FlexSim Web Server Proxied with Nginx

paul_tooneADSK

FlexSim's Webserver is a query-driven manager and communication interface for FlexSim. It allows you to run FlexSim models through a web browser like Google Chrome, FireFox, Internet Explorer, etc. Since the FlexSim Web Server is a basic service to allow FlexSim to be served to a browser, you may decide you want a way to proxy to this service through a full service web server that you can control security and authentication through.

This guide will walk you through proxying to the FlexSim Web Server through Nginx web server.

Install the FlexSim Web Server Program

Download and install the FlexSim Web Server from https://account.flexsim.com
Edit C:\Program Files (x86)\FlexSim Web Server\flexsim webserver configuration.txt
Change the port from 80 to 8080
Start the FlexSim Web Server by double clicking flexsimserver.bat
Test the server by going to http://127.0.01:8080
It should look like this:

Install Nginx Reverse Proxy

From a browser, visit http://nginx.org/en/download.html
Download latest stable release for Windows
Extract the downloaded nginx-<version>.zip
Rename the unzipped nginx-<version> folder to nginx
Copy the nginx folder to C:\
Double click the C:\nginx\nginx.exe file to launch Nginx
Test Nginx by going to http://127.0.0.1
It should look like this:

Configure Nginx to proxy to the FlexSim Web Server

Open C:\nginx\conf\nginx.conf in a text editor
Find the section that says:

location / {
    root html;
    index index.html index.htm;
}

Edit out the root and index directives and add a proxy_pass directive so it appears like this:

location / {      
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
    #root html;
    #index index.html index.htm;
}

Save the nginx.conf file

Reload Nginx to Apply the Changes

Open a command line window by pressing Windows+R to open "Run" box. Type "cmd" and then click "OK"
From the command line windows, type the following to change to the nginx directory:

C:\nginx>cd C:\nginx and press enter

Now, type the following to reload Nginx:

C:\nginx>nginx -s reload

Test the FlexSim Web Server Being Proxied by Nginx

From a browser window again go to http://127.0.0.1
You should now see the FlexSim Web Server interface proxied through Nginx

Now that you have the FlexSim Web Server proxied through Nginx, you may decide you want to configure Nginx to handle security, authentication and customization. Since this is out of the scope of this guide, you can find details on the Internet that can guide you to setting these customizations up.

A few resources you may consider:

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FlexSim Web Server Proxied with Nginx

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