Setting Up NGINX on Ubuntu: DevOps Stage 0
#devops#hng#hngi12#cloudcomputing
Emmanuel Omoiya

Emmanuel Omoiya @emmanuelomoiya

About: Engineer

Location:
Lagos, Nigeria
Joined:
Oct 1, 2022

Setting Up NGINX on Ubuntu: DevOps Stage 0

Publish Date: Jan 31
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Introduction

As part of my DevOps internship journey, I was tasked with setting up and configuring NGINX on a fresh Ubuntu server. This task aimed to evaluate my ability to work with web server configurations and ensure I could deliver a functional web server. The final goal was to serve a custom HTML page displaying the message:

"Welcome to DevOps Stage 0 - Emmanuel Omoiya / Emmanuel Omoiya"

This blog post documents my approach, challenges faced, and key learnings from completing this task.

Step 1: Setting Up the Ubuntu Server

To begin, I set up an Ubuntu server on my preferred cloud platform. I used AWS EC2, but other options like Google Cloud or DigitalOcean could also be used. After launching the instance, I connected via SSH:

ssh ubuntu@<your-server-ip>
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Tip: Ensure your security group allows inbound traffic on port 80 to make the NGINX server accessible publicly.

Step 2: Installing NGINX

Installing NGINX on Ubuntu was straightforward using the package manager:

sudo apt update  
sudo apt install nginx -y
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Once installed, I verified that NGINX was running with:

sudo systemctl status nginx
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If not running, I started the service:

sudo systemctl start nginx
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And enabled it to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable nginx
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At this stage, visiting http://<your-server-ip>/ in a browser should display the default NGINX Welcome Page.

Step 3: Configuring the Custom HTML Page

Next, I created a simple HTML file to serve as the default page:

sudo nano /var/www/html/index.html
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I replaced its content with:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>DevOps Stage 0</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to DevOps Stage 0 - Emmanuel Omoiya / Emmanuel Omoiya</h1>
</body>
</html>
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After saving the file, I restarted NGINX to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx
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Now, visiting http://<your-server-ip>/ displayed the custom message.

Step 4: Verifying the Setup

To confirm everything was working correctly, I ran:

curl http://localhost/
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The expected output should display the HTML content of my page. Additionally, I tested my server from a browser using the public IP address.

Challenges Faced and Solutions

1️⃣ NGINX Not Starting Due to Conflicts

At first, NGINX failed to start due to a port conflict. Running:

sudo lsof -i :80
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showed that another process was using port 80. I resolved this by stopping the conflicting process:

sudo systemctl stop apache2
sudo systemctl disable apache2
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2️⃣ Permission Issues While Editing HTML Files

When trying to edit /var/www/html/index.html, I encountered permission errors. Granting necessary access fixed this:

sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html
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Key Takeaways

This task reinforced several important DevOps concepts:

✅ Server Setup & Configuration – I gained hands-on experience installing and configuring NGINX on a cloud-based Ubuntu server.

✅ Web Server Basics – Understanding how NGINX serves static content and how to customize the default page was invaluable.

✅ Troubleshooting Skills – Debugging issues like port conflicts and permission errors improved my problem-solving skills.

This foundational knowledge will be crucial as I advance in my DevOps journey, especially in Site Reliability Engineering and Cloud Engineering.

Final Thoughts

Completing this task gave me a deeper understanding of NGINX, a core component in web infrastructure. It also prepared me for more advanced topics like reverse proxying, load balancing, and SSL configurations.

For those interested in DevOps roles, check out:

🔹 Site Reliability Engineers

🔹 Cloud Engineers

Would love to hear about your experience with NGINX! Drop a comment below. 🚀

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