How to remove ETag in nginx from the response header?

Question

I want to remove the ETag from my response header. I am using a nginx server. I have looked through various posts and blogs but could not find the correct way to remove it. All I could find regarding removing ETag was what's given in the official documentation but could not make exactly how to use it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I added the "etag off" to my file at path "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf" within the http blocknginx.conf

I reloaded my nginx server using the command "service nginx reload" but even after that my application returned the Etags in my response header.Response Header

    nginx: [warn] conflicting server name "ndfsy.example.com" on 0.0.0.0:80, ignored
nginx: [warn] conflicting server name "www.jhvdshjfy.example.com" on 0.0.0.0:80, ignored
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
# configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:
user www-data;
worker_processes auto;
pid /run/nginx.pid;

events {
    worker_connections 768;
    # multi_accept on;
}

http {



    ##
    # Basic Settings
    ##

    sendfile on;
    tcp_nopush on;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    keepalive_timeout 65;
    types_hash_max_size 2048;
    # server_tokens off;
    etag off;

    # server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
    # server_name_in_redirect off;

    include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
    default_type application/octet-stream;

    ##
    # SSL Settings
    ##

    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2; # Dropping SSLv3, ref: POODLE
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    ##
    # Logging Settings
    ##

    access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

    ##
    # Gzip Settings
    ##

    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";

    # gzip_vary on;
    # gzip_proxied any;
    # gzip_comp_level 6;
    # gzip_buffers 16 8k;
    # gzip_http_version 1.1;
    # gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;

    ##
    # Virtual Host Configs
    ##

    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;

}


#mail {
#   # See sample authentication script at:
#   # http://wiki.nginx.org/ImapAuthenticateWithApachePhpScript
#
#   # auth_http localhost/auth.php;
#   # pop3_capabilities "TOP" "USER";
#   # imap_capabilities "IMAP4rev1" "UIDPLUS";
#
#   server {
#       listen     localhost:110;
#       protocol   pop3;
#       proxy      on;
#   }
#
#   server {
#       listen     localhost:143;
#       protocol   imap;
#       proxy      on;
#   }
#}

# configuration file /etc/nginx/mime.types:

types {
    text/html                             html htm shtml;
    text/css                              css;
    text/xml                              xml;
    image/gif                             gif;
    image/jpeg                            jpeg jpg;
    application/javascript                js;
    application/atom+xml                  atom;
    application/rss+xml                   rss;

    text/mathml                           mml;
    text/plain                            txt;
    text/vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor      jad;
    text/vnd.wap.wml                      wml;
    text/x-component                      htc;

    image/png                             png;
    image/tiff                            tif tiff;
    image/vnd.wap.wbmp                    wbmp;
    image/x-icon                          ico;
    image/x-jng                           jng;
    image/x-ms-bmp                        bmp;
    image/svg+xml                         svg svgz;
    image/webp                            webp;

    application/font-woff                 woff;
    application/java-archive              jar war ear;
    application/json                      json;
    application/mac-binhex40              hqx;
    application/msword                    doc;
    application/pdf                       pdf;
    application/postscript                ps eps ai;
    application/rtf                       rtf;
    application/vnd.apple.mpegurl         m3u8;
    application/vnd.ms-excel              xls;
    application/vnd.ms-fontobject         eot;
    application/vnd.ms-powerpoint         ppt;
    application/vnd.wap.wmlc              wmlc;
    application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml  kml;
    application/vnd.google-earth.kmz      kmz;
    application/x-7z-compressed           7z;
    application/x-cocoa                   cco;
    application/x-java-archive-diff       jardiff;
    application/x-java-jnlp-file          jnlp;
    application/x-makeself                run;
    application/x-perl                    pl pm;
    application/x-pilot                   prc pdb;
    application/x-rar-compressed          rar;
    application/x-redhat-package-manager  rpm;
    application/x-sea                     sea;
    application/x-shockwave-flash         swf;
    application/x-stuffit                 sit;
    application/x-tcl                     tcl tk;
    application/x-x509-ca-cert            der pem crt;
    application/x-xpinstall               xpi;
    application/xhtml+xml                 xhtml;
    application/xspf+xml                  xspf;
    application/zip                       zip;

    application/octet-stream              bin exe dll;
    application/octet-stream              deb;
    application/octet-stream              dmg;
    application/octet-stream              iso img;
    application/octet-stream              msi msp msm;

    application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document    docx;
    application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet          xlsx;
    application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation  pptx;

    audio/midi                            mid midi kar;
    audio/mpeg                            mp3;
    audio/ogg                             ogg;
    audio/x-m4a                           m4a;
    audio/x-realaudio                     ra;

    video/3gpp                            3gpp 3gp;
    video/mp2t                            ts;
    video/mp4                             mp4;
    video/mpeg                            mpeg mpg;
    video/quicktime                       mov;
    video/webm                            webm;
    video/x-flv                           flv;
    video/x-m4v                           m4v;
    video/x-mng                           mng;
    video/x-ms-asf                        asx asf;
    video/x-ms-wmv                        wmv;
    video/x-msvideo                       avi;
}

# configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default:
# IP Redirection configuration
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name 161.202.19.190;
    return 301 $scheme://exampel.com$request_uri;
}
# http Redirection configuration
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name abc.demo.com www.example.demo.com;
    rewrite ^/(.*) https://example.com/$1 permanent;
}
server {
        listen 80;
        server_name abc.com www.example.com;
        rewrite ^/(.*) https://example.com/403 permanent;
}
# Default server configuration
# Note: There can only be one default server block
server {
        listen 80 default_server;
        listen [::]:80 default_server;
    listen 443 ssl;
        client_max_body_size 51M;
    client_header_buffer_size 2048k;
    large_client_header_buffers 4 2048k;
      proxy_connect_timeout   300s;
proxy_read_timeout        300s;
proxy_send_timeout        300s;
    proxy_buffer_size   2048k;
    proxy_buffers   4 2048k;
    proxy_busy_buffers_size   2048k;

        root /var/www/html;


 proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

        # Secure NGINX from Clickjacking attack
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";

        server_name example.com www.example.com;
        ssl_certificate /home/devops/key/example.com.chained.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /home/devops/key/example.com.key;

        underscores_in_headers on;

    # disable SSLv3(enabled by default since nginx 0.8.19) since it's less secure then TLS
        ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
        # enables server-side protection from BEAST attacks
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
        # ciphers chosen for forward secrecy and compatibility
    ssl_ciphers 'xxxxx+xxxxx:xxx+xxxxx:xxxxx+xxxxx:xxxxx+xxx';

    # don't send the nginx version number in error pages and Server header
    server_tokens off;

    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";


        location / {
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4801;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_pass_request_headers on;

 #proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                #proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
                #proxy_set_header Host $host;
                #proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        }
}

# API Server Configuration
server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    root /var/www/html;

    proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

        # Secure NGINX from Clickjacking attack
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";

        server_name developer.abc.com www.developer.abc.com;
    underscores_in_headers on;

    location / {
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4802;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_pass_request_headers on;
                #proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                #proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
                #proxy_set_header Host $host;
                #proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        }
}
server {
        #listen 80;
        #listen [::]:80;

    listen 443 ssl;

        root /var/www/html;

        proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

        # Secure NGINX from Clickjacking attack
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";

        server_name api-test.abc.com www.api-test.abc.com;
        ssl_certificate /home/devops/key/abc.com.chained.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /home/devops/key/abc.com.key;

        underscores_in_headers on;

        ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
        ssl_ciphers 'xxxxx+xxxxx:xxx+xxxxx:xxxxx+xxxxx:xxxxx+xxx';

    error_page 403 /403;
        location /403{
        default_type application/json;
                return 403 '{"statusCode":403,"error":"Forbidden Request","message":"Only https request are allowed"}';
        }

        location / {
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4803;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_pass_request_headers on;
                #proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                #proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
                #proxy_set_header Host $host;
                #proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        }
}

This is the response from nginx -T

Solution

Just add etag off; in the http block of your nginx config

Comments

[Shubhanshoo Agarwal]

I added this but still my application is showing the Etags in the response header. Please check the edited question. I have added images to give an idea as to what exactly I am doing.

[Tarun Lalwani]

Post output of nginx -T in your question

[Shubhanshoo Agarwal]

The output of nginx -T has been addded in the question please take a look

[Tarun Lalwani]

Can you do a curl -I http://127.0.0.1:4801 and see if the ETag is being returned by the proxied site?

[Shubhanshoo Agarwal]

Using curl -I http://127.0.0.1:4801 etag was not returned. Could you help me further.

[Binar Web]

I've added etag off; in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf under http section and it works perfectly. Thanks!

[jjoselon]

Do you reload nginx server to take changes ?

[Tarun Lalwani]

Reload is always needed after a config change