Demo First Website with Nginx

This guide walks through creating a minimal “Hello World” site and serving it with NGINX on a Linux host. You’ll:

Verify NGINX is installed and running
Create a new site configuration in /etc/nginx/sites-available
Create site content under /var/www/helloworld
Enable the site with a symlink in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
Test the site locally by sending a Host header with curl

Important commands and file snippets are provided in the sequence you should run them.

1. Verify NGINX is installed and running

Check the service status and start NGINX if it is not running:

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status nginx

# If it's not running, start it
sudo systemctl start nginx

Confirm NGINX responds on localhost:

curl localhost

You should see the default NGINX welcome page, for example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to nginx!</title>
...
<h1>Welcome to nginx!</h1>
...
</html>

2. Become root (optional)

You can continue using sudo for each command, or switch to root temporarily:

sudo su
# prompt changes to root@host:#

3. Inspect the NGINX configuration directory

List the NGINX config files and the sites-available directory:

cd /etc/nginx
ls -la
ls -la sites-available

4. Create a new virtual host configuration

Copy the default site configuration to create a new site called helloworld:

cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld and simplify its server block. Remove comments and any IPv6 listen line if present. Ensure the server block looks like this:

server {
    listen 80;

    root /var/www/helloworld;

    index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

    server_name helloworld.com;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Notes:

server_name must match the Host header that clients send (we use helloworld.com in this example).
root is where NGINX will look for the site files.

Avoid having two server blocks configured with listen 80 default_server simultaneously. That causes a duplicate default server error. Keep only one default_server or remove the directive from additional site configs.

5. Create the site directory and index page

Create the site folder and a simple index.html:

mkdir -p /var/www/helloworld
cat > /var/www/helloworld/index.html <<'HTML'
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8"/>
  <title>Hello World</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Hello World!</h1>
</body>
</html>
HTML

6. Enable the site

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/helloworld

7. Test NGINX configuration for syntax errors

Run the NGINX config test:

nginx -t

If you left default_server in more than one server block, you might see an error like:

# 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

Remove default_server from extra server blocks and re-run nginx -t. A successful test shows:

# nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
# nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

8. Reload NGINX to apply the new configuration

Reload the running service to apply changes:

# Either with nginx directly
nginx -s reload

# Or via systemd
systemctl reload nginx

9. Exit root (if applicable)

If you switched to root earlier, return to your normal user:

exit

10. Test the site locally with curl

Because helloworld.com is not necessarily configured in your DNS, test by sending a Host header:

# This returns our Hello World page
curl --header "Host: helloworld.com" localhost
# Output:
# <h1>Hello World!</h1>

If you pass a Host header that doesn’t match any server_name, NGINX will serve the first enabled configuration (typically the default site):

curl --header "Host: someunknownhost" localhost
# This returns the default "Welcome to nginx!" page

When multiple server blocks exist, NGINX tries to select the best match for the Host header. If none match, it serves the first enabled configuration (often the default). To avoid accidentally serving the wrong site, remove the default config, or ensure each server_name is explicit and unique.

Quick reference: key files and commands

Item	Path / Command	Purpose
Site config	`/etc/nginx/sites-available/helloworld`	Virtual host definition (server block)
Enabled site	`/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/helloworld`	Symlink to enable the site
Site content root	`/var/www/helloworld`	HTML files served by NGINX
Test config	`nginx -t`	Validate NGINX config syntax
Reload NGINX	`systemctl reload nginx`	Apply configuration changes

Troubleshooting tips

If curl localhost returns the default welcome page after enabling your site, ensure your Host header matches the server_name, e.g. curl --header "Host: helloworld.com" localhost.
Permissions: NGINX needs read access to files in /var/www/helloworld. Adjust ownership or permissions if files are inaccessible.
Ports/firewall: To expose the site externally, open port 80 in your host firewall or cloud security group.

Links and references

NGINX official docs: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
Systemd service management: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/
curl manual: https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html

That’s it — you now have a minimal NGINX virtual host serving a Hello World page from /var/www/helloworld. To make the site available to external users, ensure your DNS points helloworld.com to the server and that port 80 is allowed through any firewalls.

Introduction

Install & Config

Intermediate Config

Security

Performance

Conclusion

Demo First Website with Nginx

1. Verify NGINX is installed and running

2. Become root (optional)

3. Inspect the NGINX configuration directory

4. Create a new virtual host configuration

5. Create the site directory and index page

6. Enable the site

7. Test NGINX configuration for syntax errors

8. Reload NGINX to apply the new configuration

9. Exit root (if applicable)

10. Test the site locally with curl

Quick reference: key files and commands

Troubleshooting tips

Links and references

Watch Video

​1. Verify NGINX is installed and running

​2. Become root (optional)

​3. Inspect the NGINX configuration directory

​4. Create a new virtual host configuration

​5. Create the site directory and index page

​6. Enable the site

​7. Test NGINX configuration for syntax errors

​8. Reload NGINX to apply the new configuration

​9. Exit root (if applicable)

​10. Test the site locally with curl

​Quick reference: key files and commands

​Troubleshooting tips

​Links and references

Watch Video

1. Verify NGINX is installed and running

2. Become root (optional)

3. Inspect the NGINX configuration directory

4. Create a new virtual host configuration

5. Create the site directory and index page

6. Enable the site

7. Test NGINX configuration for syntax errors

8. Reload NGINX to apply the new configuration

9. Exit root (if applicable)

10. Test the site locally with curl

Quick reference: key files and commands

Troubleshooting tips

Links and references