Setup Virtual Host [Server Blocks] in Nginx

Description: Here I have explained how to Setup Virtual Host [Server Blocks] in Nginx

Server Blocks, often referred to as Nginx virtual host are a feature of the Nginx web server that allows you to host multiple websites on one server. As opposed to setting up and configuring a server for each domain, hosting a number of websites on a single machine saves both time and money.

Procedure: 

Create Directory Structure: To host multiple site on Nginx need to create individual directory structure to store data. In example I have created 2 site virtual host under /var/www directory

# mkdir -p /var/www/site1.com/html
# mkdir -p /var/www/site2.com/html

 Change Permission on directory: Change ownership on both site directories using chown command

# chown -R $user1.$user1 /var/www/site1.com/html
# chown -R $user2.$user2  /var/www/site2.com/html
# chmod -R 755 /var/www

Create index.html in both Directory: Create index.html file on both site directory respectively.

Setup Environment for Server Block: Before setup server block need to create 2 directory for setup.

• Sites-available : Directory store server blocks 
• Sites-enable : Directory which tell Nginx to publish and block share content

Open Nginx configuration and modify file

vi /etc/nginx/nginx.config [ Inside http block add following two lines]

include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf

server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;

First line to check sites-enabled directory and second line for increase memory is reserved for examine multiple domain name.

After made changes run below command to verify the configuration

# nginx -t 

If syntax is OK then test was successful as in image.

Create Virtual Host for the first website with cp and make a copy exact copy of file

# cp /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/site1.com.conf

Open configuration file using vi editor

# vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/site1.com.conf

You need to edit below 3 lines in configuration 

        server name site1.com www.site1.com;

        root /var/www/site1.com/html;

        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;

Same configuration you need to done for site2 just need to change name.

Enable Site configuration or Server block: To enable configuration need to link site available with site enable. 

# ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/site1.com.conf   /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/site1.com.conf

Restart Nginx Service:

# systemctl restart nginx 

# vi  /etc/hosts

ip_address site1.com

ip_address site2.com

Verify Server Blocks Setup

http://site1.com

http://site2.com