Nginx is a lightweight, high-performance web server commonly used to serve websites, static files, reverse proxies, and application traffic. On Ubuntu 24.04, it can be installed directly from the default package repository and managed with systemd.

How do I install Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04?

Update the package index with `sudo apt update`, then install Nginx with `sudo apt install -y nginx`. After installation, verify that the service is running with `systemctl is-active nginx` and test the web server in a browser by visiting your VM’s public IP address.

What VM size do I need to run Nginx?

For a basic Nginx web server, a small Raff Ubuntu VM is enough. Static websites and lightweight reverse proxy workloads can run on minimal resources, while production applications, high traffic, or multiple hosted sites may require more CPU, RAM, and storage.

Why does the browser show Not Secure after installing Nginx?

The default Nginx setup in this tutorial uses plain HTTP on port 80. Browsers mark HTTP pages as not secure because HTTPS is not configured yet. To remove that warning, point a domain to your VM and configure an SSL certificate with Let’s Encrypt.

What is an Nginx server block?

An Nginx server block is a configuration section that tells Nginx which site to serve for a specific IP address or domain. Server blocks let you host different websites or applications on the same VM, each with its own document root and configuration.

Should I use Nginx or Apache on Ubuntu 24.04?

Nginx is a strong choice for static sites, reverse proxy setups, and high-concurrency workloads. Apache is still widely used and may be preferable for applications that depend on Apache-specific modules or `.htaccess` behavior. For modern cloud VM deployments, Nginx is often the simpler and lighter starting point.

Can I use Nginx as a reverse proxy?

Yes. Nginx is commonly used as a reverse proxy in front of Node.js, Python, PHP, Docker, and self-hosted applications. In that setup, Nginx receives public web traffic on ports 80 and 443, then forwards requests to an internal application port.

How do I update Nginx after installation?

Because this tutorial installs Nginx from Ubuntu’s package repository, you can update it through APT. Run `sudo apt update` followed by `sudo apt upgrade`. After configuration changes, test with `sudo nginx -t` and reload Nginx with `sudo systemctl reload nginx`.

Install Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04

In this tutorial, you’ll install Nginx on a Raff Ubuntu 24.04 VM, allow web traffic through UFW, verify the default Nginx page, and create a custom server block to serve your own web page.

Nginx is a lightweight, high-performance web server commonly used for static websites, reverse proxy setups, load balancing, and application hosting. This tutorial uses Ubuntu’s default package repository, configures firewall access, creates a test site, validates the Nginx configuration, and confirms the server block works before you move on to HTTPS or application hosting.

Raff Technologies runs over 10,000 VMs across its compute platform in Vint Hill, Virginia, on AMD EPYC hardware with NVMe storage.

Prerequisites:

A Raff Ubuntu 24.04 VM
SSH access with sudo privileges
Ports 80/tcp available for web traffic
A domain or subdomain if you want to use a real hostname, optional for this tutorial

This tutorial was tested on a Raff VM with 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, running Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS.

Tested on Raff infrastructure by Aybars Altınyay, platform engineer and technical writer at Raff Technologies.

Step 1 — Update Ubuntu and install Nginx

Update the package index and install Nginx from Ubuntu’s default package repository.

Bash

sudo apt update

sudo env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive NEEDRESTART_MODE=a apt upgrade -y \
  -o Dpkg::Options::=--force-confdef \
  -o Dpkg::Options::=--force-confold

sudo apt install -y nginx ufw curl

📌 Note: If Ubuntu asks what to do with a modified /etc/ssh/sshd_config file, select keep the local version currently installed. This preserves your current SSH login configuration.

Verify the Ubuntu version and installed Nginx version:

Bash

lsb_release -ds
nginx -v

Expected output:

Text

Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
nginx version: nginx/1.24.0 (Ubuntu)

Minor Ubuntu 24.04 point releases are acceptable.

Step 2 — Verify the Nginx service

Nginx starts automatically after installation. Confirm that the service is active:

Bash

systemctl is-active nginx

Expected output:

Text

active

You can also view the full service status:

Bash

sudo systemctl status nginx

Expected output includes:

Text

Active: active (running)

The most common Nginx service commands are:

Bash

sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl disable nginx

Use reload after configuration changes when you want Nginx to apply the new configuration without fully stopping the service.

Step 3 — Configure the UFW firewall

Allow SSH first so you do not lock yourself out of the VM.

