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In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to deploy a simple Hello World site using Nginx. By the end, you’ll have a custom virtual host serving your own HTML page.

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1. Verify and Start Nginx

First, confirm that Nginx is installed and running on your server. 
sudo systemctl status nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
curl http://localhost
You should see the default “Welcome to nginx!” page: 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Welcome to nginx!</title>
  <style>
    body { width: 35em; margin: 0 auto; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Welcome to nginx!</h1>
  <p>If you see this page, the nginx web server is successfully installed and working. Further configuration is required.</p>
  <!-- ... -->
</body>
</html>
If Nginx isn’t installed, follow the official installation guide before proceeding.

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2. Create a New Site Configuration

  1. Switch to the Nginx configuration directory and assume root privileges: 
    cd /etc/nginx
sudo su
  2. Copy the default server block to a new file named helloworld: 
    cd sites-available
cp default helloworld
  3. Open sites-available/helloworld in your preferred editor and replace its contents with: 
    server {
    listen 80;
    server_name helloworld.com;

    root /var/www/helloworld;
    index index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}
    DirectivePurpose
    listen 80;Accept HTTP requests on port 80
    server_nameMatch the Host header to helloworld.com
    rootDefine the document root for this virtual host
    indexSpecify default files to serve
    try_filesServe requested files or return a 404 if not found
Removing default_server ensures no port conflicts. Always test your configuration before reloading Nginx.
Save and exit the editor.

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3. Create the Site Content

Create the document root and add a simple HTML page: 
mkdir -p /var/www/helloworld
cat > /var/www/helloworld/index.html <<EOF
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Hello World</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Hello World!</h1>
  <p>Your Nginx web server is now serving custom content.</p>
</body>
</html>
EOF

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4. Enable the Site and Reload Nginx

  1. Create a symbolic link in sites-enabled: 
    ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
  2. Test the syntax and reload Nginx: 
    nginx -t
nginx -s reload

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5. Test Your Hello World Site

  • To view the default site again: 
    curl http://localhost
  • To test your custom site without DNS: 
    curl --header "Host: helloworld.com" http://localhost
    Expected response: 
    <h1>Hello World!</h1>
  • If you send an unknown host header, Nginx will serve the first server block alphabetically (the default site): 
    curl --header "Host: unknown.com" http://localhost
You can add an entry to /etc/hosts for helloworld.com to test in a browser without DNS:
127.0.0.1   helloworld.com

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