sites-available

Nginx Site Configuration Files

By default, Nginx uses /etc/nginx/sites-available/default as the default site configuration.

We can create new configuration files as needed (e.g., temp_api.conf) to specifically configure new API reverse proxies and static resource services.

Now, let's take a look at the contents of this file:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/default.conf

##
# You should look at the following URL's in order to grasp a solid understanding
# of Nginx configuration files in order to fully unleash the power of Nginx.
# https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/
# https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/tutorials/config_pitfalls/
# https://wiki.debian.org/Nginx/DirectoryStructure
#
# In most cases, administrators will remove this file from sites-enabled/ and
# leave it as reference inside of sites-available where it will continue to be
# updated by the nginx packaging team.
#
# This file will automatically load configuration files provided by other
# applications, such as Drupal or Wordpress. These applications will be made
# available underneath a path with that package name, such as /drupal8.
#
# Please see /usr/share/doc/nginx-doc/examples/ for more detailed examples.
##

# Default server configuration
#
server {
	listen 80 default_server;
	listen [::]:80 default_server;

	# SSL configuration
	#
	# listen 443 ssl default_server;
	# listen [::]:443 ssl default_server;
	#
	# Note: You should disable gzip for SSL traffic.
	# See: https://bugs.debian.org/773332
	#
	# Read up on ssl_ciphers to ensure a secure configuration.
	# See: https://bugs.debian.org/765782
	#
	# Self signed certs generated by the ssl-cert package
	# Don't use them in a production server!
	#
	# include snippets/snakeoil.conf;

	root /var/www/html;

	# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
	index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

	server_name _;

	location / {
		# First attempt to serve request as file, then
		# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
		try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
	}

	# pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
	#
	#location ~ \.php$ {
	#	include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
	#
	#	# With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
	#	fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
	#	# With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
	#	fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
	#}

	# deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
	# concurs with nginx's one
	#
	#location ~ /\.ht {
	#	deny all;
	#}
}


# Virtual Host configuration for example.com
#
# You can move that to a different file under sites-available/ and symlink that
# to sites-enabled/ to enable it.
#
#server {
#	listen 80;
#	listen [::]:80;
#
#	server_name example.com;
#
#	root /var/www/example.com;
#	index index.html;
#
#	location / {
#		try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
#	}
#}

Configuration File Overview

##
# You should look at the following URL's in order to grasp a solid understanding
# of Nginx configuration files in order to fully unleash the power of Nginx.
# https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/
# https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/tutorials/config_pitfalls/
# https://wiki.debian.org/Nginx/DirectoryStructure
#
# In most cases, administrators will remove this file from sites-enabled/ and
# leave it as reference inside of sites-available where it will continue to be
# updated by the nginx packaging team.
#
# This file will automatically load configuration files provided by other
# applications, such as Drupal or Wordpress.
#
# Please see /usr/share/doc/nginx-doc/examples/ for more detailed examples.
##

This section contains the author's "comment," providing some learning resources for Nginx configuration and suggesting that administrators keep this file in the sites-available/ directory as a reference. The actual running configuration should be loaded from the sites-enabled/ directory.

Since this advice comes from the developers, there is a reason behind it, so let's leave it as is and continue reading.

Default Server Configuration

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;

• listen 80 default_server;

  • The server listens on port 80 (HTTP) and is set as the "default server". This means that when there is no match for server_name, the request will be handled by this block.

• listen [::]:80 default_server;

  • This allows IPv6 requests to access the server on port 80 as well.

• Default Web Root and Homepage Settings

  	root /var/www/html;
  
  	# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
  	index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
  • root /var/www/html;
  • Sets the web root directory. All static files (HTML, CSS, JS) for requests will be served from this directory.
  • index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
  • Sets the default homepage files. If index.html exists, it will be served first; if not, it will look for index.htm. If neither exists, it will handle the request according to the location rules.

• Server Name Configuration

  	server_name _;
  • server_name _;
  • _ means that "any unmatched requests" will be handled by this server block.
  • It can be changed to a specific domain, such as server_name example.com;, to make this configuration apply only to example.com.

• Handling Static Resources and 404 Page

  	location / {
  		# First attempt to serve request as file, then
  		# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
  		try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
  	}
  • location / {}
  • Defines how requests to / (root) are handled.
  • try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
  • Attempts to:
    1. Serve $uri (the requested file, such as /index.html).
    2. If the request is for a directory, it checks if index.html exists in that directory ($uri/).
    3. If neither is found, it returns 404 Not Found.

FastCGI PHP Handling

tip

Default as Commented Out.

    # pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
    #
    #location ~ \.php$ {
    #    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    #
    #    # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
    #    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
    #    # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
    #    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    #}

This section is for FastCGI configuration, allowing Nginx to handle PHP requests and pass them to the PHP-FPM server.

• Enable PHP-FPM processing:
  • Uncomment the location ~ \.php$ block.
  • Ensure PHP-FPM is running at /run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock or 127.0.0.1:9000.

Restrict Access to .htaccess

tip

Default as Commented Out.

    # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
    # concurs with nginx's one
    #
    #location ~ /\.ht {
    #    deny all;
    #}

.htaccess is a configuration file used by Apache, and Nginx does not support .htaccess.

However, if Nginx and Apache coexist, this rule can be used to prevent .htaccess from being exposed to external access.

Example Virtual Host Configuration

tip

Default as Commented Out.

#server {
#    listen 80;
#    listen [::]:80;
#
#    server_name example.com;
#
#    root /var/www/example.com;
#    index index.html;
#
#    location / {
#        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
#    }
#}

This is an additional example of a virtual host configuration for the example.com website.

You can move this code to sites-available/example.com, then create a symbolic link to sites-enabled/ to enable it.

How to Enable/Disable This Configuration

Once the configuration file in sites-available is complete, you need to link it to sites-enabled for it to take effect.

For this default configuration file, on Ubuntu/Debian systems, use the following command to enable it:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

To disable it, first remove the symlink in sites-enabled:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Then reload Nginx:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

---

This default configuration file is typically used as the default Nginx website, suitable for testing if Nginx is running properly.

If you want to customize your website, it's recommended to "create a new configuration file" and enable the appropriate server_name settings.