Demo First Website with Nginx

This lesson walks through creating a minimal “Hello World” website served by NGINX on a single host. Follow these steps in order:

Verify NGINX is running.
Create a simple server block in sites-available.
Create the document root and index.html.
Enable the site and test it locally using the Host header.

1. Verify NGINX is running

Check the service status and start it if necessary:

sudo systemctl status nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

Confirm the default page is served:

curl localhost

Example returned HTML (truncated):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to nginx!</title>
...
</html>

This verifies that NGINX is installed and serving the default page.

2. Become root and inspect NGINX configuration directories

To avoid prefixing sudo for each command, switch to root for the remainder of the setup (optional but convenient):

sudo su
cd /etc/nginx
ll

You should see sites-available/ and sites-enabled/ among the configuration files. Then change into sites-available:

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available
ll

Typically you’ll see a default file here.

3. Create a new site configuration

Copy the default site config to a new file named helloworld:

cp default helloworld

Edit helloworld and simplify it to the essentials: listen, root, index, and server_name. Remove commented examples to keep the file focused. Example minimal helloworld server block:

server {
    listen 80;

    root /var/www/helloworld;

    # Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
    index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

    server_name helloworld.com;

    location / {
        # First attempt to serve request as file, then as directory,
        # then fall back to displaying a 404.
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Notes:

Do not use listen 80 default_server; in more than one server block — this causes a duplicate default server error.
Set server_name to the hostname you intend to serve (we’ll test this with a Host header).

Set server_name to the hostname you intend to serve (for example, helloworld.com). NGINX uses the Host header to select the matching server block; if no match is found, NGINX serves the first matching server block (often the default).

4. Create the document root and index page

Create the document root that matches the root directive and add a basic index.html:

mkdir -p /var/www/helloworld
cd /var/www/helloworld

Create the index file:

<!-- /var/www/helloworld/index.html -->
<h1> Hello World! </h1>

Ensure the file is named index.html because the server block uses index index.html in its index list.

5. Enable the site (sites-available → sites-enabled)

Enable the site by creating a symbolic link from sites-available to sites-enabled:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Verify the symlink exists:

ll /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
# you should see something like:
# lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 Feb  5 14:07 helloworld -> /etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld

6. Test NGINX configuration and reload

Always test NGINX configuration syntax before reloading:

nginx -t

Common error example:

nginx: [emerg] a duplicate default server for 0.0.0.0:80 in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/helloworld:3
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed

This indicates two server blocks are configured as the default_server. Fix the conflicting listen lines (remove default_server from one) or disable the default site, then re-run the test:

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 to apply the new configuration:

nginx -s reload

(Alternatively: systemctl reload nginx.)

7. Test locally using the Host header

If you switched to root, return to your regular user for testing:

exit

A plain curl localhost will still return the default “Welcome to nginx!” page because the request lacks a Host header matching helloworld.com:

curl localhost
# returns the default "Welcome to nginx!" HTML

To test the helloworld.com site without DNS, send the Host header explicitly:

curl --header "Host: helloworld.com" localhost

You should get the Hello World page:

<h1> Hello World! </h1>

If you pass a Host header that doesn’t match any server_name in your enabled configs (for example Host: someunknown), NGINX will serve the first available server block (often the default). Proper server_name configuration and testing are important.

Quick reference: useful paths and commands

Item	Purpose	Example
NGINX config dir	Main configuration files	`/etc/nginx`
Available sites	Site definitions (not enabled)	`/etc/nginx/sites-available/`
Enabled sites	Active site symlinks	`/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/`
Create site file	Copy default stub	`cp default helloworld`
Enable site	Create symlink to enable	`ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/`
Test config	Syntax check before reload	`nginx -t`
Reload NGINX	Apply configuration changes	`nginx -s reload` or `systemctl reload nginx`
Test with Host header	Verify virtual host selection	`curl --header "Host: helloworld.com" localhost`

Troubleshooting tips

Duplicate default server error: remove default_server from one listen directive or disable the default site.
403 Forbidden: check filesystem permissions and ownership for /var/www/helloworld and the index file.
Still seeing default page: ensure your Host header matches server_name or update /etc/hosts/DNS accordingly.

8. Next steps

If you want this site reachable from other machines, open port 80 in your firewall. On Ubuntu, use ufw:

sudo ufw allow http

Use DNS or update /etc/hosts for a friendly hostname (e.g., helloworld.com) in your testing environment.
For production, configure TLS (HTTPS) using a certificate from Let’s Encrypt or another CA, and consider a reverse proxy or load balancer if needed.

Resources and further reading:

NGINX official docs: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
Ubuntu ufw guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UFW
curl manual: https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html

That’s it — you now have a minimal NGINX-hosted site and know how to test virtual hosts locally using the Host header.

Introduction

Install & Config

Intermediate Config

Security

Performance

Conclusion

Demo First Website with Nginx

1. Verify NGINX is running

2. Become root and inspect NGINX configuration directories

3. Create a new site configuration

4. Create the document root and index page

5. Enable the site (sites-available → sites-enabled)

6. Test NGINX configuration and reload

7. Test locally using the Host header

Quick reference: useful paths and commands

Troubleshooting tips

8. Next steps

Watch Video

​1. Verify NGINX is running

​2. Become root and inspect NGINX configuration directories

​3. Create a new site configuration

​4. Create the document root and index page

​5. Enable the site (sites-available → sites-enabled)

​6. Test NGINX configuration and reload

​7. Test locally using the Host header

​Quick reference: useful paths and commands

​Troubleshooting tips

​8. Next steps

Watch Video

1. Verify NGINX is running

2. Become root and inspect NGINX configuration directories

3. Create a new site configuration

4. Create the document root and index page

5. Enable the site (sites-available → sites-enabled)

6. Test NGINX configuration and reload

7. Test locally using the Host header

Quick reference: useful paths and commands

Troubleshooting tips

8. Next steps