Linux Notes: Nginx (moving from Apache httpd to Nginx)
- The information presented here is intended for educational use by qualified computer technologists.
- The information presented here is provided free of charge, as-is, with no warranty of any kind.
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Overview
- Nginx first appeared in 2004, and was written to get around the 10k connection limit found in Apache
HTTPd at that time.
- Nginx is much faster than Apache HTTPd, and the Nginx config file is much smaller.
- enabling CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is not so easy, and the recipe appears to be different on every platform including different Linux distros (and sometimes different versions of the same distro)
- Apache HTTPd first appeared in 1995 and was based upon NCSA
HTTPd which first appeared in 1993.
- It has been continuously updated since then and new versions continue to appear on all platforms including Linux.
- Apache solved the 10k connection limit in 2012 with the release of Apache-2.4
- Enabling CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is very easy to do via module mod_cgi
Moving from Apache httpd to Ngnix (2026-09-16)
Step-1 (installing Nginx on AlmaLinux-9.8)
- If you are already running Apache, then consider installing Nginx the running it only on port 8080 just to try it out
- caveat: when setting up CGI on Nginx, a CGI failure in Nginx was somehow being handled by Apache so look out for that
- You may need to adjust your firewall settings in order for port 8080 to work
notes: all work should be done as user "root" or "sudo user"
legend: <ur> = user response <sr> = system response ================================================ <sr> [root@host] # my prompt
<ur> dnf install epel-release # optional command (you may already have this) <sr> ...verbage ensues... [root@host] # prompt
<ur> dnf makecache
<sr> ....verbage ensues.... [root@host] #
<ur> dnf install nginx
<sr> ...verbage ensues...
[root@host] #
------------------------------------------------
# task: modify the default config using "vi" or "nano"
# If testing in parallel with Apache: # set the port to 8080 # do not enable ssl on 443 for now # set hostname to be your system's URL (required for SSL) # set "error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;" # set "access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main buffer=8k flush=1m;"
------------------------------------------------ <ur> vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf # modify the default config using "vi" or "nano" ...editor typing happens here... <sr> [root@host] #
<ur> nginx -t # test your config <sr> nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful [root@host]
<ur> systemctl start nginx # start the server (but do not enable it at this time) <sr> ...verbage ensues...
[root@host] #
------------------------------------------------
# now test your website by entering a URL similar to these:
# If testing in parallel with Apache: http://neilrieck.net:8080
# Otherwise:
http://neilrieck.net
https://neilrieck.net
Step-2 (enabling CGI on AlmaLinux-9.8)
- Nginx provides no native support for CGI (common gateway interface) but does supply a forwarding mechanism to other code.
- I chose fcgiwrap (caveat: this solution goes by several names: Nginx support scripts are prefixed "fastcgi" but the modules you download are prefixed
with "fcgi"
<sr> [root@host] # my prompt
<ur> dnf install fcgiwrap # this will also install fcgi
<sr> ...verbage ensues....
[root@host] #
<ur> man fcgiwrap # check out online help
<sr> ...manual text is displayed...
[root@host] #
------------------------------------------------
# task: locate the socket template filename (name contains: @ )
# I want to type this command:
# find / -name fcgi*.sock* -exec ls -lad {} \;
# but asterisks must be escaped with a forward slash
------------------------------------------------
<ur> find / -name fcgi\*.sock\* -exec ls -lad {} \;
<sr> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 180 Jan 27 2022 /usr/lib/systemd/system/fcgiwrap@.socket
[root@host]
------------------------------------------------
# task: use the discovered filename to start the socket listener
# note: executing the next command will create this file entry:
# /run/fcgiwrap/fcgiwrap-nginx.sock
# This file spec needs to be entered into file: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
------------------------------------------------
<ur> systemctl enable --now fcgiwrap@nginx.socket
<sr> ...verbage ensues...
[root@host] #
<ur> vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf # modify the default config using "vi" or "nano"
------------------------------------------------
<ur> [root@host] nginx -t # test your config <sr> nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful [root@host] #
<ur> systemctl restart nginx # restart the web server
Step-3 (enabled autoindex on AlmaLinux-9.8)
- for directories without a default html index, we want to display a directory listing
- not unremarkable here, it is almost identical to what you would do in Apache
Step-4 (enabled fancyindex on AlmaLinux-9.8)
Step-5 (enabled password protection of one folder)
My current conf (2026-09-17)
