How to Install Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04

To install Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04, update APT, install Ubuntu's nginx package, verify the service locally, then configure public HTTP access only after checking your firewall and SSH path. This tutorial also creates a custom server block, inspects logs, and completes an end-to-end Nginx check.

The saved test workflow ran on a Raff Ubuntu VM; this guide uses a self-managed Nginx host, rather than a managed application deployment service. On Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble), the distribution package remains on the Nginx 1.24.0 base branch. As of September 7, 2026, Ubuntu's Noble updates/security package is 1.24.0-2ubuntu7.17. The Ubuntu package revision matters because Canonical can deliver security fixes without changing the short upstream version shown by nginx -v.

Quick install: install Nginx and verify it locally first:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx
systemctl is-active nginx
curl -I http://127.0.0.1

Do not treat firewall activation as part of a blind copy-paste quick start. If UFW is inactive, confirm your real SSH port and a recovery path before enabling it.

Nginx can act as a web server, reverse proxy, load balancer, HTTP cache, and TCP/UDP proxy. For a normal Ubuntu 24.04 server, the distribution package is the simplest starting point because it follows Ubuntu's package lifecycle. If you specifically need a newer upstream Nginx release, a separate nginx.org repository path is covered later.

If you are setting up Nginx as an application gateway rather than a static web server, first review Reverse Proxy Guide for Cloud VMs for upstream isolation, TLS, headers, and the difference between a proxy and a load balancer.

Prerequisites:

• A Raff Linux VM running Ubuntu 24.04
• SSH access with a non-root sudo user
• The VM's public IPv4 address
• Port 80/tcp available for the HTTP test
• The actual SSH listening port known before changing UFW
• A second SSH session or another recovery path before enabling a previously inactive firewall
• A domain only if you plan to continue to production HTTPS

The original installation workflow was tested on a Raff Ubuntu 24.04 VM with 2 vCPU and 2 GB RAM. Ubuntu's Nginx package, UFW guidance, and nginx.org Ubuntu support were re-verified on September 7, 2026; no new full machine retest is claimed.

Step 1 — Update Ubuntu and install Nginx

Update package metadata and current system packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Nginx, UFW, and curl:

sudo apt install -y nginx ufw curl

Check the Ubuntu release, the Nginx binary version, and the complete Ubuntu package revision:

lsb_release -ds
nginx -v 2>&1
dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' nginx
apt-cache policy nginx

On Ubuntu 24.04, the binary version should follow this pattern:

nginx version: nginx/1.24.0 (Ubuntu)

The package revision can be newer than the upstream base version. As of September 7, 2026, the Noble updates/security package is:

1.24.0-2ubuntu7.17

The exact Ubuntu revision may increase later as updates are published.

Verify: Ubuntu should report 24.04 LTS, Nginx should be installed, and apt-cache policy nginx should show the candidate supplied by your configured Ubuntu repositories.

Step 2 — Verify the Nginx service

Nginx normally starts automatically after installation. Confirm that it is active:

systemctl is-active nginx

Expected output:

active

Check boot enablement:

systemctl is-enabled nginx

Expected output:

enabled

Inspect the service without opening an interactive pager:

sudo systemctl status nginx --no-pager

Useful service commands are:

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

Use reload after a successful nginx -t when applying configuration changes without a full service stop.

Verify: systemctl is-active nginx should return active, and Nginx should be enabled for normal startup unless you intentionally manage it another way.

Step 3 — Configure UFW without risking SSH lockout

First inspect the current firewall state:

sudo ufw status verbose

Then confirm the SSH port that sshd is actually configured to use:

sudo sshd -T | awk '/^port / {print $2}'

List Nginx's UFW application profiles:

sudo ufw app list

Expected profiles normally include:

Nginx Full
Nginx HTTP
Nginx HTTPS

If UFW is already active, preserve the working SSH rule and allow HTTP:

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'
sudo ufw status numbered

If UFW is inactive, add an allow rule for the actual SSH port first. For standard SSH with a matching OpenSSH profile:

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH

For a custom SSH port, allow that port instead, for example:

sudo ufw allow 2222/tcp

Then add the Nginx HTTP rule:

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'

Before enabling UFW on a remote VM, keep the current SSH session open and successfully open a second SSH session through the allowed SSH path. If you cannot verify a recovery path, leave UFW activation for a controlled maintenance change.

