How to Install NGINX: Step-by-Step Guide

This blog on “How to Install NGINX on Ubuntu 20.04 “discusses about NGINX, a high-performance web server that can also act as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache. It is widely used by many websites, such as Netflix, Hulu, and GitHub. If you want to host your own website or web application on Ubuntu 20.04, NGINX is a great choice. In this blog, you will learn How to Install NGINX On Ubuntu 20.04 and also learn how to create server blocks, set up firewall, and manage the NGINX process.

Table of Contents

1) What is NGINX?

2) Steps to Install and Configure Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04

  a) Step 1: Installation of Nginx

  b) Step 2: Firewall Configuration

  c) Step 3: Verification of Your Web Server

  d) Step 4: Administration of the Nginx Process

  e) Step 5: Configuration of Server Blocks (Recommended)

  f) Step 6: Acquainting Yourself with Crucial Nginx Files & Directories

3) Conclusion

What is NGINX?

NGINX is an open-source web server that was created in 2004 by Igor Sysoev, a Russian software engineer. He designed NGINX to handle high concurrency and low memory usage, making it an ideal choice for serving static and dynamic content. However, if you are considering Nginx Alternatives, you may want to explore options like Apache or LiteSpeed, depending on your specific needs.

NGINX also supports many features, such as SSL/TLS encryption, HTTP/2, gzip compression, caching, proxying, and load balancing. NGINX is one of the most popular web servers in the world, powering over 40% of the top 10,000 websites. Installing Docker on Ubuntu makes it easier to deploy NGINX in a containerized environment, simplifying setup and management.

Steps to Install and Configure Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04

To install and configure NGINX on Ubuntu 20.04, you will need to perform the following steps:

Step 1: Installation of Nginx

(100 words) The easiest way to install NGINX on Ubuntu 20.04 is to use the official Ubuntu repositories. To do this, you will need to update your system’s package index and then install the nginx package. You can do this by running the following commands in your terminal:

This will install the latest stable version of NGINX on your system. You can verify the installation by checking the NGINX version with the command:

You should see something like this:

Step 2: Firewall Configuration

Before you can access your web server from the internet, you will need to configure your firewall to allow incoming HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Ubuntu 20.04 comes with a firewall called UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall), which is easy to use and manage. To enable UFW, you can run the command:

To allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic, you can run the commands:

You can check the status of your firewall with the command:

You should see something like this:

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Step 3: Verification of Your Web Server

(100 words) Now that you have installed and configured NGINX on your system, you can verify that your web server is working properly. To do this, you can open your web browser and type your server’s IP address or domain name in the address bar. You should see the default NGINX welcome page, which looks something like this:

If you see this page, congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured NGINX on Ubuntu 20.04. If you don’t see this page, you may need to check your firewall settings, your network configuration, or your DNS records.

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Step 4: Administration of the Nginx Process

To manage the NGINX process on your system, you can use the systemctl command, which is a tool for controlling systemd services. systemd is the system and service manager for Linux, which handles the initialisation and management of processes. With the systemctl command, you can start, stop, restart, reload, enable, disable, and check the status of the NGINX service. Here are some examples of how to use the systemctl command with NGINX:

To start the NGINX service, you can run the command:

To stop the NGINX service, you can run the command:

To restart the NGINX service, you can run the command:

To reload the NGINX service, you can run the command:

Reloading the service is useful when you make changes to the NGINX configuration files, as it will apply the changes without interrupting the existing connections.

To enable the NGINX service to start automatically on boot, you can run the command:

To disable the NGINX service from starting automatically on boot, you can run the command:

To check the status of the NGINX service, you can run the command:

You should see something like this:

Step 5: Configuration of Server Blocks (Recommended)

Server blocks are a feature of NGINX that allow you to host multiple domains or websites on a single server. Each server block defines the configuration for a specific domain or website, such as the document root, the server name, the SSL certificates, the error pages, and the location blocks. Location blocks are used to define how NGINX should handle requests for different URIs within a server block.

For example, if your domain is example.com, you can create a file called example.com. In this file, you will write the configuration for your server block, following the NGINX syntax rules. Here is an example of a basic server block for example.com:

This server block tells NGINX to listen on port 80 for both IPv4 and IPv6, to use /var/www/example.com/html as the document root, to look for index files in the document root, to accept requests for example.com and www.example.com, and to serve the requested files or return a 404 error if not found.

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Step 6: Acquainting Yourself with Crucial Nginx Files & Directories

NGINX has a modular and hierarchical configuration structure, which means that it consists of multiple files and directories that are included or referenced by each other. Understanding the purpose and location of these files and directories is crucial, especially when preparing for Nginx interview questions, as they will help you customize and optimize your web server effectively. Here are some of the most important NGINX files and directories on Ubuntu 20.04:

/etc/nginx: This is the main directory that contains all the configuration files and directories for NGINX.

/etc/nginx/nginx.conf: This is the main configuration file for NGINX, which defines the global settings and parameters for the web server. It also includes other configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d and /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directories.

/etc/nginx/conf.d: This directory contains additional configuration files that are included by the /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file. You can use this directory to store configuration files for specific modules or features, such as SSL, gzip, or caching.

/etc/nginx/sites-available: This directory contains the configuration files for the server blocks, which define the settings for each domain or website that you host on your server. You can create as many server blocks as you need in this directory, but they will not be active until you enable them by creating a symbolic link to the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory.

/etc/nginx/sites-enabled: This directory contains the symbolic links to the configuration files for the server blocks that are active on your server. You can enable or disable a server block by creating or removing a symbolic link to the /etc/nginx/sites-available directory.

Conclusion

In this blog, you have learned How to Install NGINX on Ubuntu 20.04. You have also learned how to set up firewall, verify your web server, manage the NGINX process, and create server blocks for multiple domains. Additionally, if you're preparing for technical roles, exploring common NGINX Interview Questions can provide valuable insights. You have also acquainted yourself with the crucial NGINX files and directories.

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