Create and Configure a New Domain with Nginx
Steps to prepare a new domain with Nginx on Debian-based systems.
Requirements
- Debian 9 (Stretch)
- Nginx installed
1. Create the Site Directory
Make a directory structure for the domain.
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/your_domain.com/html
Set the proper ownership and permissions.
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/your_domain.com/html
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/your_domain.com
Create the index.html file.
nano /var/www/your_domain.com/html/index.html
index.html
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to your_domain.com!</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Success! The your_domain.com server block is working!</h1>
</body>
</html>
2. Configure Nginx
Create the site configuration file.
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain.com
your_domain.com
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
root /var/www/your_domain.com/html;
index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
server_name your_domain.com www.your_domain.com;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
}
Enable the site with a symbolic link.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Prevent hash bucket size issues with long domain names.
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Press CTRL + W, search for server_names, press Enter, and uncomment the line.
nginx.conf
http {
...
# server_tokens off;
server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
# server_name_in_redirect off;
...
}
Save with CTRL + O, confirm with Enter, and exit with CTRL + X.
Validate the syntax.
sudo nginx -t
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
Reload Nginx.
sudo systemctl restart nginx
3. Local Domain Mapping (Optional)
Add the domain to the host file if you want to test it locally.
sudo nano /etc/hosts
hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 debian
127.0.0.1 your_domain.com
4. Verification
Visit http://your_domain.com in the browser or run:
curl http://your_domain.com
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to your_domain.com!</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Success! The your_domain.com server block is working!</h1>
</body>
</html>
References
Published: June 6, 2020