nginx - ArchWiki

# nginx

nginx (pronounced "engine X"), is a free, open-source, high-performance HTTP server and reverse proxy, as well as an IMAP/POP3 proxy server, written by Igor Sysoev in 2005. According to Netcraft's April 2015 Web Server Survey, nginx now hosts 14.48% of all domains worldwide, while Apache hosts about 38.39%. nginx is now well known for its stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption.

## Installation

Install the package nginx-mainline (mainline branch : new features, updates, bugfixes) or nginx (stable branch : major bufixes only). Using the mainline branch is recommended.

The main reason to use the stable branch is that you are concerned about possible impacts of new features, such as incompatibility with third-party modules or the inadvertent introduction of bugs in new features[1].

For a Ruby on Rails setup with nginx, see Ruby on Rails#The Perfect Rails Setup.

For a chroot-based installation for additional security, see #Installation in a chroot.

## Running

Start/enable `nginx.service` using systemd.

The default served page at http://127.0.0.1 is `/usr/share/nginx/html/index.html`.

## Configuration

First steps with nginx are described in the Beginner’s Guide. You can modify the configuration by editing the files in `/etc/nginx/` The main configuration file is located at `/etc/nginx/nginx.conf`.

More details and examples can be found in http://wiki.nginx.org/Configuration and the official documentation.

The examples below cover the most common use cases. It is assumed that you use the default location for documents (`/usr/share/nginx/html`). If that is not the case, substitute your path instead.

### Configuration Example

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

    user http;
    worker_processes auto;
    pcre_jit on;

    events {
        worker_connections 2048;
    }

    http {
        include mime.types;
        default_type application/octet-stream;
        # include servers-enabled/*; # See Server blocks
    }

### General configuration

#### Processes and connections

You should choose a fitting value for `worker_processes`. This settings ultimately defines how many connection nginx will accept and how many processors it will be able to make use of. Generally, making it the number of hardware threads in your system is a good start. Alternatively, `worker_processes` accepts the `auto` value since versions 1.3.8 and 1.2.5, which will try to autodetect the optimal value (source).

The maximum connections nginx will accept is given by `max_clients = worker_processes * worker_connections`.

#### Running under different user

By default, nginx runs the master process as `root` and worker processes as user `http`. To run worker processes as another user, change the `user` directive in `nginx.conf`:

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

    user user [group];

If the group is omitted, a group whose name equals that of user is used.

Tip: It is also possible to run nginx without anything running as `root` using systemd. See #Running unprivileged using systemd.

#### Server blocks

It is possible to serve multiple domains using `server` blocks. It may be referred as "VirtualHosts", however this is an Apache term. The usage of `server` blocks also differs to Apache.

In the example below the server listens for incoming connections for two domains: `domainname1.dom` and `domainname2.dom`:

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

    ...
    server {
            listen 80;
            server_name domainname1.dom;
            root /usr/share/nginx/domainname1.dom/html;
            location / {
               index index.php index.html index.htm;
            }
    }

    server {
            listen 80;
            server_name domainname2.dom;
            root /usr/share/nginx/domainname2.dom/html;
            ...
    }
    ...

Restart the `nginx` service to apply any changes.

You should configure a DNS-server like BIND or dnsmasq so that these domain names could be resolved for connecting clients.

For now you can just add them manually in `/etc/hosts` replacing `192.168.0.101` with the actual IP address of server:

    192.168.0.101 domainname1.dom
    192.168.0.101 domainname2.dom

##### Managing server entries

It may be easier to use an Apache like Virtual hosts system.

Create the following directories:

    # mkdir /etc/nginx/servers-available
    # mkdir /etc/nginx/servers-enabled

Create a file inside the `servers-available` directory that contains one or more server blocks:

    /etc/nginx/servers-available/example

    server {
        ..
    }

Append the following line at the end of the `http` block in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:

    include servers-enabled/*;

To enable a `server`, simple create a symlink:

    # ln -s /etc/nginx/servers-available/example /etc/nginx/servers-enabled/example

To remove a `server`, delete the symlink:

    # rm -rf /etc/nginx/servers-enabled/example

Reload or restart `nginx` service to enable the new configuration.