Bash

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH

Allow HTTP traffic on port 80.

Bash

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp

Enable UFW:

Bash

sudo ufw --force enable

Verify the firewall rules:

Bash

sudo ufw status numbered

Expected output includes:

Text

Status: active
OpenSSH                    ALLOW IN
80/tcp                     ALLOW IN

⚠️ Warning: Always allow OpenSSH before enabling UFW. If SSH is blocked, you may lose access to the VM.

Step 4 — Test the default Nginx page

Verify Nginx responds locally:

Bash

curl -I http://localhost

Expected output includes:

Text

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.24.0 (Ubuntu)

Find your VM’s public IP address:

Bash

curl -4 icanhazip.com

Open your browser and visit:

Text

http://your_server_ip

You should see the default Nginx welcome page.

Visible state check:

Text

The browser shows the default Nginx welcome page.
The page includes the message "Welcome to nginx!"
The browser uses HTTP because HTTPS has not been configured yet.

Default Nginx welcome page running on Ubuntu 24.04

This confirms that Nginx is installed, running, and reachable through the firewall.

Step 5 — Create a custom Nginx server block

Nginx uses server blocks to serve different websites from different directories or hostnames. In this step, you’ll create a small demo site and configure Nginx to serve it.

Create a document root for the demo site:

Bash

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html

Create a custom HTML page:

Bash

sudo tee /var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html/index.html > /dev/null <<'EOF'
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Nginx server block is working on Raff</title>
  <style>
    body {
      font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
      background: #111;
      color: #fff;
      max-width: 720px;
      margin: 120px auto;
      line-height: 1.6;
    }
    h1 {
      color: #db4a2b;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Nginx server block is working on Raff</h1>
  <p>This custom Nginx page is served from an Ubuntu 24.04 VM on Raff Technologies.</p>
</body>
</html>
EOF

Capture your server’s public IP address:

Bash

SERVER_IP="$(curl -4s icanhazip.com)"
echo "$SERVER_IP"

Create a new Nginx server block:

Bash

sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo > /dev/null <<EOF
server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    server_name ${SERVER_IP};

    root /var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html;
    index index.html;

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

Enable the server block:

Bash

sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/raff-nginx-demo

Test the Nginx configuration:

Bash

sudo nginx -t

Expected output:

Text

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

Reload Nginx:

Bash

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 6 — Verify the custom server block

Test the custom page from the command line:

Bash

SERVER_IP="$(curl -4s icanhazip.com)"
curl -s "http://$SERVER_IP" | head

Expected output includes:

Text

<title>Nginx server block is working on Raff</title>

Open your browser and visit:

Text

http://your_server_ip

You should see the custom Raff demo page.

Visible state check:

Text

The browser shows the custom Nginx server block page.
The page includes the message "Nginx server block is working on Raff".
The page is served from /var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html.

Custom Nginx server block page on Ubuntu 24.04

The custom server block is working when the browser and curl both return the custom demo page.

📌 Note: For production websites, replace the IP-based server_name with your actual domain, such as example.com www.example.com, and point the domain’s DNS records to your Raff VM.

Step 7 — Review important Nginx files and directories

Now that Nginx is running, it helps to know the key files and directories.

Content directories:

Text

/var/www/html/
/var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html/

Configuration directories:

Text

/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
/etc/nginx/sites-available/
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
/etc/nginx/conf.d/

Log files:

Text

/var/log/nginx/access.log
/var/log/nginx/error.log

The most important files from this tutorial are:

Text

/var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html/index.html
/etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/raff-nginx-demo

Check recent Nginx access logs:

Bash

sudo tail -n 20 /var/log/nginx/access.log

Check recent Nginx error logs:

Bash

sudo tail -n 20 /var/log/nginx/error.log

If the error log is empty or shows no recent errors, that is a good sign.

Step 8 — Verify the complete Nginx setup

Run a final verification sequence:

Bash

SERVER_IP="$(curl -4s icanhazip.com)"

echo "Checking service:"
systemctl is-active nginx

echo "Checking configuration:"
sudo nginx -t

echo "Checking firewall:"
sudo ufw status numbered

echo "Checking default HTTP response:"
curl -I "http://$SERVER_IP"

echo "Checking custom page:"
curl -s "http://$SERVER_IP" | grep "Nginx server block is working on Raff"

Expected output includes:

Text

active
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
Status: active
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Nginx server block is working on Raff

The Nginx setup is complete when the service is active, the configuration test passes, UFW allows HTTP traffic, and the custom page loads in the browser.

