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Nginx Virtual Host Configurations and Syntax

This document contains examples and syntax for setting up Nginx virtual hosts.

Basic Structure of a Virtual Host​

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;
    index index.html index.htm index.php;

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

    error_page 404 /404.html;
    location = /404.html {
        root /var/www/example.com/html;
    }
}

SSL Configuration​

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/example.com.key;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;
    index index.html index.htm;

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

Reverse Proxy​

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name api.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Load Balancer​

upstream backend {
    server backend1.example.com;
    server backend2.example.com;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS​

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

Custom 404 Error Page​

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;

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

    error_page 404 /custom_404.html;
    location = /custom_404.html {
        root /var/www/example.com/html;
    }
}

Gzip Compression​

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;

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

PHP with FastCGI​

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Caching Static Files​

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    root /var/www/example.com/html;

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

    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|woff|woff2|ttf|svg|eot)$ {
        expires 6M;
        access_log off;
    }
}

This document covers common use cases. Adjust paths and settings according to your specific requirements.