Only after the second SSH session works should you enable an inactive firewall:

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status numbered

Do not use ufw --force enable as a shortcut around this check.

If you also use an upstream cloud firewall, allow TCP port 80 there for the public browser test.

Verify: SSH should remain reachable, Nginx HTTP should be allowed when UFW is active, and you should still have a working administrative session after the change.

Step 4 — Test the default Nginx page

Test Nginx locally before relying on public networking:

curl -I http://127.0.0.1

Expected output includes:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx

Get the VM's public IPv4 address from the Raff dashboard or run:

curl -4s https://icanhazip.com

Open the public address in a browser:

http://your_server_ip

The public page confirms that the Nginx service, host networking, and firewall path all allow HTTP traffic to reach the server.

Verify: both the local curl request and the browser request should reach the default Nginx page before you replace the default site.

Step 5 — Create a custom Nginx server block

Ubuntu packages use /etc/nginx/sites-available/ for available site configurations and /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ for enabled symbolic links.

Create a demo document root:

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

Create the custom page:

sudo tee /var/www/raff-nginx-demo/html/index.html > /dev/null <<'EOF'
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Nginx server block is working on Raff</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Nginx server block is working on Raff</h1>
  <p>This page is served from an Ubuntu 24.04 Linux VM.</p>
</body>
</html>
EOF

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo:

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

    server_name _;

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

    access_log /var/log/nginx/raff-nginx-demo.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/raff-nginx-demo.error.log;

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

Disable the default site and enable the demo server block:

sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo \
  /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/raff-nginx-demo

Validate the entire configuration before reloading:

sudo nginx -t

Expected result includes:

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

Reload only after the test succeeds:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Verify: nginx -t should pass and Nginx should reload without an error.

Step 6 — Verify the custom server block

Check the custom page locally:

curl -s http://127.0.0.1 | grep 'Nginx server block is working on Raff'

Expected output contains:

<h1>Nginx server block is working on Raff</h1>

Check the public HTTP response:

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

Open the public IP again in a browser:

http://your_server_ip

For a production site, replace server_name _; with real domain names before configuring HTTPS. Only the intended public edge should be internet-facing; application and data services should use private traffic paths where possible. See Public vs Private Traffic in Cloud Infrastructure.

Verify: the local request and public request should both return the custom server-block content.

Step 7 — Review Nginx files and logs

Important Ubuntu Nginx paths include:

/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
/etc/nginx/sites-available/
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
/etc/nginx/conf.d/
/var/www/
/var/log/nginx/

Files created in this tutorial include:

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

Review recent requests:

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

Review errors:

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

Confirm which configuration files Nginx loaded:

sudo nginx -T 2>/dev/null | grep -E 'configuration file|server_name|root '

Use full nginx -T output carefully on shared systems because it can expose internal hostnames and configuration details.

Verify: requests to the demo site should appear in the custom access log, while the error log should not contain unresolved configuration failures.

Step 8 — Verify the Nginx setup end to end

Run the final verification sequence:

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

echo "Ubuntu package:"
dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' nginx

echo "APT candidate:"
apt-cache policy nginx | sed -n '1,6p'

echo "Nginx binary:"
nginx -v 2>&1

echo "Service:"
systemctl is-active nginx

echo "Boot status:"
systemctl is-enabled nginx

echo "Configuration:"
sudo nginx -t

echo "Firewall:"
sudo ufw status numbered

echo "Local HTTP response:"
curl -I http://127.0.0.1

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

echo "Custom page:"
curl -s http://127.0.0.1 | grep 'Nginx server block is working on Raff'

End-to-end verification is complete when:

• the installed Ubuntu Nginx package matches the intended APT candidate;
• nginx -v reports the Ubuntu Nginx 1.24.0 base branch;
• the service is active and enabled;
• nginx -t succeeds;
• if UFW is active, the required HTTP and SSH paths are allowed;
• local and public HTTP requests succeed; and
• the custom server block returns the demo page.

Optional — Install a newer Nginx release from nginx.org

Ubuntu's package is the recommended path when you want Ubuntu-managed updates and the Noble configuration layout. If you specifically need a newer stable or mainline Nginx release, nginx.org currently publishes official packages for Ubuntu 24.04.

