NGINX allows you to host multiple websites on a single server with the help of virtual hosts. Each virtual host handles a website domain and serves requests from its own Document Root folder. When a request is made to one of the websites hosted on NGINX server, the virtual host matching the domain name in requested URL will serve the request. In this article, we will look at how to host multiple domains on one server in NGINX.
How to Host Multiple Domains on One Server in NGINX
Here are the steps to host multiple domains on one server in NGINX. In our example, we will host 2 domains example1.com and example2.com.
1. Create Document Root Directories
We will create 2 separate document root folders, one for each domain.
$ sudo mkdir /var/www/html/example1.com $ sudo mkdir /var/www/html/example2.com
Requests to example1.com will be served from resources present in /var/www/html/example1.com subfolder and those to example2.com will be served from /var/www/html/example2.com.
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2. Create index.html files
Next we will create index.html files for each of the websites.
Run the following command to create index.html file for example1.com website.
$ sudo vi /var/www/html/example1.com/index.html
Add the following lines to it.
<html> <title>www.example1.com</title> <h1>Welcome to www.example1.com Website</h1> </html>
Save and close the file.
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Similarly, run the following command to create index.html file for example2.com website
$ sudo vi /var/www/html/example2.com/index.html
Add the following lines to it.
<html> <title>www.example2.com</title> <h1>Welcome to www.example2.com Website</h1> </html>
Save and close the file.
3. Open NGINX configuration file
Open NGINX configuration file at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
$ sudo vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
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4. Create Server blocks
We need to create 2 server blocks, one for each domain, as shown below. Replace the values for server_name and root as per your domain names and document root locations respectively.
server {
listen 80;
root /var/www/html/example1.com;
index index.html;
server_name example1.com;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
}
server {
listen 80;
root /var/www/html/example2.com;
index index.html;
server_name example2.com;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
}
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5. Restart NGINX Server
Restart NGINX server to apply changes.
$ sudo nginx -t
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx
That’s it. Now open browser and go to http://example1.com. You will see the index page for example1.com
Similarly, open browser and go to http://example2.com. You will see the index page for example2.com
That’s it. Now you will be able to access both your websites hosted on one server.
How can I change the port
you can change the port by mentioning new port number in listen directive. For example, if you want to change port 80 to 8080 change
listen 80;
to
listen 8080;
in server {} block. Restart NGINX server to apply changes.
How can I add IP to each server block?
Thanks
instead of using ‘listen port_number’ in server block, use ‘listen ip_address:port_number’.
For example, instead of using ‘listen 80’ in server block, use ‘listen 54.43.32.21:80’ to listen to port 80 on ip address 54.43.32.21