unit/tools

Unit Tools

This directory contains useful tools for installing, configuring, and managing NGINX Unit. They may not be part of official packages and should be considered experimental.

• setup-unit
• unitc

---

setup-unit

A script that simplifies installing and configuring an NGINX Unit server for first-time users

• setup-unit repo-config configures your package manager with the NGINX Unit repository for later installation.
• setup-unit welcome creates an initial configuration to serve a welcome web page with NGINX Unit.

---

unitc

A curl wrapper for managing NGINX Unit configuration

USAGE: unitc [options] URI

• URI specifies the target in Unit's control API, e.g. /config .
• Configuration data is read from stdin.
• jq is used to prettify JSON output, if available.

Options
filename …	Read configuration data consequently from the specified files instead of stdin.
HTTP method	It is usually not required to specify a HTTP method. GET is used to read the configuration. PUT is used when making configuration changes unless a specific method is provided.
edit	Opens URI in the default editor for interactive configuration. The jq tool is required for this option.
INSERT	A virtual HTTP method that prepends data when the URI specifies an existing array. The jq tool is required for this option.
-f | --format YAML	Convert configuration data to/from YAML format. The yq tool is required for this option.
-q | --quiet	No output to stdout.

Options are case insensitive and can appear in any order. For example, a redundant part of the configuration can be identified by its URI, and followed by delete in a subsequent command.

Options may be combined. For example, edit -f yaml will open the configuration URI in a text editor, in YAML format.

Local Configuration

For local instances of Unit, the control socket is automatically detected. The error log is monitored; when changes occur, new log entries are shown.

Options
-l | --nolog	Do not monitor the error log after configuration changes.

Local Examples

unitc /config
unitc /config < unitconf.json
echo '{"*:8080": {"pass": "routes"}}' | unitc /config/listeners
unitc /config/applications/my_app DELETE
unitc /certificates/bundle cert.pem key.pem

Remote Configuration

For remote instances of NGINX Unit, the control socket on the remote host can be set with the $UNIT_CTRL environment variable. The remote control socket can be accessed over TCP, SSH, or Docker containers on the host, depending on the type of control socket:

• ssh://[user@]remote_host[:ssh_port]/path/to/control.socket
• http://remote_host:unit_control_port
• docker://container_ID[/path/to/control.socket]

Note: SSH is recommended for remote confguration. Consider the security implications of managing remote configuration over plaintext HTTP.

Options
ssh://…	Specify the remote Unix control socket on the command line.
http://…URI	For remote TCP control sockets, the URI may include the protocol, hostname, and port.
docker://…	Specify the local container ID/name. The default Unix control socket can be overridden.

Remote Examples

unitc http://192.168.0.1:8080/status
UNIT_CTRL=http://192.168.0.1:8080 unitc /status

export UNIT_CTRL=ssh://root@unithost/var/run/control.unit.sock
unitc /config/routes
cat catchall_route.json | unitc POST /config/routes
echo '{"match":{"uri":"/wp-admin/*"},"action":{"return":403}}' | unitc INSERT /config/routes

Docker Examples

unitc docker://d43251184c54 /config
echo '{"http": {"log_route": true}}' | unitc docker://d43251184c54 /settings
unitc docker://f4f3d9e918e6/root/unit.sock /control/applications/my_app/restart
UNIT_CTRL=docker://4d0431488982 unitc /status/requests/total

---