#### TLS/SSL

OpenSSL provides TLS/SSL support and is installed by default on Arch installations.

Tip: You may want to read the ngx_http_ssl_module docs first before configuring SSL
Tip: Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority. A plugin is available to request valid SSL certificates straight from the command line and automatic configuration.

Create a private key and self-signed certificate. This is adequate for most installations that do not require a CSR:

    # mkdir /etc/nginx/ssl
    # cd /etc/nginx/ssl
    # openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout server.key -out server.crt -days 1095
    # chmod 400 server.key
    # chmod 444 server.crt

Note: The `-days` switch is optional and RSA keysize can be as low as 2048 (default).

If you need to create a CSR, follow these instructions instead of the above:

    # mkdir /etc/nginx/ssl
    # cd /etc/nginx/ssl
    # openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_bits:4096 -out server.key
    # chmod 400 server.key
    # openssl req -new -sha256 -key server.key -out server.csr
    # openssl x509 -req -days 1095 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

Note: For more openssl options, read its man page or peruse its extensive documentation.
Warning: If you plan on implementing SSL/TLS, know that some variations and implementations are still vulnerable to attack. For details on these current vulnerabilities within SSL/TLS and how to apply appropriate changes to nginx, visit http://disablessl3.com/ and https://weakdh.org/sysadmin.html

Example of a `nginx.conf` using SSL:

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

    http {
            ssl_ciphers "EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH";
            ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
            ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
            ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
            add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubdomains; preload";
            add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
            add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
            ssl_session_tickets off;
            ssl_stapling on;
            ssl_stapling_verify on;
            resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 valid=300s; # Google DNS Servers
            resolver_timeout 5s;

    server {
            #listen 80; # Uncomment to also listen for HTTP requests
            listen 443 ssl;
            server_name localhost;

            ssl_certificate ssl/server.crt;
            ssl_certificate_key ssl/server.key;

            root /usr/share/nginx/html;
            location / {
                index  index.html index.htm;
            }
    }

Tip:

- Mozilla has a useful SSL/TLS article which includes nginx specific configuration guidelines as well as an automated tool to help create a more secure configuration.
- Cipherli.st provides strong SSL implementation examples and tutorial for most modern webservers.

Restart the `nginx` service to apply any changes.

### FastCGI

FastCGI, also FCGI, is a protocol for interfacing interactive programs with a web server. FastCGI is a variation on the earlier CGI (Common Gateway Interface); FastCGI's main aim is to reduce the overhead associated with interfacing the web server and CGI programs, allowing a server to handle more web page requests at once.

FastCGI technology is introduced into nginx to work with many external tools, i.e.: Perl, PHP and Python.

#### PHP implementation

PHP-FPM is the recommended solution to run as FastCGI server for PHP.

##### PHP configuration

Install the php and php-fpm packages.

Make sure open_basedir allows the directories containing PHP files to be accessed (starting with PHP 7.0 it is unset by default, so no change is required).

After that let us configure modules you need. For example to use sqlite3 you should install php-sqlite. Then enable it in `/etc/php/php.ini` by uncommenting following line:

    extension=sqlite3.so

The main configuration file of PHP-FPM is `/etc/php/php-fpm.conf`. Enable and start the `php-fpm` service.

Note: If you run nginx in chrooted environment (chroot is `/srv/nginx-jail`, web pages are served at `/srv/nginx-jail/www`), you must modify the file `/etc/php/php-fpm.conf` to include the `chroot /srv/nginx-jail` and `listen = /srv/nginx-jail/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock` directives within the pool section (a default one is `[www]`). Create the directory for the socket file, if missing.

###### MariaDB

Configure MySQL/MariaDB as described in MariaDB.

Uncomment at least one of the following lines in `/etc/php/php.ini`:

    extension=pdo_mysql.so
    extension=mysqli.so

Warning: `mysql.so` was removed in PHP 7.0.

You can add minor privileged MySQL users for your web scripts. You might also want to edit `/etc/mysql/my.cnf` and uncomment the `skip-networking` line so the MySQL server is only accessible by the localhost. You have to restart MySQL for changes to take effect.

