cheatsheet

Nginx

Service Management

• sudo systemctl start nginx: Start Nginx service
• sudo systemctl stop nginx: Stop Nginx service
• sudo systemctl restart nginx: Restart Nginx service
• sudo systemctl reload nginx: Reload Nginx configuration without stopping the service
• sudo systemctl status nginx: Check the status of Nginx service
• sudo systemctl enable nginx: Enable Nginx to start on boot
• sudo systemctl disable nginx: Disable Nginx from starting on boot
• sudo systemctl is-enabled nginx: Check if Nginx is set to start on boot
• sudo systemctl mask nginx: Completely disable the Nginx service
• sudo systemctl unmask nginx: Remove a mask from the Nginx service

Configuration Testing and Management

• sudo nginx -t: Test Nginx configuration for syntax errors
• sudo nginx -T: Test Nginx configuration and print it
• sudo nginx -s reload: Reload Nginx configuration (alternative to systemctl reload)
• sudo nginx -s reopen: Reopen log files
• sudo nginx -c /path/to/nginx.conf: Start Nginx with a specific configuration file

Process Management

• sudo nginx -s stop: Stop Nginx processes quickly
• sudo nginx -s quit: Stop Nginx processes gracefully
• sudo nginx -s reopen: Reopen log files
• sudo nginx: Start Nginx if it’s not running
• sudo kill -HUP $(cat /var/run/nginx.pid): Send HUP signal to reload configuration

Installation and Updates

• sudo apt update: Update package lists (for Ubuntu/Debian)
• sudo apt install nginx: Install Nginx (for Ubuntu/Debian)
• sudo apt upgrade nginx: Upgrade Nginx to the latest version (for Ubuntu/Debian)
• sudo apt remove nginx: Remove Nginx but keep configuration files
• sudo apt purge nginx: Remove Nginx and all its configuration files

Log Files

• tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log: View real-time access logs
• tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log: View real-time error logs
• grep "pattern" /var/log/nginx/access.log: Search for a pattern in access logs
• sudo nginx -g "error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log debug;": Start Nginx with debug-level error logging

File Locations

• /etc/nginx/nginx.conf: Main Nginx configuration file
• /etc/nginx/sites-available/: Directory for server block files
• /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/: Directory for enabled server blocks
• /var/www/html/: Default web content directory
• /var/log/nginx/: Directory for Nginx log files

Troubleshooting

• ps aux | grep nginx: Check running Nginx processes
• netstat -tlpn | grep nginx: Check which ports Nginx is listening on
• sudo lsof -i :80: Check what’s using port 80 (default HTTP port)
• sudo nginx -V: Show Nginx version and configuration options
• sudo nginx -v: Show Nginx version
• sudo nginx -h: Show Nginx help message
• sudo journalctl -u nginx: View Nginx service logs

SSL/TLS

• sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/nginx-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/nginx-selfsigned.crt: Generate a self-signed SSL certificate
• sudo nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf: Test SSL configuration

Performance Tuning

• sudo nginx -s reload: Reload configuration without downtime
• ulimit -n: Check the current limit on open files
• sudo sysctl -w net.core.somaxconn=65535: Increase the maximum number of concurrent connections

Remember to use sudo with these commands as Nginx operations often require root privileges.

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