context:location
It enables the content slicing in a given location.
slice_arg_begin
string
default:begin
context:http, server, location
Defines the argument that defines the request range of bytes start.
slice_arg_end
string
default:end
context:http, server, location
Defines the argument that defines the request range of bytes end.
slice_headerstring
context:http, server, location
Defines the string to be used as the header of each slice being
served by Nginx.
slice_footerstring
context:http, server, location
Defines the string to be used as the footer of each slice being
served by Nginx.
slice_header_first
on
|off
default:on
context:http, server, location
If set to off
and when requesting the first byte of the file do not
serve the header.
This directive is particularly useful to differentiate the first
slice from the remaining slices. The first slice is the one which has
no header.
slice_footer_last
on
|off
default:on
context:http, server, location
If set to off
and when requesting the last byte of the file do not
serve the header.
This directive is particularly useful to differentiate the last
slice from the remaining slices. The last slice is the one which has
no footer.
Here's some examples that explore all the options.
Serve a huge DB file while sending headers except on the first slice
location ^~ /dbdumps/ { |
Then a request like this:
http://example.com/dbdumps/somedb.sql?first=0&last=1048576 |
Send the first 1M and skip the -- **db-slice-start**
header.
Serve a huge DB file while sending headers except on the first slice
location ^~ /dbdumps/ { |
This differs from the previous in the sense that it sends a footer.
Serve a huge DB file while sending headers except on the first slice and send footer except on the last slice
location ^~ /dbdumps/ { |
Then a request like this:
http://example.com/dbdumps/somedb.sql?first=0&last=1048576
Send the first 1M and skip the -- **db-slice-start**
header.
If the file is 200MB, we get the last slice with:
http://example.com/dbdumps/somedb.sql?first=208666624&last=209715200
this last slice has no footer.