How to install Nginx web server on CentOS, Debian & Ubuntu Cloud Servers

2020-06-19 By Robert 13791 Views linux nginx development
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The Nginx is a free, open-source, lightweight and high-performance web server designed for high-traffic use cases. It is also acting as a popular Web server behind the Apache Web server and Microsoft’s IIS. Nginx is more resource-friendly than Apache. It can be served in front of other web servers as a reverse proxy.


All Nginx configuration files are stored in the /etc/nginx/ directory and /etc/nginx/nginx.conf is the primary configuration file.

The default server root directory in CentOS is /usr/share/nginx/html and in Ubuntu and Debian it is /var/www/html.

Also, any additional server block (virtual hosts in Apache2) for a website can be added in the location /etc/nginx/conf.d.


See the instructions for installing, configuring and testing the Nginx server on CentOS, Debian and Ubuntu below.


Start to install Nginx


CentOS 7 & 8

  1. Run the following commands to install Nginx:

    # yum install epel-release
    
    # yum install nginx
    

    nginx1

    nginx2

  2. Nginx does not start automatically even after the installation is completed. Run the following command to start the Nginx process.

    # systemctl start nginx
    

    nginx3

  3. Run the following command to make sure the service is running.

    # systemctl status nginx
    

    nginx4

  4. Run the following command to restart Nginx.

    # systemctl restart nginx
    

    nginx5


CentOS 6

  1. Run the following commands to install Nginx:

    # yum install epel-release
    
    # yum install nginx
    

    nginx6

    nginx7

  2. Nginx does not start automatically even after the installation is completed. Run the following command to start the Nginx process.

    # service nginx start
    
  3. Run the following command to make sure the service is running:

    # service nginx status
    

    nginx8

  4. Run the following command to restart Nginx.

    # service nginx restart
    

    nginx9


Ubuntu / Debian

  1. Run the following command to install Nginx.

    # apt update
    
    # apt install nginx
    

    nginx10

    nginx11

  2. Nginx does not start automatically even after the installation is completed. Run the following command to start the Nginx process.

    # /etc/init.d/nginx start
    

    nginx12

  3. Run the following command to make sure the service is running.

    # /etc/init.d/nginx status
    

    nginx13

  4. Run the following command to restart Nginx:

    # /etc/init.d/nginx restart
    

    nginx14

  5. After installation is completed, you can check whether the Nginx is installed or not by entering a server IP address into your browser’s address bar:

    http://your_server_ip
    


    You can see the default Nginx web page as shown below if it is successfully installed.

    nginx15


To Configure Nginx

The default Nginx configuration files are kept in /etc/nginx/sites-available and it is symbolically linked with /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/. Commonly needs to create a separate file in the sites-available directory for each domain/subdomain and set up a symlink in the sites-enabled directory.


  1. Remove the symlink in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ to disable the default configuration file.

    # unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
    

    nginx16

  2. Create a new directory and the configuration file for the website and add the below configurations in the configuration file and save. Also, create a basic index file in /var/www/layerstack.com.

    # vi /var/www/layerstack.com/index.html
    

    nginx17

    # mkdir /var/www/layerstack.com
    
    # vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/layerstack.com
    

    nginx18

    server {
    listen  80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name layerstack.com;
    root /var/www/layerstack.com
    index index.html;
    location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
    }
    

    nginx19

  3. Create a new symlink to the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ directory for enabling the configuration.

    # ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/layerstack.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
    

    nginx16


To Test Nginx


  1. The below command is used to test the configuration for errors.

    # nginx -t
    

    nginx18

  2. Reload the configuration using the below command.

    # nginx -s reload
    

    nginx22

    NOTE: Replace the website name layerstack.com with the original website name

  3. Now load the website name/ IP address in a browser and the index page will load.

    nginx23


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