Q. How do I configure Nginx Web server for virtual hosting (host multiple websites under same IP address – name based virtual hosting)?

A. Nginx allows you to host more than one domain name on the same computer and on the same IP address. There are two basic methods of accomplishing virtual hosting: name-based, and IP address or ip-based. This tutorial covers name-based virtual hosting i.e.
you can hosts multiple websites (host names) for the same webserver IP address.

Nginx name-based virtual hosting configurations

You need to create directory structure as follows to host more than two websites under same IP address:

a] /websites : Host each domain under this directory. You need to create dirs as follows:

1. /websites/examples.com/http – Html / php / wordpress / forums files for example.com goes here.
2. /websites/examples.com/logs – Log files for example.com goes here.
3. /websites/examples.com/stats – awstats stats files for example.com goes here.

b] /usr/local/etc/nginx/vhosts: Host each domains configuration under this directory.

Your sample setup

1. IP address: 202.54.1.2
2. HTTP Port: 80
3. Domain1 : theos.in hosted at /websites/theos.in/http
4. Domain2 : cyberciti.biz hosted at /websites/cyberciti.biz/http

Create necessary directories

Type the following commands:
# D=/websites
# NROOT=/usr/local/etc/nginx
# mkdir $D
# mkdir $NROOT/vhosts
# mkdir /var/log/nginx/
# chown root:www /var/log/nginx/

Create / update default cache all ngnix config file

Open /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf file, enter:
# vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Update it as follows:

user  www www;
worker_processes  1;
 
# main server error log
error_log	/var/log/nginx/error.log ;
pid	/var/run/nginx.pid;
 
events {
	worker_connections  1024;
}
 
# main server config 
http {
	include       mime.types;
	default_type  application/octet-stream;
	log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] $request '
                      '"$status" $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                      '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
 
	sendfile        on;
	#tcp_nopush     on;
    	#keepalive_timeout  0;
	keepalive_timeout  65;
	gzip  on;
 
	# default server for ip 202.54.1.2
	server {
        	listen          202.54.1.2:80 default;
        	server_name     _;
        	access_log      /var/log/nginx/access.log main;
        	server_name_in_redirect  off;
        	location / {
            		index index.html;
            		root  /usr/local/www/nginx;
        	}
	}
 
    # virtual hosting
    include /usr/local/etc/nginx/vhosts/*;
}

Where,

• user www www; :: Setup user and group name for Nginx server.
• worker_processes 1; :: nginx has the ability to use more than one worker process for large systems such as SMP system with tons of ram.
• error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log ; :: Default error log file.
• pid /var/run/nginx.pid; :: Default PID file.
• include mime.types; :: Set Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) for www communication from mime.types files.
• default_type application/octet-stream; :: Set default header media type of the message content
• log_format main ‘$remote_addr – $remote_user [$time_local] $request ‘
  ‘”$status” $body_bytes_sent “$http_referer” ‘
  ‘”$http_user_agent” “$http_x_forwarded_for”‘; :: Directive log_format describes the format of a log entry.
• sendfile on; :: Activate the usage of sendfile().
• tcp_nopush on; :: This directive permits or forbids the use of the socket options TCP_NOPUSH on FreeBSD or TCP_CORK on Linux. This option is only available when using sendfile.
• keepalive_timeout 65; :: Set keep alive timeout.
• gzip on; :: Turn on gzip
• listen 202.54.1.2:80 default; :: Listen to given IP:port.
• server_name _; :: Assigns the names of virtual server.
• access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main; :: Set path to access file.
• index index.html; :: Set default index file.
• root /usr/local/www/nginx; :: Set default document root.
• include /usr/local/etc/nginx/vhosts/*; :: Process all vhosts config files.

Create theos.in – 1st vhost directories

Type the following commands:
# mkdir $D/theos.in/{http,logs,stats}
# chown -R theosftpuser:theosftpgroup $D/theos.in/
Replace, username:groupname and domain name as per your setup.

theos.in Nginx virtual host config file

Open /usr/local/etc/nginx/vhosts/theos.in.conf file, enter:
# vi $NROOT/vhosts/theos.in.conf
Append configuration as follows:

server {
	listen  80;
        server_name  theos.in www.theos.in;
 
        access_log  /websites/theos.in/logs/access.log  main;
 
        location / {
            root   /websites/theos.in/http;
            index  index.php index.html index.htm;
        }
 
        error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
        location = /50x.html {
            root   /usr/local/www/nginx-dist;
        }
 
       # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
        location ~ \.php$ {
            fastcgi_pass   127.0.0.1:9000;
            fastcgi_index  index.php;
            fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  /websites/theos.in/http$fastcgi_script_name;
            include        fastcgi_params;
        }
 
        location ~ /\.ht {
            deny  all;
        }
}

Save and close the file.

Create cyberciti.biz – 2nd vhost directories

Type the following commands:
# mkdir $D/cyberciti.biz/{http,logs,stats}
# chown -R user:group $D/cyberciti.biz/

cyberciti.biz Nginx virtual host config file

# vi $NROOT/vhosts/cyberciti.biz.conf
Append configuration as follows:

server {
	listen  80;
        server_name  cyberciti.biz www.cyberciti.biz;
 
        access_log  /websites/cyberciti.biz/logs/access.log  main;
 
        location / {
            root   /websites/cyberciti.biz/http;
            index  index.php index.html index.htm;
        }
 
        error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
        location = /50x.html {
            root   /usr/local/www/nginx-dist;
        }
 
       # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
        location ~ \.php$ {
            fastcgi_pass   127.0.0.1:9000;
            fastcgi_index  index.php;
            fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  /websites/cyberciti.biz/http$fastcgi_script_name;
            include        fastcgi_params;
        }
 
        location ~ /\.ht {
            deny  all;
        }
}

Save and close the file. Restart Nginx web server, enter:
# nginx -c /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf -t
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/nginx restart