What is Nginx and how to install Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04 ?

What is Nginx ?

NGINX is open source software for web serving, reverse proxying, caching, load balancing, media streaming, and more. It started out as a web server designed for maximum performance and stability. In addition to its HTTP server capabilities, NGINX can also function as a proxy server for email (IMAP, POP3, and SMTP) and a reverse proxy and load balancer for HTTP, TCP, and UDP servers.

How to install Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04 ?

Installing Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04 is very simple, just type the below command and you are all set with the installation..

$ sudo apt-get install nginx

When you install nginx, the prerequisite packages as below will also be automatically get installed,

libnginx-mod-http-image-filter libnginx-mod-http-xslt-filter libnginx-mod-mail libnginx-mod-stream nginx nginx-common nginx-core

by default, when you install nginx, the important configuration files are created at /etc/nginx

$ tree /etc/nginx/

/etc/nginx/
├── blocked_bots
├── blocked_ips
├── conf.d
├── fastcgi.conf
├── fastcgi_params
├── koi-utf
├── koi-win
├── mime.types
├── modules-available
├── modules-enabled
│   ├── 50-mod-http-image-filter.conf -> /usr/share/nginx/modules-available/mod-http-image-filter.conf
│   ├── 50-mod-http-xslt-filter.conf -> /usr/share/nginx/modules-available/mod-http-xslt-filter.conf
│   ├── 50-mod-mail.conf -> /usr/share/nginx/modules-available/mod-mail.conf
│   └── 50-mod-stream.conf -> /usr/share/nginx/modules-available/mod-stream.conf
├── nginx.conf
├── pagespeed.conf
├── proxy.conf
├── proxy_params
├── scgi_params
├── sites-available
│   └── default
├── sites-enabled
├── snippets
│   ├── fastcgi-php.conf
│   └── snakeoil.conf
├── ssl
│   └── dhparams.pem
├── uwsgi_params
└── win-utf

Now, when we tried to see the nginx status, by default it is showing as,

$ systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)
       Docs: man:nginx(8)

Now, you needs to start the nginx server as,

$ sudo systemctl start nginx

$ systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-02-05 01:13:36 IST; 2s ago
       Docs: man:nginx(8)
    Process: 10362 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 10374 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 10375 (nginx)
      Tasks: 9 (limit: 9324)
     Memory: 10.2M
     CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
             ├─10375 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;
             ├─10376 nginx: worker process
             ├─10377 nginx: worker process
             ├─10378 nginx: worker process
             ├─10379 nginx: worker process
             ├─10380 nginx: worker process
             ├─10381 nginx: worker process
             ├─10382 nginx: worker process
             └─10383 nginx: worker process

Feb 05 01:13:36 devlab systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server...
Feb 05 01:13:36 devlab systemd[1]: Started A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server.

If required you can stop the nginx as,

$ sudo systemctl stop nginx

In our next post, Hosting a static website with Nginx on Ubuntu we will detail how you can host your first website with nginx.