Recently, magnetic nanotubes have attracted great attention owing to the advantages of tubular geometry. Of all the physical properties of magnetic nanotubes, the magnetic behavior plays a pivotal role in potential applications, particularly in biotechnology. Modeling magnetic nanotubes provides an effective way to determine the geometry dependent magnetic properties. In the present article, we model the nanotube as a chain of ellipsoid-rings; thus the magnetic behavior of nanotubes is simulated by the fanning rotation of magnetic moments. Based on this model, we further discuss the influence of tubular geometric parameters on the magnetic properties. The calculated magnetic properties of Fe, Co, Ni, Fe3O4 and CoFe2O4 nanotubes are all consistent with their experimental data. Consequently, our model provides an easy and general approach to magnetic nanotubes.