Tip: You may want to install a tool like phpMyAdmin, Adminer or mysql-workbench to work with your databases.

##### nginx configuration

###### Adding to main configuration

Inside each `server` block serving a PHP web application should appear a `location` block similar to:

    location ~ \.php$ {
         fastcgi_pass   unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_index  index.php;
         include        fastcgi.conf;
    }

If it is needed to process other extensions with PHP (e.g. .html and .htm):

    location ~ \.(php|html|htm)$ {
         fastcgi_pass   unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_index  index.php;
         include        fastcgi.conf;
    }

Non .php extension processing in php-fpm should be explicitly added in `/etc/php/php-fpm.d/www.conf`:

    security.limit_extensions = .php .html .htm

Note: Pay attention to the `fastcgi_pass` argument, as it must be the TCP or Unix socket defined by the chosen FastCGI server in its config file. The default (Unix) socket for `php-fpm` is:

    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;

You might use the common TCP socket, not default,

    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;

Unix domain sockets should however be faster.

The example shown below is a copy of a working configuration. Notice that in this example the `root` path in specified directly under `server`, and not inside `location` (as it is in the default config).

    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name localhost;
        root /usr/share/nginx/html;
        location / {
            index index.html index.htm index.php;
        }

        location ~ \.php$ {
            #fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000; (depending on your php-fpm socket configuration)
            fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            include fastcgi.conf;
        }
    }

###### PHP configuration file

If using multiple `server` blocks with enabled PHP support, it might be easier to create a PHP config file instead:

    /etc/nginx/conf/php.conf

    location ~ \.php$ {
      fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
      fastcgi_index index.php;
      include fastcgi.conf;
    }

To enable PHP support for a particular server, simple include `php.conf`:

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

     server = {
         server_name example.com;
         ...
         include php.conf;
     }

##### Test configuration

You need to restart the `php-fpm` and `nginx` daemons if the configuration has been changed in order to apply changes.

To test the FastCGI implementation, create a new PHP file inside the `root` folder containing:

    <?php
      phpinfo();
    ?>

Navigate this file inside a browser and you will see the informational page with the current PHP configuration.

See #Troubleshooting section if you are experiencing problems with your configuration.

#### CGI implementation

This implementation is needed for CGI applications.

##### fcgiwrap

Install the fcgiwrap. The configuration file is `/usr/lib/systemd/system/fcgiwrap.socket`. Enable and start the `fcgiwrap.socket`.

###### Multiple worker threads

If you want to spawn multiple worker threads, it is recommended that you use multiwatchAUR, which will take care of restarting crashed children. You will need to use `spawn-fcgi` to create the unix socket, as multiwatch seems unable to handle the systemd-created socket, even though fcgiwrap itself does not have any trouble if invoked directly in the unit file.

Copy the unit file from `/usr/lib/systemd/system/fcgiwrap.service` to `/etc/systemd/system/fcgiwrap.service` (and the `fcgiwrap.socket` unit, if present), and modify the `ExecStart` line to suit your needs. Here is a unit file that uses multiwatchAUR. Make sure `fcgiwrap.socket` is not started or enabled, because it will conflict with this unit:

    /etc/systemd/system/fcgiwrap.service

    [Unit]
    Description=Simple CGI Server
    After=nss-user-lookup.target

    [Service]
    ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f /run/fcgiwrap.socket
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/spawn-fcgi -u http -g http -s /run/fcgiwrap.sock -n -- /usr/bin/multiwatch -f 10 -- /usr/sbin/fcgiwrap
    ExecStartPost=/usr/bin/chmod 660 /run/fcgiwrap.sock
    PrivateTmp=true
    Restart=on-failure

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

Tweak `-f 10` to change the number of children that are spawned.

Warning: The `ExecStartPost` line is required because of strange behaviour I'm seeing when I use the `-M 660` option for `spawn-fcgi`. The wrong mode is set. This may be a bug?

##### nginx configuration

Inside each `server` block serving a CGI web application should appear a `location` block similar to:

    location ~ \.cgi$ {
         root           /path/to/server/cgi-bin;
         fastcgi_pass   unix:/run/fcgiwrap.sock;
         include        fastcgi.conf;
    }

The default socket file for `fcgiwrap` is `/run/fcgiwrap.sock`.

