> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.chaicode.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Nginx Configuration on VPS
> Learn how to install and configure Nginx on your server.
Nginx is a popular open-source web server that can be used to serve static files, dynamic content, and proxy requests to other servers. It is known for its high performance, scalability, and security.
In this tutorial, we will learn how to install and configure Nginx on any VPS.
## Prerequisites
Before installing Nginx, make sure you have the following prerequisites:
* A server with root access
* A domain name or IP address
* A web server that can be used to serve static files
## Installing Nginx on Ubuntu
To install Nginx on Ubuntu, follow these steps:
```bash theme={null}
sudo apt update
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo apt install nginx
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
```
Open your web browser and navigate to `http://your_server_ip`. You should see the Nginx default welcome page.
## Configuring Nginx on Ubuntu
```bash theme={null}
sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
```
*This command opens the default configuration file for editing.*
```nginx theme={null}
server {
listen 80; # Listen on port 80, the default HTTP port
server_name localhost; # The server name, here it is set to localhost
root /var/www/html; # The root directory where files are served from
index index.html index.htm; # The default files to serve
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404; # Try to serve the requested URI, if not found return a 404
}
}
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/html
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html
```
```bash theme={null}
cd /var/www/html
```
*This command navigates to the web root directory.*
```bash theme={null}
touch index.html
```
*This command creates an empty index.html file.*
```bash theme={null}
sudo vim index.html
```
*This command opens the index.html file for editing.*
```html theme={null}
Welcome to Nginx
Hello, world!
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo nginx -t
```
*This command tests the Nginx configuration for syntax errors.*
```bash theme={null}
sudo systemctl reload nginx
```
*This command reloads the Nginx service to apply the changes.*
Open your web browser and navigate to `URL_ADDRESS_server_ip`. You should see the Nginx default welcome page.
## Summary
In this tutorial, we learned how to install and configure Nginx to serve static files.
Continue your journey by learning how to implement rate limiting with Nginx.