Setting Up Nginx as a Web Server on Ubuntu

Nginx (pronounced "engine-x") is a powerful, open-source web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, HTTP cache, and load balancer. Known for its high performance, stability, rich feature set, and low resource consumption, Nginx is a popular choice for serving high-traffic websites. This guide will walk you through setting up Nginx as a basic web server on an Ubuntu system.

Why Choose Nginx?

• High Performance: Nginx excels at handling a large number of concurrent connections efficiently, making it ideal for busy sites.
• Low Resource Usage: It uses an asynchronous, event-driven architecture, which allows it to consume less memory and CPU compared to other web servers under heavy load.
• Scalability: Easily scales to serve static content or act as a reverse proxy for application servers.
• Modularity: Its modular design makes it flexible and extensible.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• An Ubuntu server (this guide uses Ubuntu 20.04/22.04, but steps are largely similar for other recent versions).
• A non-root user with sudo privileges.
• Basic understanding of the Linux command line.

Step 1: Update System Packages

It's always a good practice to update your package lists and upgrade any installed packages to their latest versions before installing new software.


Step 2: Install Nginx

Nginx is available in Ubuntu's default repositories, making installation straightforward.


Once the installation is complete, the Nginx service should start automatically. You can verify its status:


You should see output indicating active (running).

Step 3: Adjust Firewall Settings

If you have a firewall enabled (like UFW, which is common on Ubuntu), you'll need to allow traffic to Nginx. Nginx registers itself with UFW upon installation, providing several profiles:

• Nginx Full: Opens both port 80 (HTTP) and port 443 (HTTPS).
• Nginx HTTP: Opens only port 80 (HTTP).
• Nginx HTTPS: Opens only port 443 (HTTPS).

For a basic setup, we'll allow HTTP traffic:


The ufw status command should now show Nginx HTTP as allowed.

Step 4: Verify Nginx Installation

Open your web browser and navigate to your server's IP address or domain name. If Nginx is correctly installed and the firewall is configured, you should see the default Nginx welcome page:

http://your_server_ip

If you don't know your server's IP address, you can find it using:

(Replace eth0 with your network interface name if different, e.g., ens33.)

Step 5: Basic Nginx Configuration

Nginx configuration files are located in the /etc/nginx directory. The main configuration file is /etc/nginx/nginx.conf. Server block configurations (which define how Nginx responds to different domain names) are typically stored in /etc/nginx/sites-available/ and enabled by creating symbolic links to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/.

Let's create a simple custom web page.

1. Create a new directory for your website:
By default, Nginx serves content from /var/www/html. We'll create a new directory for our example site.


2. Create an index.html file:


3. Set proper permissions:
The web server process usually runs as the www-data user, so it needs read access to your site files.


4. Create a new server block configuration file:
Copy the default configuration as a starting point.


Now, edit the new configuration file:


Modify the server block to look something like this. Replace your_server_ip_or_domain with your actual IP address or domain name.

* listen 80;: Nginx will listen for incoming connections on port 80 (HTTP).
* root /var/www/my_example_site/html;: Specifies the root directory where Nginx should look for files.
* index index.html;: Defines the default file Nginx should serve when a directory is requested.
* server_name your_server_ip_or_domain;: This is crucial. It tells Nginx which domain name this server block should respond to.
* location / { ... }: Defines how Nginx should handle requests for files that don't directly match a file on disk. try_files attempts to serve the requested URI, then the URI as a directory, and finally returns a 404 error.

Save and close the file (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter for Nano).

5. Enable the new server block:
Create a symbolic link from your sites-available file to the sites-enabled directory. This tells Nginx to use this configuration.


6. Disable the default Nginx server block:
It's good practice to disable the default block when you have custom ones to avoid conflicts.


7. Test Nginx configuration:
Always test your configuration for syntax errors before reloading Nginx.

You should see syntax is ok and test is successful.

8. Reload Nginx:
Apply the changes by reloading the Nginx service.


Now, navigate to your server's IP address or domain name in your browser again. You should see your custom Welcome to My Example Site! message.

Managing the Nginx Service

You can manage the Nginx service using systemctl:

• Start Nginx: sudo systemctl start nginx
• Stop Nginx: sudo systemctl stop nginx
• Restart Nginx: sudo systemctl restart nginx (Stops and then starts the service)
• Reload Nginx: sudo systemctl reload nginx (Loads new configuration without dropping connections)
• Disable Nginx on boot: sudo systemctl disable nginx
• Enable Nginx on boot: sudo systemctl enable nginx

Conclusion

You have successfully installed and configured Nginx to serve a basic static website on your Ubuntu server. This is just the beginning; Nginx can do much more, including serving multiple domains, configuring SSL/TLS for HTTPS, acting as a reverse proxy for application servers (like Node.js, Python, PHP-FPM), load balancing, and caching. Explore the official Nginx documentation to unlock its full potential.