How to install and config Nginx in CentOS 7
NGINX is a free, open-source and powerful HTTP web server and reverse proxy with an event-driven architecture.
It is a high performance web server software. It is a much more flexible and lightweight program than Apache HTTP Server.
It also works as a reverse proxy, standard mail and TCP/UDP proxy server, and can additionally be configured as a load balancer. It is powering many sites on the web; well known for its high-performance, stability and feature-rich set.
In this article, we will explain how to install, configure and manage Nginx HTTP web server on a CentOS 7 server using command line.
System Requirements:
- CentOS 7.x server with minimal installation.
- root credentials.
Install Nginx Web Server
Step 1: Let update our server and packages to latest version.
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# yum -y update
Updating the server may takes, more time. Once the update completes reboot the server
Step 2: Now, we go with install Nginx HTTP server from the EPEL repository using the YUM package manager
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# yum install epel-release [root@newdelhihosting ~]# yum install nginx
================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================= Installing: nginx x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 529 k Installing for dependencies: fontconfig x86_64 2.10.95-11.el7 base 229 k fontpackages-filesystem noarch 1.44-8.el7 base 9.9 k freetype x86_64 24.11-15.el7 base 392 k gd x86_64 2.0.35-26.el7 base 146 k gperftools-libs x86_64 2.4-8.el7 base 272 k libX11 x86_64 2.6.5-1.el7 base 606 k libX11-common noarch 1.6.5-1.el7 base 164 k libXau x86_64 1.0.8-2.1.el7 base 29 k libXpm x86_64 3.5.12-1.el7 base 55 k libjpeg-turbo x86_64 1.2.90-5.el7 base 134 k libpng x86_64 2:1.5.13-7.el7_2 base 213 k libunwind x86_64 2:1.2-2.el7 base 57 k libxcb x86_64 1.12-1.el7 base 211 k libxslt x86_64 1.1.28-5.el7 base 242 k lyx-fonts noarch 2.2.3-1.el7 epel 159 k nginx-all-modules noarch 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 16 k nginx-filesystem noarch 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 17 k nginx-mod-http-geoip x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 23 k nginx-mod-http-image-filter x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 26 k nginx-mod-http-perl x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 35 k nginx-mod-http-xslt-filter x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 25 k nginx-mod-mail x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 53 k nginx-mod-stream x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 epel 76 k Transaction Summary ============================================ Install 1 Package (+23 Dependent packages) Total download size: 3.6 M Installed size: 11 M Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Dependency Installed: fontconfig.x86_64 0:2.10.95-11.el7 fontpackages-filesystem.noarch 0:1.44-8.el7 freetype.x86_64 0:2.4.11-15.el7 gd.x86_64 0:2.0.35-26.el7 gperftools-libs.x86_64 0:2.4-8.el7 libX11.x86_64 0:1.6.5-1.el7 libX11-common.noarch 0:1.6.5-1.el7 libXau.x86_64 0:1.0.8-2.1.el7 libXpm.x86_64 0:3.5.12-1.el7 libjpeg-turbo.x86_64 0:1.2.90-5.el7 libpng.x86_64 2:1.5.13-7.el7_2 libunwind.x86_64 2:1.2-2.el7 libxcb.x86_64 0:1.12-1.el7 libxslt.x86_64 0:1.1.28-5.el7 lyx-fonts.noarch 0:2.2.3-1.el7 nginx-all-modules.noarch 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-filesystem.noarch 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-mod-http-geoip.x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-mod-http-image-filter.x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-mod-http-perl.x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-mod-http-xslt-filter.x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-mod-mail.x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 nginx-mod-stream.x86_64 1:1.12.2-1.el7 Complete! [root@newdelhihosting ~]#
Now, Nginx is installed on the server.
Manage Nginx HTTP Server on CentOS 7
Step 3: Once Nginx web server installed, we can start it first time and enable it to start automatically at system boot.
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# systemctl start nginx [root@newdelhihosting ~]# systemctl enable nginx [root@newdelhihosting ~]# systemctl status nginx
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# systemctl status nginx ● nginx.service - The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: active (running) since Sat 2018-03-16 08:28:09 EET; 10s ago Main PID: 29730 (nginx) CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service ├─29730 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx ├─29731 nginx: worker process └─29732 nginx: worker process Mar 17 08:28:09 newdelhihosting.co.in systemd[1]: Starting The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server... Mar 17 08:28:09 newdelhihosting.co.in nginx[29724]: nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok Mar 17 08:28:09 newdelhihosting.co.in nginx[29724]: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful Mar 17 08:28:09 newdelhihosting.co.in systemd[1]: Started The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server. [root@newdelhihosting ~]#
Configure firewalld to allow Nginx and itsTraffic
Step 4: Enable firewalld and start the service.
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# systemctl enable firewalld [root@newdelhihosting ~]# systemctl status firewalld
By default, CentOS 7 built-in firewall is set to block Nginx traffic. To allow web traffic on Nginx, update the system firewall rules to permit inbound packets on HTTP and HTTPS using the commands below.
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http [root@newdelhihosting ~]# firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https [root@newdelhihosting ~]# firewall-cmd --reload
Test Nginx Server on CentOS 7
Step 5: Now, verify Nginx server by going to the following URL, a default nginx page will be shown.
http://domain_name.tld or IP_address
Creating Virtual Hosts in Nginx
A virtual host is a website that is served by Nginx in a single VPS or physical server. However, in the Nginx docs you will find the term “server blocks” instead, but they are basically the same thing called by different names.
The first step to set up virtual hosts is to create one or more server blocks in the main configuration file (/etc/nginx/nginx.conf) or inside /etc/nginx/sites-available.
Although the name of the configuration files in this directory(sites-available) can be set to whatever you want, it is an idea to use the name of the domains, and in addition we chose to add the .conf extension to indicate that these are configuration files.
These server blocks can be relatively complex, but in their basic form they consist of the following content:
In /etc/nginx/sites-available/newdelhosting.com.conf:
- First, we need to set up our directories where the server blocks will live.
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-available [root@newdelhihosting ~]# mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
Step 2: Now we need to tell NGINX to use look at those directories for the server blocks. Open the global NGINX configuration file in the text editor of your choice. We will use nano
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Now, Add the below lines at end of http section and save the file
include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf;
server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
As below
# Load modular configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory. # See http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#include # for more information. include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf; server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
Fine. Now, NGINX can recognize the server block.
Configuring the actual NGINX server blocks
Step 3: Create a new file specifically for the server block for your site. The line below will do this
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# /etc/nginx/sites-available/newdelhihosting.com.conf
and, add the below lines with your actual domain name
server {
listen 80;
server_name newdelhihosting.com www.newdelhihosting.com;
location / {
root /var/www/newdelhihosting.com/public_html;
index index.html index.htm;
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
location = /50x.html {
root html;
}
}
Step 4: Now, we need to create a symbolic link between sites-available and sites-enabled using the below command.
# ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/newdelhihosting.com.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/newdelhihosting.com.conf
Next, restart Nginx
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# nginx -t && systemctl start nginx
[root@newdelhihosting ~]# nginx -t && systemctl start nginx nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful [root@newdelhihosting ~]#
You’re done! Provided your DNS and/or hosts file is pointed for your domain, you should now be able to go to the domain in a web browser and see the test HTML page we created earlier.