Do not casually mix Ubuntu's distribution packages and nginx.org packages on an existing production server. Packaging defaults and configuration layout differ.

Install the repository prerequisites:

sudo apt install -y curl gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release ubuntu-keyring

Import the official signing key:

curl https://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key | gpg --dearmor \
  | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null

Verify the key before trusting it using the fingerprint shown by current nginx.org documentation.

For the nginx.org stable repository:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg] \
https://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) nginx" \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list

Pin nginx.org packages above distribution-provided packages only if that is intentionally the source you want:

echo -e "Package: *\nPin: origin nginx.org\nPin: release o=nginx\nPin-Priority: 900\n" \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/99nginx

Update metadata and inspect the candidate before installing:

sudo apt update
apt-cache policy nginx

The Ubuntu package path used by the rest of this tutorial remains 1.24.0-2ubuntu7.17 in Noble updates/security as of September 7, 2026.

Cleanup

Remove the demo site only if you no longer need it:

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

Restore Ubuntu's default site if its configuration file still exists:

if [ -f /etc/nginx/sites-available/default ]; then
  sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/default \
    /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
fi

Test and reload:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Remove the HTTP firewall rule only if the VM no longer needs port 80:

sudo ufw delete allow 'Nginx HTTP'
sudo ufw status numbered

Do not close port 80 when it is still required for a website, redirect, or ACME HTTP challenge.

Troubleshooting

The browser does not load the Nginx page

Check the service, local response, firewall state, public IP, and port listener:

systemctl is-active nginx
curl -I http://127.0.0.1
sudo ufw status numbered
curl -4s https://icanhazip.com
sudo ss -lntp | grep ':80'

If local HTTP works but public HTTP does not, investigate UFW and any upstream cloud firewall before changing Nginx configuration.

Why does Nginx still show 1.24.0 after apt upgrade?

Ubuntu 24.04 can continue to report nginx/1.24.0 while Ubuntu package revisions receive fixes. Check the full package version instead:

dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}\n' nginx
apt-cache policy nginx

If the installed package matches the intended Ubuntu candidate, the server can be current even though the short binary version remains 1.24.0.

nginx -t reports a syntax error

Run:

sudo nginx -t

Correct the file named in the error, then validate again before reloading:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

The default Nginx page still appears

Check enabled sites:

ls -l /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Then make sure the custom site is enabled and the default site is not still taking the request:

sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/raff-nginx-demo \
  /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/raff-nginx-demo
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

UFW does not show Nginx profiles

Check the installed package and profile file:

dpkg -s nginx
ls -l /etc/ufw/applications.d/nginx
sudo ufw app list

If necessary, allow HTTP directly:

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp

Enabling UFW could disconnect SSH

Do not enable the firewall from a single remote session until you know the real SSH port and have added the matching allow rule. Keep the current connection open and confirm a second SSH session works first.

The site works over HTTP but shows Not Secure

This tutorial intentionally stops at HTTP. Point a domain to the VM, replace the catch-all server_name, and configure TLS using the Let's Encrypt tutorial linked in the conclusion.

How to uninstall Nginx from Ubuntu

To update Nginx, you normally do not need to remove it:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

To remove Nginx and its package configuration:

sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo apt purge -y nginx nginx-common
sudo apt autoremove -y

purge removes Nginx configuration under /etc/nginx. Website files under /var/www/ are separate and should only be removed when you no longer need them.

Conclusion

You installed Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04 through Ubuntu's supported repositories, verified the full Ubuntu package revision, configured HTTP access without blindly force-enabling UFW, created a custom server block, inspected logs, and completed an end-to-end web-server check.

For Ubuntu 24.04, the important version distinction is between the Nginx 1.24.0 upstream base shown by nginx -v and Ubuntu's complete package revision. At the September 7, 2026 documentation review, Noble's published updates/security package was 1.24.0-2ubuntu7.17; check apt-cache policy nginx for the current candidate because Ubuntu security revisions may advance.

Next, configure free HTTPS with Let's Encrypt, build a LEMP stack, or use Docker on Ubuntu 24.04 for containerized applications behind Nginx.

Sources

• Ubuntu Packages — Nginx in Noble and Noble Updates
• nginx.org — official Linux packages and supported Ubuntu versions
• Ubuntu Server documentation — Nginx installation and firewall management
• Guidance re-verified: 2026-09-07