If you keep getting a `502 - bad Gateway` error, you should check if your CGI-application first announces the mime-type of the following content. For html this needs to be `Content-type: text/html`.

## Installation in a chroot

Installing nginx in a chroot adds an additional layer of security. For maximum security the chroot should include only the files needed to run the nginx server and all files should have the most restrictive permissions possible, e.g., as much as possible should be owned by root, directories such as `/usr/bin` should be unreadable and unwriteable, etc.

Arch comes with an `http` user and group by default which will run the server. The chroot will be in `/srv/http`.

A perl script to create this jail is available at jail.pl gist. You can either use that or follow the instructions in this article. It expects to be run as root. You will need to uncomment a line before it makes any changes.

### Create necessary devices

nginx needs `/dev/null`, `/dev/random`, and `/dev/urandom`. To install these in the chroot create the `/dev/` directory and add the devices with mknod. Avoid mounting all of `/dev/` to ensure that, even if the chroot is compromised, an attacker must break out of the chroot to access important devices like `/dev/sda1`.

Tip: Be sure that `/srv/http` is mounted without no-dev option
Tip: See `man mknod` and `ls -l /dev/{null,random,urandom}` to better understand the mknod options.

    # export JAIL=/srv/http
    # mkdir $JAIL/dev
    # mknod -m 0666 $JAIL/dev/null c 1 3
    # mknod -m 0666 $JAIL/dev/random c 1 8
    # mknod -m 0444 $JAIL/dev/urandom c 1 9

### Create necessary directories

nginx requires a bunch of files to run properly. Before copying them over, create the folders to store them. This assumes your nginx document root will be `/srv/http/www`.

    # mkdir -p $JAIL/etc/nginx/logs
    # mkdir -p $JAIL/usr/{lib,bin}
    # mkdir -p $JAIL/usr/share/nginx
    # mkdir -p $JAIL/var/{log,lib}/nginx
    # mkdir -p $JAIL/www/cgi-bin
    # mkdir -p $JAIL/{run,tmp}
    # cd $JAIL; ln -s usr/lib lib

Note: If using a 64 bit kernel you will need to create symbolic links `lib64` and `usr/lib64` to `usr/lib`: `cd $JAIL; ln -s usr/lib lib64` and `cd $JAIL/usr; ln -s lib lib64`.

Then mount `$JAIL/tmp` and `$JAIL/run` as tmpfs's. The size should be limited to ensure an attacker cannot eat all the RAM.

    # mount -t tmpfs none $JAIL/run -o 'noexec,size=1M'
    # mount -t tmpfs none $JAIL/tmp -o 'noexec,size=100M'

In order to preserve the mounts across reboots, the following entries should be added to `/etc/fstab`:

    /etc/fstab

     tmpfs   /srv/http/run   tmpfs   rw,noexec,relatime,size=1024k   0       0
     tmpfs   /srv/http/tmp   tmpfs   rw,noexec,relatime,size=102400k 0       0

### Populate the chroot

First copy over the easy files.

    # cp -r /usr/share/nginx/* $JAIL/usr/share/nginx
    # cp -r /usr/share/nginx/html/* $JAIL/www
    # cp /usr/bin/nginx $JAIL/usr/bin/
    # cp -r /var/lib/nginx $JAIL/var/lib/nginx

Now copy over required libraries. Use ldd to list them and then copy them all to the correct location. Copying is preferred over hardlinks to ensure that even if an attacker gains write access to the files they cannot destroy or alter the true system files.