# ============================================================================
# For more information on configuration, see:
# * Official English Documentation: http://nginx.org/en/docs/
# * Official Russian Documentation: http://nginx.org/ru/docs/
# ============================================================================
# 1) 2026-09-14: changes to get CGI working with fastcgi / fcgi.
# 2) 2026-09-14: enabled autoindex
# 3) 2026-09-15: switched over to fancyindex (an optional package that might
# not be on your system). On AlmaLinux-9 you need to do this first:
# sudo dnf install nginx-mod-fancyindex.x86_64
# 4) 2026-09-16: enabled password protection on one folder
# ============================================================================
user nginx;
worker_processes auto;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid /run/nginx.pid;
# Load dynamic modules. See /usr/share/doc/nginx/README.dynamic.
include /usr/share/nginx/modules/*.conf;
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
http {
log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
'$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
'"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
# access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main;
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main buffer=8k flush=1m;
sendfile on;
tcp_nopush on;
tcp_nodelay on;
keepalive_timeout 65;
types_hash_max_size 4096;
include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
# Load modular configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory.
# See http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#include
# for more information.
include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
server {
listen 80;
# listen [::]:80;
server_name neilrieck.net;
# root /usr/share/nginx/html;
root /var/www/html; # my Apache files live here
# Load configuration files for the default server block.
include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;
#error_page 404 /404.html;
#location = /404.html {
#}
#error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
#location = /50x.html {
#}
location ~ ^/mira/ {
auth_basic "Restricted Access";
# auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/passwd-folder-mira;
# "autoindex" is built into nginx
# autoindex on;
# autoindex_exact_size off;
# ------------------------------------
# "fancyindex" is not built into nginx
fancyindex on;
fancyindex_default_sort name;
fancyindex_directories_first on;
fancyindex_case_sensitive off;
fancyindex_exact_size off;
fancyindex_time_format "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M";
fancyindex_css_href "/css/nsr-folder-default.css";
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location / {
# "autoindex" is built into nginx
# autoindex on;
# autoindex_exact_size off;
# ------------------------------------
# "fancyindex" is not built into nginx
fancyindex on;
fancyindex_default_sort name;
fancyindex_directories_first on;
fancyindex_case_sensitive off;
fancyindex_exact_size off;
fancyindex_time_format "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M";
fancyindex_css_href "/css/nsr-folder-default.css";
}
location /cgi-bin/ {
# Disable gzip so script outputs stream properly if needed
gzip off;
# The root directory where your 'cgi-bin' folder lives
# e.g., if files are in /var/www/html/cgi-bin/, set root to /var/www/html
root /var/www/html; # my Apache files live here
# Pass requests to the fcgiwrap Unix socket
# fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/fcgiwrap.socket;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/fcgiwrap/fcgiwrap-nginx.sock;
# Include standard Nginx FastCGI parameters
include fastcgi_params;
# Map the exact script filename to be executed
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
# Settings for a TLS enabled server.
#
server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
# listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
server_name neilrieck.net;
# root /usr/share/nginx/html;
root /var/www/html; # my Apache files live here
# ssl_certificate "/etc/pki/nginx/server.crt";
ssl_certificate "/etc/pki/tls/certs/neilrieck.net-20251022.cer";
# ssl_certificate_key "/etc/pki/nginx/private/server.key";
ssl_certificate_key "/etc/pki/tls/private/neilrieck.net-20251022.key";
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:1m;
ssl_session_timeout 10m;
ssl_ciphers PROFILE=SYSTEM;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
# Load configuration files for the default server block.
include /etc/nginx/default.d/*.conf;
#error_page 404 /404.html;
# location = /40x.html {
#}
#error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
# location = /50x.html {
#}
#
# password protected folder
# 1) this special folder is password protected so needs to be encountered first
# 2) this folder needs to have its own autoindex directives, or fancyindex directives.
# A common location entry (like the one 17-lines below) will not work here.
#
location ~ ^/mira/ {
auth_basic "Restricted Access";
# auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/passwd-folder-mira;
# "autoindex" is built into nginx
# autoindex on;
# autoindex_exact_size off;
# ------------------------------------
# "fancyindex" is not built into nginx
fancyindex on;
fancyindex_default_sort name;
fancyindex_directories_first on;
fancyindex_case_sensitive off;
fancyindex_exact_size off;
fancyindex_time_format "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M";
fancyindex_css_href "/css/nsr-folder-default.css";
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
#
# this declaration affects all subseqent folders
#
location / {
# "autoindex" is built into nginx
# autoindex on;
# autoindex_exact_size off;
# ------------------------------------
# "fancyindex" is not built into nginx
fancyindex on;
fancyindex_default_sort name;
fancyindex_directories_first on;
fancyindex_case_sensitive off;
fancyindex_exact_size off;
fancyindex_time_format "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M";
fancyindex_css_href "/css/nsr-folder-default.css";
}
location /cgi-bin/ {
# Disable gzip so script outputs stream properly if needed
gzip off;
# The root directory where your 'cgi-bin' folder lives
# e.g., if files are in /var/www/html/cgi-bin/, set root to /var/www/html
root /var/www/html;
# Pass requests to the fcgiwrap Unix socket
# fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/fcgiwrap.socket;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/fcgiwrap/fcgiwrap-nginx.sock;
# Include standard Nginx FastCGI parameters
include fastcgi_params;
# Map the exact script filename to be executed
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
}
Back to HomeNeil Rieck
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.