To deny specific URL access in an Odoo web application using Nginx and serve Odoo’s custom 404 error page instead, you can follow these steps. This approach involves configuring Nginx to intercept requests to specific URLs and respond with a 404 error, while using Odoo’s custom 404 error template for a consistent user experience.

Steps to Deny URL Access and Serve Custom 404 Error Page

1. Locate or Create Odoo’s Custom 404 Error Page:

• Ensure Odoo has a custom 404 error template. Typically, Odoo’s default 404 page is located in the addons/web/views directory (e.g., 404.xml or 404.html).
• If you want a specific custom 404 page, you can create or modify the existing one.

1. Configure Nginx to Serve 404 Error for Specific URLs:

• Update your Nginx configuration file to intercept the specific URLs you want to deny and return a 404 status code.
• Use Nginx’s location directive to match the specific URLs or patterns.

1. Map Nginx’s 404 Handling to Odoo’s Custom 404 Page:

• Ensure Nginx serves Odoo’s custom 404 page when a 404 error is returned.

Detailed Configuration Steps

1. Modify Nginx Configuration

1. Open Your Nginx Configuration File:

• Typically, the configuration file is located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf or /etc/nginx/sites-available/default.
• You might have a specific configuration file for your Odoo site in /etc/nginx/sites-available/ or /etc/nginx/conf.d/.

1. Add Location Blocks for URL Denial:

• Define location blocks for each URL or URL pattern you want to deny access to.
• Use return 404 to immediately respond with a 404 status for these URLs. Example configuration to deny access to /secret and any URL pattern starting with /private:

   server {
       listen 80;
       server_name yourdomain.com;

       # Existing Odoo server configuration
       location / {
           proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8069;
           proxy_set_header Host $host;
           proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
           proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
           proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
           proxy_redirect off;
       }

       # Deny access to specific URLs
       location = /secret {
           return 404;
       }

       location ~ ^/private/ {
           return 404;
       }

       # Error page handling
       error_page 404 /custom_404_page;

       location = /custom_404_page {
           # Serving the custom 404 page from Odoo
           proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8069/404;
           proxy_set_header Host $host;
           proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
           proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
           proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
       }
   }

In this example:

• The location block for /secret and /private/* immediately returns a 404 error.
• The error_page directive maps 404 errors to a custom page served by Odoo.

2. Reload Nginx

After making the changes to your Nginx configuration file, you need to reload Nginx to apply the new settings:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

• The nginx -t command tests the configuration file for syntax errors.
• If there are no errors, systemctl reload nginx will reload the configuration without restarting the server.

Additional Tips

• Custom 404 Page Styling: Ensure that the custom 404 page served by Odoo is styled according to your web application’s theme for a seamless user experience.
• Performance Considerations: For high-traffic sites, consider caching the 404 responses to reduce load on the Odoo backend.
• Security: Avoid exposing sensitive information in the URL patterns or 404 pages. Keep the denied URLs and custom 404 pages generic to avoid leaking system details.

Conclusion

Implementing Nginx’s custom 404 error page to deny URL access in Odoo server solution is an effective way to increase security and control access. You can follow all of these steps, including configuring the Nginx to handle specific URL denials and redirecting to Odoo’s custom 404 error page. This method enables you to tailor access control and error handling in your Odoo web application while leveraging the power and flexibility of Nginx as your web server.