    $ ldd /usr/bin/nginx

    linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fffc41fe000)
    libpthread.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f57ec3e8000)
    libcrypt.so.1 => /usr/lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0x00007f57ec1b1000)
    libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007f57ebead000)
    libm.so.6 => /usr/lib/libm.so.6 (0x00007f57ebbaf000)
    libpcre.so.1 => /usr/lib/libpcre.so.1 (0x00007f57eb94c000)
    libssl.so.1.0.0 => /usr/lib/libssl.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f57eb6e0000)
    libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f57eb2d6000)
    libdl.so.2 => /usr/lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f57eb0d2000)
    libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x00007f57eaebc000)
    libGeoIP.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGeoIP.so.1 (0x00007f57eac8d000)
    libgcc_s.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007f57eaa77000)
    libc.so.6 => /usr/lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007f57ea6ca000)
    /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f57ec604000)

    # cp /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 $JAIL/lib

For files residing in `/usr/lib` you may try the following one-liner:

    # cp $(ldd /usr/bin/nginx | grep /usr/lib | sed -sre 's/(.+)(\/usr\/lib\/\S+).+/\2/g') $JAIL/usr/lib

Note: Do not try to copy `linux-vdso.so`: it is not a real library and does not exist in `/usr/lib`. Also `ld-linux-x86-64.so` will likely be listed in `/lib64` for a 64 bit system.

Copy over some miscellaneous but necessary libraries and system files.

    # cp /usr/lib/libnss_* $JAIL/usr/lib
    # cp -rfvL /etc/{services,localtime,nsswitch.conf,nscd.conf,protocols,hosts,ld.so.cache,ld.so.conf,resolv.conf,host.conf,nginx} $JAIL/etc

Create restricted user/group files for the chroot. This way only the users needed for the chroot to function exist as far as the chroot knows, and none of the system users/groups are leaked to attackers should they gain access to the chroot.

    $JAIL/etc/group

    http:x:33:
    nobody:x:99:

    $JAIL/etc/passwd

    http:x:33:33:http:/:/bin/false
    nobody:x:99:99:nobody:/:/bin/false

    $JAIL/etc/shadow

    http:x:14871::::::
    nobody:x:14871::::::

    $JAIL/etc/gshadow

    http:::
    nobody:::

    # touch $JAIL/etc/shells
    # touch $JAIL/run/nginx.pid

Finally make set very restrictive permissions. As much as possible should be owned by root and set unwritable.

    # chown -R root:root $JAIL/

    # chown -R http:http $JAIL/www
    # chown -R http:http $JAIL/etc/nginx
    # chown -R http:http $JAIL/var/{log,lib}/nginx
    # chown http:http $JAIL/run/nginx.pid

    # find $JAIL/ -gid 0 -uid 0 -type d -print | xargs chmod -rw
    # find $JAIL/ -gid 0 -uid 0 -type d -print | xargs chmod +x
    # find $JAIL/etc -gid 0 -uid 0 -type f -print | xargs chmod -x
    # find $JAIL/usr/bin -type f -print | xargs chmod ug+rx
    # find $JAIL/ -group http -user http -print | xargs chmod o-rwx
    # chmod +rw $JAIL/tmp
    # chmod +rw $JAIL/run

If your server will bind port 80 (or any other port in range [1-1023]), give the chrooted executable permission to bind these ports without root.

    # setcap 'cap_net_bind_service=+ep' $JAIL/usr/bin/nginx

### Modify nginx.service to start chroot

Before modifying the `nginx.service` unit file, it may be a good idea to copy it to `/etc/systemd/system/` since the unit files there take priority over those in `/usr/lib/systemd/system/`. This means upgrading nginx would not modify your custom .service file.

    # cp /usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service

The systemd unit must be changed to start up nginx in the chroot, as the http user, and store the pid file in the chroot.

Note: I'm not sure if the pid file needs to be stored in the chroot jail.

    /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service

     [Unit]
     Description=A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
     After=syslog.target network.target

     [Service]
     Type=forking
     PIDFile=/srv/http/run/nginx.pid
     ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/chroot --userspec=http:http /srv/http /usr/bin/nginx -t -q -g 'pid /run/nginx.pid; daemon on; master_process on;'
     ExecStart=/usr/bin/chroot --userspec=http:http /srv/http /usr/bin/nginx -g 'pid /run/nginx.pid; daemon on; master_process on;'
     ExecReload=/usr/bin/chroot --userspec=http:http /srv/http /usr/bin/nginx -g 'pid /run/nginx.pid; daemon on; master_process on;' -s reload
     ExecStop=/usr/bin/chroot --userspec=http:http /srv/http /usr/bin/nginx -g 'pid /run/nginx.pid;' -s quit

     [Install]
     WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note: Upgrading nginx with pacman will not upgrade the chrooted nginx installation. You have to take care of the updates manually by repeating some of the steps above. Do not forget to also update the libraries it links against.

