Demo Configure Multiple Sites

In this guide you’ll configure Nginx to serve two separate websites from the same server using distinct server blocks (virtual hosts) and Host header routing. This is commonly called name-based virtual hosting and lets one IP address handle multiple domains.

A presentation slide that says "Configure Multiple Sites" with a large turquoise shape on the right containing the word "Demo." A small "© Copyright KodeKloud" notice appears at the bottom left.

Overview

A client (browser or CLI such as curl) sends an HTTP request to Nginx.
Nginx inspects the Host header and selects the matching server block (for example, example1 or example2).
Each server block serves files from its own document root (e.g. /var/www/example1 and /var/www/example2).

Prerequisites

You have a Linux server (Ubuntu/Debian recommended) with Nginx installed.
You can run commands with sudo.
Basic familiarity with editing files (e.g. nano or vim).

Quick reference — important file locations

Purpose	Path / Example
Site configurations (available)	`/etc/nginx/sites-available/`
Enabled sites (active via symlink)	`/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/`
Nginx main config	`/etc/nginx/nginx.conf`
Document roots	`/var/www/<site>` (e.g. `/var/www/example1`)
Test config and reload	`sudo nginx -t` then `sudo nginx -s reload`

Step 1 — Prepare the environment

Remove the default enabled site so it does not interfere with this demo:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -s reload

Verify no service responds on port 80:

curl localhost
# Expected output (if nothing is listening on :80):
# curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 80 after 0 ms: Connection refused

Step 2 — Create two site configuration files

Copy the default Nginx site to create example1 and then duplicate it for example2:

sudo cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-available/example1
sudo cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/example1 /etc/nginx/sites-available/example2

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/example1 to serve the first site. A minimal server block looks like:

server {
    listen 80;

    root /var/www/example1;
    index index.html index.htm;

    server_name www.example1.com;

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

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/example2 for the second site:

server {
    listen 80;

    root /var/www/example2;
    index index.html index.htm;

    server_name www.example2.com;

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

Step 3 — Create document roots and sample pages Create directories and simple index.html files for each site so we can verify routing:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example1 /var/www/example2

# Create index.html for example1
sudo tee /var/www/example1/index.html > /dev/null <<'HTML'
<h1> Example 1!!! </h1>
HTML

# Create index.html for example2
sudo tee /var/www/example2/index.html > /dev/null <<'HTML'
<h1> Example 2!!! </h1>
HTML

Step 4 — Enable the sites (create symbolic links) Enable each site by linking from sites-available into sites-enabled:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example1 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example1
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example2 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example2

Step 5 — Validate and reload Nginx Always test Nginx configuration before reloading:

sudo nginx -t
# Example successful messages:
# nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
sudo nginx -s reload

Step 6 — Test with curl using the Host header Use curl to simulate requests for each domain by setting the Host header:

curl --header "Host: www.example1.com" localhost
curl --header "Host: www.example2.com" localhost
# -> <h1> Example 2!!! </h1>

If the Host header does not match any server_name, Nginx will serve the default server for that listen socket — typically the first enabled server block for that address:port (often determined by the alphabetical order of files in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled):

curl --header "Host: anything.com" localhost
# -> <h1> Example 1!!! </h1>   # example1 becomes the default in this demo

Note about the default server selection

If a request’s Host header doesn’t match any server_name, Nginx uses the default server for that listen socket. The default is the first server block for that address:port — commonly the first file (alphabetically) in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/. To explicitly set a default server, use the default_server flag on the listen directive (for example listen 80 default_server;).

Disabling sites temporarily

To disable a site without deleting its configuration, remove the symlink from /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ and reload Nginx:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example2
sudo nginx -s reload

This keeps the file in /etc/nginx/sites-available/ for later reuse. Alternative: combine multiple server blocks in one file (not recommended)

You can place multiple server { ... } blocks in a single file and enable that one file with a single symlink. Example combined file:

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/example1;
    index index.html index.htm;
    server_name www.example1.com;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/example2;
    index index.html index.htm;
    server_name www.example2.com;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Warning about combining server blocks

Keeping each site in its own file under /etc/nginx/sites-available/ and enabling them with separate symlinks reduces risk. If a single combined file is accidentally edited or removed, multiple sites could be taken down at once.

Summary — best practices

Create one server block per site and set a unique server_name.
Point each server block to its own document root.
Enable sites with symlinks in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/.
Always validate config with sudo nginx -t then reload with sudo nginx -s reload.
Prefer separate files per site for isolation and safer management.

Links and references

Introduction

Install & Config

Intermediate Config

Security

Performance

Conclusion

Demo Configure Multiple Sites

Watch Video

Practice Lab