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+---
+title: "Setting Up an NginX Webserver"
+date: 2021-07-10
+tags: ["basic"]
+---
+
+At this point, we should have a domain name and a server and the domain
+name should direct to the IP address of the server with DNS records. As
+I said in previous articles, the instructions I will give will be for
+**Debian**. In this article, other distributions might work a little
+differently.
+
+## Logging in to the server
+
+We first want to log into our VPS to get a command prompt where we can
+set up the web server. I am assuming you are using either MacOS or
+GNU/Linux and you know how to open a terminal. On Windows, you can also
+use either PuTTY or the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
+
+Now on Vultr\'s site, you can click on your VPS and you will see that
+there is an area that shows you the password for your server at the
+bottom here.
+
+{{< img alt="Find your password" src="/pix/nginx-password.png" link="/pix/nginx-password.png" >}}
+
+Now pull up a terminal and type:
+
+```sh
+ssh root@{{<hl>}}example.org{{</hl>}}
+```
+
+This command will attempt to log into your server. It should prompt you
+for your password, and you can just copy or type in the password from
+Vultr\'s site.
+
+If you get an error here, you might not have done your [DNS
+settings](/basic/dns) right. Double check those. Note you can also replace
+the `example.org` with your IP address, but you\'ll want to fix your DNS
+settings soon.
+
+## Installing the Webserver: Nginx
+
+If the program runs without an error, `ssh` has now logged you into your
+server. Let\'s start by running the following commands.
+
+```sh
+apt update
+apt upgrade
+apt install nginx
+```
+
+The first command checks for packages that can be updated and the second
+command installs any updates.
+
+The third command installs `nginx` (pronounced Engine-X), which is the
+web server we\'ll be using, along with some other programs.
+
+### Our nginx configuration file
+
+`nginx` is your webserver. You can make a little website or page, put it
+on your VPS and then tell `nginx` where it is and how to host it on the
+internet. It\'s simple. Let\'s do it.
+
+`nginx` configuration files are in `/etc/nginx/`. The two main
+subdirectories in there (on Debian and similar OSes) are
+`/etc/nginx/sites-available` and `/etc/nginx/sites-enabled`. The names
+are descriptive. The idea is that you can make a site configuration file
+in `sites-available` and when it\'s all ready, you make a link/shortcut
+to it in `sites-enabled` which will activate it.
+
+First, let\'s create the settings for our website. You can copy and
+paste (with required changes) but I will also explain what the lines do.
+
+Create a file in `/etc/nginx/sites-available` by doing this:
+
+```sh
+nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/{{<hl>}}mywebsite{{</hl>}}
+```
+
+Note that \"nano\" is a command line text editor. You will now be able
+to create and edit this file. By saving, this file will now appear. Note
+also I name the file `mywebsite`, but you can name it whatever you\'d
+like.
+
+I\'m going to add the following content to the file. The content **like
+this** will be different depending on what you want to call your site.
+
+```nginx
+server {
+        listen 80 ;
+        listen [::]:80 ;
+        server_name {{<hl>}}example.org{{</hl>}} ;
+        root /var/www/{{<hl>}}mysite{{</hl>}} ;
+        index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html ;
+        location / {
+                try_files $uri $uri/ =404 ;
+        }
+}
+```
+
+#### Explanation of those settings
+
+The `listen` lines tell `nginx` to listen for connections on both IPv4
+and IPv6.
+
+The `server_name` is the website that we are looking for. By putting
+`chad.thesiah.xyz` here, that means whenever someone connects to this server
+and is looking for that address, they will be directed to the content in
+this block.
+
+`root` specifies the directory we\'re going to put our website files in.
+This can theoretically be wherever, but it is conventional to have them
+in `/var/www/`. Name the directory in that whatever you want.
+
+`index` determine what the \"default\" file is; normally when you go to
+a website, say `chad.thesiah.xyz`, you are actually going to a file at
+`sich/index.html`. That\'s all that is. Note that that this in
+concert with the line above mean that `/var/www/sich/index.html`, a
+file on our computer that we\'ll create, will be the main page of our
+website.
+
+Lastly, the `location` block is really just telling the server how to
+look up files, otherwise throw a 404 error. Location settings are very
+powerful, but this is all we need them for now.
+
+### Create the directory and index for the site
+
+We\'ll actually start making a \"real\" website later, but let\'s go
+ahead and create a little page that will appear when someone looks up
+the domain.
+
+```sh
+mkdir /var/www/{{<hl>}}mysite{{</hl>}}
+```
+
+Now let\'s create an index file inside of that directory, which will
+appear when the website is accessed:
+
+```sh
+nano /var/www/{{<hl>}}mysite{{</hl>}}/index.html
+```
+
+I\'ll add the following basic content, but you can add whatever you
+want. This will appear on your website.
+
+```html
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<h1>My website!</h1>
+<p>This is my website. Thanks for stopping by!</p>
+<p>Now my website is live!</p>
+```
+
+### Enable the site {#enable}
+
+Once you save that file, we can enable it making a link to it in the
+`sites-enabled` directory:
+
+```sh
+ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/{{<hl>}}mywebsite{{</hl>}} /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
+```
+
+Now we can just `reload` or `restart` to make `nginx` service the new
+configuration:
+
+```sh
+systemctl reload nginx
+```
+
+## The Firewall {#firewall}
+
+Vultr and some other VPSes automatically install and enable `ufw`, a
+firewall program. This will block basically everything by default, so we
+have to change that. If you don\'t have `ufw` installed, you can skip
+this section.
+
+We must open up at least ports 80 and 443 as below:
+
+```sh
+ufw allow 80
+ufw allow 443
+```
+
+Port 80 is the canonical webserver port, while 443 is the port used for
+encrypted connections. We will certainly need that for the next page.
+
+<aside>
+
+As you add more services to your website, they might need you to open more ports, but that will be mentioned on individual articles.
+(It should be noted that some local services run only for other services on your machine, so you _don't_ need to open ports for every process running locally, _only_ those that directly interact with the internet, although it's common to run those through Nginx for simplicity and security.)
+
+</aside>
+
+## Nginx security hint
+
+By default, Nginx and most other webservers automatically show their
+version number on error pages. It\'s a good idea to disable this from
+happening because if an exploit comes out for your server software,
+someone could exploit it. Open the main Nginx config file
+`/etc/nginx/nginx.conf` and find the line `# server_tokens off;`.
+Uncomment it, and reload Nginx.
+
+Remember to [keep your server software up to
+date](/../maintenance#update) to get the latest security fixes!
+
+## We now have a running website!
+
+At this point you can now type in your website in your browser and this
+webpage will appear!
+
+{{< img alt="The webpage as it appears." src="/pix/nginx-website.png" link="/pix/nginx-website.png" >}}
+
+Note the \"Not secure\" notification. The next brief step is securing
+encrypted connections to your website.