Install Nginx and host your first website

Nginx is a fast, lightweight web server and reverse proxy. It can serve a static site on its own, or sit in front of PHP, Node.js, Python or Docker apps.

1. Install Nginx

Ubuntu and Debian start it automatically:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx

AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux:

sudo dnf install -y nginx
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

2. Open the firewall

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'                       # UFW
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service={http,https} && sudo firewall-cmd --reload   # firewalld

Now visit http://203.0.113.25 in your browser. You should see the Nginx welcome page.

3. Create a folder for your site

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/html
echo '<h1>It works</h1>' | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/html/index.html

4. Add a server block

On Ubuntu and Debian, create /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com. On AlmaLinux and Rocky, create /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.com.conf. The content is the same:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;
    index index.html;

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

On Ubuntu and Debian, enable it with a symlink:

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

5. Test, then reload

Always test before reloading. A reload with a broken file is refused, but a restart would take the site down:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

6. Point your domain

Create an A record for example.com (and www) at your DNS provider with your server's IP. Once it resolves, the site loads by name. Then add HTTPS: Secure Nginx with a free Let's Encrypt certificate.

Where things live

• Logs: /var/log/nginx/access.log and /var/log/nginx/error.log.
• Main config: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.
• Follow errors live: sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log.

Troubleshooting

• Welcome page instead of your site: the server_name does not match the name in the browser, or (Ubuntu/Debian) the symlink in sites-enabled is missing.
• 403 Forbidden: Nginx cannot read the files or there is no index.html. Check permissions with namei -l /var/www/example.com/html/index.html. On AlmaLinux/Rocky, files moved in from elsewhere may have the wrong SELinux label: sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www.
• Page does not load at all: check the firewall (step 2) and that Nginx runs: systemctl status nginx.

Next steps

• Secure Nginx with Let's Encrypt
• Install WordPress on a LEMP stack