You can now safely get rid of the non-chrooted nginx installation.

    # pacman -Rsc nginx

If you do not remove the non-chrooted nginx installation, you may want to make sure that the running nginx process is in fact the chrooted one. You can do so by checking where `/proc/PID/root` symmlinks to. If should link to `/srv/http` instead of `/`.

    # ps -C nginx | awk '{print $1}' | sed 1d | while read -r PID; do ls -l /proc/$PID/root; done

## Tips and tricks

#### Running unprivileged using systemd

Edit nginx.service and set the `User` and optionally `Group` options under `[Service]`:

    /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d/user.conf

    [Service]
    User=user
    Group=group

We can harden the service against ever elevating privileges:

    /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d/user.conf

    [Service]
    ...
    NoNewPrivileges=yes

Tip: See systemd.exec(5) for more options of confinement.

Then we need to ensure that `user` has access to everything it needs:

Port
  Linux does not permit non-`root` processes to bind to ports below 1024 by default. A port above 1024 can be used:

      /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

      server {
              listen 8080;
      }

  Tip: If you want nginx accessible on port 80 or 443, configure your firewall to redirect requests from 80 or 443 to the ports nginx listens to.

  Or you may grant the nginx process the CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE capability which will allow it to bind to ports below 1024:

      /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d/user.conf

      [Service]
      ...
      CapabilityBoundingSet=
      CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
      AmbientCapabilities=
      AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE

PID file
  nginx uses `/run/nginx.pid` by default. We can create a directory that user has write access to and place our PID file in there. An example using systemd-tmpfiles:

      /etc/tmpfiles.d/nginx.conf

      d /run/nginx 770 user group

  Run the configuration:

       # systemd-tmpfiles --create

  Edit nginx.service:

      /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d/user.conf

      [Service]
      ...
      PIDFile=/run/nginx/nginx.pid
      ExecStart=
      ExecStart=/usr/bin/nginx -g 'pid /run/nginx/nginx.pid; error_log stderr;' # copied from nginx.service

`/var/lib/nginx/*`
  Some directories under `/var/lib/nginx` need to be bootstrapped by nginx running as `root`. It is not necessary to start the whole server to do that, nginx will do it on a simple configuration test. So just run one of those and you're good to go.

Remove logs
  The step of running a configuration test will create a dangling `root`-owned log. Remove logs in `/var/log/nginx` to start fresh.

Now we should be good to go. Go ahead and start nginx, and enjoy your completely rootless nginx.

Tip: The same setup may be desirable for your FastCGI server as well.

#### Nginx Beautifier

Nginx beautifier is a commandline tool used to beautify and format nginx configuration files, it is available on AUR nginxbeautifierAUR

## Troubleshooting

### Configuration validation

    # nginx -t

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

### Accessing local IP redirects to localhost

Solution from the Arch Linux forum.

In `/etc/nginx/nginx.conf` locate the `server_name localhost` line without a `#` in front of it, and add below:

    server_name_in_redirect off;

Default behavior is that nginx redirects any requests to the value given as `server_name` in the config.

### Error: The page you are looking for is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. (502 Bad Gateway)

This is because the FastCGI server has not been started, or the socket used has wrong permissions.

Try out this answer to fix the 502 error.

In Archlinux, the configure file mentioned in above link is `/etc/php/php-fpm.conf`.

On some condition, `fcgiwrap.socket` may not start properly and create a useless unix domain socket `/run/fcgiwrap.sock`.

Try stop the `fcgiwrap.socket` service, and remove the default unix domain socket file:

    # rm /run/fcgiwrap.sock

Then start `fcgiwrap.service` instead. Check the status of `fcgiwrap.service` and the new unix domain socket `/run/fcgiwrap.sock`:

    $ systemctl status fcgiwrap.service
    $ ls /run/fcgiwrap.sock

If it work, disable `fcgiwrap.socket` and enable `fcgiwrap.service`.

### Error: No input file specified

1. Verify that variable `open_basedir` in `/etc/php/php.ini` contains the correct path specified as `root` argument in `nginx.conf` (usually `/usr/share/nginx/`). When using PHP-FPM as FastCGI server for PHP, you may add `fastcgi_param PHP_ADMIN_VALUE "open_basedir=$document_root/:/tmp/:/proc/";` in the `location` block which aims for processing php file in `nginx.conf`.

2. Another occasion is that, wrong `root` argument in the `location ~ \.php$` section in `nginx.conf`. Make sure the `root` points to the same directory as it in `location /` in the same server. Or you may just set root as global, do not define it in any location section.

3. Check permissions: e.g. `http` for user/group, `755` for directories and `644` for files. Remember the entire path to the `html` directory should have the correct permissions. See File permissions and attributes#Bulk chmod to bulk modify a directory tree.

4. You do not have the `SCRIPT_FILENAME` containing the full path to your scripts. If the configuration of nginx (`fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME`) is correct, this kind of error means php failed to load the requested script. Usually it is simply a permissions issue, you can just run php-cgi as root:

    # spawn-fcgi -a 127.0.0.1 -p 9000 -f /usr/bin/php-cgi

or you should create a group and user to start the php-cgi:

    # groupadd www
    # useradd -g www www
    # chmod +w /srv/www/nginx/html
    # chown -R www:www /srv/www/nginx/html
    # spawn-fcgi -a 127.0.0.1 -p 9000 -u www -g www -f /usr/bin/php-cgi

5. If you are running php-fpm with chrooted nginx ensure `chroot` is set correctly within `/etc/php-fpm/php-fpm.d/www.conf` (or `/etc/php-fpm/php-fpm.conf` if working on older version)

### Error: "File not found" in browser or "Primary script unknown" in log file

Ensure you have specified a `root` and `index` in your `server` or `location` directive:

    location ~ \.php$ {
         root           /srv/http/root_dir;
         index          index.php;
         fastcgi_pass   unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
         include        fastcgi.conf;
    }

### Error: chroot: '/usr/sbin/nginx' No such file or directory

If you encounter this error when running the nginx daemon using chroot, this is likely due to missing 64 bit libraries in the jailed environment.

If you are running chroot in `/srv/http` you need to add the required 64-bit libraries.

First, set up the directories:

    # mkdir /srv/http/usr/lib64
    # cd /srv/http; ln -s usr/lib64 lib64

Then copy the required 64 bit libraries listed with `ldd /usr/sbin/nginx` to `/srv/http/usr/lib64`.

If run as root, permissions for the libraries should be read and executable for all users, so no modification is required.

### Alternative script for systemd

On pure systemd you can get advantages of chroot + systemd. [2] Based on set user group an pid on:

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

    user http;
    pid /run/nginx.pid;

the absolute path of file is `/srv/http/etc/nginx/nginx.conf`.

    /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service

    [Unit]
    Description=nginx (Chroot)
    After=syslog.target network.target

    [Service]
    Type=forking
    PIDFile=/srv/http/run/nginx.pid
    RootDirectory=/srv/http
    ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
    ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
    ExecReload=/usr/sbin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf -s reload
    ExecStop=/usr/sbin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf -s stop

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

It is not necesary to set the default location, nginx loads at default `-c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf`, but it is a good idea though.

Alternatively you can run only `ExecStart` as chroot with parameter `RootDirectoryStartOnly` set as `yes` man systemd service or start it before mount point as effective or a systemd path is available.

    /etc/systemd/system/nginx.path

    [Unit]
    Description=nginx (Chroot) path
    [Path]
    PathExists=/srv/http/site/Public_html
    [Install]
    WantedBy=default.target

Enable the created `nginx.path` and change the `WantedBy=default.target` to `WantedBy=nginx.path` in `/etc/systemd/system/nginx.service`.

The `PIDFile` in unit file allows systemd to monitor process (absolute path required). If it is undesired, you can change to default one-shoot type, and delete the reference from the unit file.

## See also

- nginix configuration pitfalls
- Very good in-depth 2014 look at nginx security and Reverse Proxying
- Installing LEMP (nginx, PHP, MySQL with MariaDB engine and PhpMyAdmin) in Arch Linux

Category:

- Web server