How to install Nginx on Ubuntu

Thu Feb 27, 2025

Step-by-Step Guide to Installing Nginx on Ubuntu

Nginx:

Nginx is a high-performance web server and reverse proxy server. It's known for its speed, reliability, and scalability, making it popular for serving web content and handling high-traffic websites. When used as a reverse proxy, Nginx sits between clients and backend servers, forwarding client requests to the appropriate backend servers and returning the responses to clients.

Step 1: Launch and Log In to Your Ubuntu Server:

Start your Ubuntu server and log in to it.

Step 2: Update the Package Repositories:

Before installing Nginx, update the package repositories by running the following command:

sudo apt-get update

Step 3: Install Nginx: Install Nginx using the following command:

sudo apt-get install nginx

Step 4: Check If Nginx Is Enabled: Run the following command to check if the Nginx service is enabled:

sudo systemctl is-enabled nginx

Check the status of the Nginx service using:

sudo systemctl status nginx

Step 5: Create a Server Block Configuration:

Create a server block configuration for your backend target by running the following command.
In this example, we are creating a proxy for our backend service SonarQube, which is running on port 9000.

sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/sonarqube.conf

This will open a blank file. Now, add the following content to the file, then save and exit:


server
{
listen 80;
server_name sonar.your-dmoan.io;
access_log /var/log/nginx/sonar.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/sonar.error.log;
proxy_buffers 16 64k;
proxy_buffer_size 128k;

location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9000;
    proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
    proxy_redirect off;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto http;
}
}

Step 6: Activate the Server Block Configuration:

Activate the sonarqube.conf configuration by creating a symbolic link to the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ directory:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/sonarqube.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Verify the Nginx configuration files by running:

sudo nginx -t

If the syntax is correct, you will see an output similar to:

nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Step 7: Enable and Reload Nginx: Enable the Nginx service so it starts on boot:

sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Reload Nginx to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 8: Configure the Firewall:

Allow incoming TCP traffic on ports 80, 9000, and 9001 using Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW):

sudo ufw allow 80,9000,9001/tcp

Step 9: Test the Nginx Web Server:

Open your favorite browser and type:

http://your-ip

If everything is configured correctly, you should see the Nginx welcome page, confirming that your Nginx web server is up and running.

Chinmay Biswal
Solution Architect

How to install Nginx on Ubuntu

Step-by-Step Guide to Installing Nginx on Ubuntu

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