NGINX is a powerful, high-performance web server often used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache. Setting up NGINX as a reverse proxy allows you to host multiple websites on a single server efficiently. In this guide, you’ll learn how to configure NGINX as a reverse proxy for multiple domains, complete with detailed commands and explanations.<\/p>\n
Before you start, ensure you have:<\/p>\n
First, update your package list and install NGINX:<\/p>\n
sudo apt update
\nsudo apt install nginx -y<\/p><\/blockquote>\nOnce installed, verify that NGINX is running:<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl status nginx<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If it’s not running, start and enable the service:<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl start nginx
\nsudo systemctl enable nginx<\/p><\/blockquote>\nStep 2: Configure the Firewall<\/h3>\n
Allow NGINX traffic through the UFW firewall to enable HTTP and HTTPS access:<\/p>\n
sudo ufw allow ‘Nginx Full’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Then, verify the firewall status:<\/p>\n
sudo ufw status<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Step 3: Set Up Directories for Each Website<\/h3>\n
Create directories for each website you plan to host:<\/p>\n
sudo mkdir -p \/var\/www\/site1.com\/html
\nsudo mkdir -p \/var\/www\/site2.com\/html<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSet the correct permissions to allow NGINX to access these files:<\/p>\n
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER \/var\/www\/site1.com\/html
\nsudo chown -R $USER:$USER \/var\/www\/site2.com\/html<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd assign proper read permissions:<\/p>\n
sudo chmod -R 755 \/var\/www<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Step 4: Create Sample Web Pages<\/h3>\n
For testing, create simple HTML pages for both sites:<\/p>\n
echo ‘<h1>Welcome to Site1.com!<\/h1>’ | sudo tee \/var\/www\/site1.com\/html\/index.html
\necho ‘<h1>Welcome to Site2.com!<\/h1>’ | sudo tee \/var\/www\/site2.com\/html\/index.html<\/p><\/blockquote>\nStep 5: Configure NGINX Server Blocks<\/h3>\n
NGINX uses server blocks (similar to Apache’s virtual hosts) to manage multiple domains. Create configuration files for each domain:<\/p>\n
For site1.com:<\/strong><\/p>\n
sudo nano \/etc\/nginx\/sites-available\/site1.com<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Add the following configuration:<\/p>\n
server {
\nlisten 80;
\nserver_name site1.com www.site1.com;
\nroot \/var\/www\/site1.com\/html;
\nindex index.html;<\/p>\nlocation \/ {
\ntry_files $uri $uri\/ =404;
\n}
\n}<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFor site2.com:<\/strong><\/p>\n
sudo nano \/etc\/nginx\/sites-available\/site2.com<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And add:<\/p>\n
server {
\nlisten 80;
\nserver_name site2.com www.site2.com;
\nroot \/var\/www\/site2.com\/html;
\nindex index.html;<\/p>\nlocation \/ {
\ntry_files $uri $uri\/ =404;
\n}
\n}<\/p><\/blockquote>\nStep 6: Enable Server Blocks<\/h3>\n
Enable both sites by creating symbolic links to the
sites-enabled<\/code> directory:<\/p>\nsudo ln -s \/etc\/nginx\/sites-available\/site1.com \/etc\/nginx\/sites-enabled\/
\nsudo ln -s \/etc\/nginx\/sites-available\/site2.com \/etc\/nginx\/sites-enabled\/<\/p><\/blockquote>\nTest the NGINX configuration for syntax errors:<\/p>\n
sudo nginx -t<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If the test is successful, reload NGINX to apply the changes:<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl reload nginx<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Step 7: Test Your Configuration<\/h3>\n
Open your browser and visit
http:\/\/site1.com<\/code> andhttp:\/\/site2.com<\/code>. You should see the respective welcome messages.<\/p>\nOptional: Enabling HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt<\/h3>\n
For better security, enable HTTPS using Certbot:<\/p>\n
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
\nsudo certbot –nginx -d site1.com -d www.site1.com
\nsudo certbot –nginx -d site2.com -d www.site2.com<\/p><\/blockquote>\nVerify automatic renewal:<\/p>\n
sudo certbot renew –dry-run<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n
Congratulations! You’ve successfully configured NGINX as a reverse proxy to host multiple websites on a single server. This setup is highly scalable and can be extended to support additional domains as needed. Make sure to regularly update your server and NGINX configuration for optimal security and performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction NGINX is a powerful, high-performance web server often used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache. Setting up NGINX as a reverse proxy allows you to host multiple websites on a single server efficiently. In this guide, you’ll learn how to configure NGINX as a reverse proxy for multiple domains, complete with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,14],"tags":[119,122,62,121,120,75,21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":722,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions\/722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumweb.hosting\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}