Installation

Installation on Ubuntu

1. Update Package List

sudo apt update

Fetches the latest package information.

2. Install NGINX

sudo apt install nginx -y

• Downloads and installs NGINX
• Automatically installs dependencies

3. Start NGINX

sudo systemctl start nginx

4. Enable NGINX at Boot

sudo systemctl enable nginx

Ensures NGINX starts automatically after system reboot. 5. Check Status

sudo systemctl status nginx

Expected Output: Active (running)

Verify NGINX Installation

1. Open Browser
   • Visit: http://localhost
   • or your server IP: http://<server-ip>
2. Default Page
   • You should see: “Welcome to nginx!”
   • This confirms NGINX is installed correctly.

Important NGINX Directories & Files

Path	Purpose
/etc/nginx/nginx.conf	Main config file
/etc/nginx/sites-available/	Virtual host configs
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/	Enabled sites
/var/www/html	Default web root
/var/log/nginx/access.log	Access logs
/var/log/nginx/error.log	Error logs

Understanding nginx.conf

user www-data;
worker_processes auto;

events {
    worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
    include mime.types;

    server {
        listen 80;
        location / {
            root /var/www/html;
            index index.html;
        }
    }
}

• worker_processes auto → Uses CPU cores efficiently
• events → Connection handling
• http → HTTP server configuration
• server → Virtual host
• location → URL handling

Create a Simple Website

1. Create Website Directory sudo mkdir /var/www/mysite
2. Create an HTML File sudo nano /var/www/mysite/index.html
3. Set Permissions sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/mysite

Configure a Server Block (Virtual Host)

1. Create Config File sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite
2. Configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mysite.local;

    root /var/www/mysite;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

• listen 80 → HTTP port
• server_name → Domain name
• root → Website location
• try_files → Prevents invalid URLs

3. Enable the Site

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite \
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

4. Test Configuration

sudo nginx -t

5. Reload NGINX

sudo systemctl reload nginx

6. Access the Website Add to /etc/hosts (local machine):

127.0.0.1 mysite.local

Open browser:

http://mysite.local

Basic Troubleshooting

• Port Already in Use sudo lsof -i :80
• Check Logs tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log