How to install Nginx

Need a fast web server? Nginx is perfect for your VPS. It's lightweight, handles lots of traffic, and is easy to configure. Let's get it running with multiple websites.

Step 1: Update System

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum update -y

Step 2: Install Nginx

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install nginx -y

CentOS/RHEL 8+:

sudo dnf install nginx -y

CentOS/RHEL 7:

sudo yum install nginx -y

Step 3: Start and Enable

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl status nginx

Should show "active (running)".

Step 4: Configure Firewall

Allow HTTP and HTTPS:

Ubuntu/Debian (UFW):

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

CentOS/RHEL (firewalld):

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

Step 5: Test Installation

Visit in browser:

http://your-server-ip

You should see the Nginx welcome page.

Step 6: Nginx Directory Structure

Important directories:

/etc/nginx/ - Configuration files
/var/www/html/ - Default web root
/var/log/nginx/ - Log files
/usr/share/nginx/html/ - Default files (CentOS)

Step 7: Create Your First Website

1. Create website directory:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/html

2. Set permissions:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/example.com/html
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/example.com

3. Create test page:

nano /var/www/example.com/html/index.html

Add:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Welcome to Example.com!</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Success! Nginx is working.</h1>
    <p>This is your first website on ITITAN Hosting.</p>
</body>
</html>

Step 8: Create Virtual Host (Server Block)

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

CentOS/RHEL:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.com.conf

Add this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/example.com/html;
    index index.html index.htm;
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
    
    # Deny access to .htaccess files
    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Enable site (Ubuntu/Debian only):

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 9: Test and Reload

# Test configuration
sudo nginx -t

# If syntax is OK, reload
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 10: Test Your Website

Visit http://your-server-ip (or your domain if DNS is set).

Step 11: Basic Performance Tuning

Edit main config:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Inside http block, add:

# Basic performance settings
client_max_body_size 100M;
keepalive_timeout 65;
types_hash_max_size 2048;

# Gzip compression
gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_min_length 1024;
gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml text/javascript 
           application/javascript application/xml+rss application/json;

Restart:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 12: Set Up PHP with Nginx (Optional)

Install PHP-FPM:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql -y

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo dnf install php-fpm php-mysqlnd -y

Configure Nginx for PHP:

Edit your site config, add:

location ~ \.php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;  # Ubuntu/Debian
    # include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;  # CentOS/RHEL
    
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;  # Adjust version
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
}

Test PHP:

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/example.com/html/info.php

Visit http://your-server-ip/info.php (remove after testing!).

Common Issues

"Nginx won't start"

# Check error logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# Test config
sudo nginx -t

"403 Forbidden"

# Check permissions
sudo ls -la /var/www/example.com/

# Fix ownership
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com  # Ubuntu
sudo chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/example.com        # CentOS

"502 Bad Gateway"

# Check PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl status php-fpm

# Check socket
ls -la /var/run/php/

Useful Commands

Check Nginx version:

nginx -v

Reload configuration (no downtime):

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Check active connections:

sudo netstat -anp | grep nginx

View access logs:

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

Security Tips

Remove default Nginx page
Hide Nginx version in headers
Set up proper file permissions
Regular updates: sudo apt upgrade nginx

That's it! Your Nginx server is ready to host websites. 🎉

Last updated 2 months ago