Cleanup (Optional)

Use this section only if you want to remove the demo Nginx server block from the VM.

Remove the demo server block and web root:

Bash

sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/raff-nginx-demo
sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo
sudo rm -rf /var/www/raff-nginx-demo

Test and reload Nginx:

Bash

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

If this VM no longer needs to serve HTTP traffic, remove the firewall rule:

Bash

sudo ufw delete allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw status numbered

⚠️ Warning: Do not remove port 80/tcp if this VM still hosts websites, reverse proxies, or HTTP-to-HTTPS certificate issuance flows.

Troubleshooting

The browser does not load the Nginx page

Cause: Nginx is not running, port 80 is blocked, or the wrong IP address is being used.

Fix:

Bash

systemctl is-active nginx
sudo ufw status numbered
curl -4 icanhazip.com
curl -I http://localhost

Expected output includes:

Text

active
80/tcp ALLOW IN
HTTP/1.1 200 OK

`sudo nginx -t` shows a syntax error

Cause: The server block contains a typo or invalid Nginx directive.

Fix:

Bash

sudo nginx -t
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo

After fixing the file, test and reload again:

Bash

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

The default Nginx page still appears after creating the server block

Cause: The browser is still receiving the default site, or the server_name does not match the request.

Fix:

Bash

SERVER_IP="$(curl -4s icanhazip.com)"
grep server_name /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo
curl -H "Host: $SERVER_IP" "http://$SERVER_IP"

If needed on a fresh test VM, disable the default site:

Bash

sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Then refresh the browser.

UFW blocks web traffic

Cause: HTTP traffic is not allowed through the firewall.

Fix:

Bash

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw status numbered

Expected output includes:

Text

80/tcp ALLOW IN

Nginx reload fails

Cause: Nginx only reloads when the configuration is valid.

Fix:

Bash

sudo nginx -t
sudo journalctl -u nginx --no-pager -n 50

Resolve the reported configuration error, then reload again:

Bash

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Conclusion

You have installed Nginx on a Raff Ubuntu 24.04 VM, configured UFW to allow web traffic, verified the default Nginx page, created a custom server block, and confirmed the server serves your custom page correctly.

From here, you can secure the site with HTTPS, use Nginx as a reverse proxy, host static websites, or build a full web application stack on the same Raff VM. If you haven’t deployed your Raff VM yet, you can spin one up in 60 seconds at rafftechnologies.com.

Next: Secure Nginx with Let’s Encrypt on Ubuntu 24.04 Related: Set Up a LEMP Stack on Ubuntu 24.04 Guide: Install Docker on Ubuntu 24.04

How to Install Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04: Complete Guide to Setup and Configuration

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Update Ubuntu and install Nginx

Step 2 — Verify the Nginx service

Step 3 — Configure the UFW firewall

Step 4 — Test the default Nginx page

Step 5 — Create a custom Nginx server block

Step 6 — Verify the custom server block

Step 7 — Review important Nginx files and directories

Step 8 — Verify the complete Nginx setup

Cleanup (Optional)

Troubleshooting

The browser does not load the Nginx page

`sudo nginx -t` shows a syntax error

The default Nginx page still appears after creating the server block

UFW blocks web traffic

Nginx reload fails

Conclusion

Get notified when we publish new tutorials

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to get started?

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Update Ubuntu and install Nginx

Step 2 — Verify the Nginx service

Step 3 — Configure the UFW firewall

Step 4 — Test the default Nginx page

Step 5 — Create a custom Nginx server block

Step 6 — Verify the custom server block

Step 7 — Review important Nginx files and directories

Step 8 — Verify the complete Nginx setup

Cleanup (Optional)

Troubleshooting

The browser does not load the Nginx page

sudo nginx -t shows a syntax error

The default Nginx page still appears after creating the server block

UFW blocks web traffic

Nginx reload fails

Conclusion

Get notified when we publish new tutorials

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Nginx?

How do I install Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04?

What VM size do I need to run Nginx?

Why does the browser show Not Secure after installing Nginx?

What is an Nginx server block?

Should I use Nginx or Apache on Ubuntu 24.04?

Can I use Nginx as a reverse proxy?

How do I update Nginx after installation?

Ready to get started?

`sudo nginx -t` shows a syntax error