Do I need to install NGINX and PHP to optimize my Discourse forum?

[apgar (Alvin C.)]

Hello everyone!

I just started my Discourse journey yesterday.

To give you a brief overview, I don’t have any computer background as I work in healthcare. Nevertheless, I studied during my 4-day off and was able to setup a 2 droplets: 1 with a LEMP (MariaDB) stack and 1 with Discourse installed via docker. Much to my surprise, everything went well and I had learned a lot despite almost maxing out my brain cells.

As I was browsing the settings of my Discourse, I saw a note on the “max image size” and “max attachment size” saying that the configuration needs to be adjusted in NGINX and PHP. I was able to do this on my droplet with a LEMP stack for a website, but seeing that I don’t have NGINX and PHP installed on my Discourse droplet, does it mean that the values I put in those categories automatically become the defined limits? Or do I need to install another LEMP stack on this droplet to optimize the setup?

Your expertise on this matter is highly appreciated.

Thank you and have a wonderful day guys!

[Alexander (Alexander Barrios)]

Hello! Welcome to Discourse Meta!

I’m not sure about Discourse Docker’s Nginx default configuration, I’ll take a look and see if I can find anything

Although it is certainly possible to install Nginx and put it in front of Discourse, and perhaps with some adjustments you can achieve what you want

[JammyDodger]

Is this any use?

Change the maximum attachment/upload size

If you are on managed hosting, you should contact your hosting provider to change this setting. The below instructions only apply if you self host your own instance of Discourse. Here is what you need to do to allow more than 10mb for attachments upload. Connect to your server via SSH Navigate to and edit the .yml config file cd /var/discourse/ nano containers/app.yml Scroll down where it says this: params: ## Which Git revision should this container use? (default: tests-…

NGINX is already inside the container for a standard install.

[apgar (Alvin C.)]

@Alexander Thanks for your input. Let me know if you find something.

@JammyDodger Wow! I’ll definitely try it out after work. Thanks a lot!

Btw, if I’m solely dedicating this droplet for Discourse, is there any benefit to installing a LEMP stack on it or will it be fine on it’s own?

Thanks!

[gerhard (Gerhard Schlager)]

@apgar

I’m solely dedicating this droplet for Discourse, is there any benefit to installing a LEMP

No, there isn’t. It would actually make things a lot more complicated for you.

[apgar (Alvin C.)]

Thanks for confirming this. Have a great day!