Nginx Configuration Essentials

Test nginx configuration

sudo nginx -t

Reload nginx

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Or:

sudo nginx -s reload

Restart nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Stop nginx

sudo systemctl stop nginx

View nginx version

nginx -v

Check nginx status

sudo systemctl status nginx

View error logs

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

View access logs

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

Basic server block (virtual host)

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    root /var/www/example;
    index index.html;

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

Reverse proxy

location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
}

SSL configuration

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name example.com;
    
    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/key.pem;
}

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

Enable gzip compression

gzip on;
gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript;