Table of Contents
- Tech Stack
- Nginx installation
- Edit index.html
- Edit nginx.conf
- Self-signed certificate
Tech stack
- OS: CentOS Steam 8
- Web Server: Nginx
NGINX is open source software that is widely used as web server, reverse proxy, caching, load balancing, et cetera [n00].
Nginx installation
First of all, install Nginx on your machine, update repository file for the YUM package manager:
$ sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repoPaste the following:
[nginx]
name=nginx repo
baseurl=https://nginx.org/packages/centos/$releasever/$basearch/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1Install, enable and start the Nginx:
$ sudo dnf -y install nginx
$ sudo systemctl enable nginx
$ sudo systemctl start nginxAdd http in the firewall rule:
$ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
$ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
Figure 1. Add http firewall rule and reload.
Edit index.html
Edit your index.html file as mentioned-below:
$ sudo vi /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Hello World</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello World!</h1>
</body>
</html>Test the Nginx configuration and restart if everything is OK:
$ sudo nginx -t
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx
$ systemctl status nginxEdit nginx.conf
Note: nginx.conf is the main configuration file for your Nginx web server.
Open and review nginx.conf which is located inside etc/nginx
...
ssl_certificate "/etc/pki/nginx/server.crt";
ssl_certificate_key "/etc/pki/nginx/server.key";
...Self-signed certificate
First of all create a directory called pki (can be anything):
$ sudo mkdir -p ~/pki
$ cd ~/pkiSecondly, by using the following command; it generates the private key through RSA algorigthm 
with output file called server.key:
$ openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -out server.keyThirdly create a server.crt (self-signed certificate) by the following command:
$ openssl req -new -key server.key -x509 -days 365 -out server.crt- x509: Instructs OpenSSL to output a self-signed certificate instead of a certificate request.
- days 365: Validity period is 365 days
Complete the required fields as indicated below, making any necessary edits:
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]:NP
State or Province Name (full name) []:KOSHI
Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]:EVEREST
Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]:AMAHARJAN.DE
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:ENG
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []:amaharjande
Email Address []:hello@amaharjan.de
Now, copy server.crt and server.key to /etc/pki/nginx/:
$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/pki/nginx
$ sudo cp server.crt /etc/pki/nginx/
$ sudo cp server.key /etc/pki/nginx/private/Uncomment etc/nginx/nginx.conf file as shown below:
#Settings for a TLS enabled server.
server {
listen 443 ssl http2 default_server;
listen [::]:443 ssl http2 default_server;
server_name _;
root /usr/share/nginx/html;
ssl_certificate "/etc/pki/nginx/server.crt";
ssl_certificate_key "/etc/pki/nginx/private/server.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;
location / {
}Restart the webserver:
$ sudo nginx -t
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx
$ systemctl status nginx
Figure 2. Nginx status
Finally, whitelist https on firewall
$ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
$ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
$ sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
Figure 3. Self-signed certification information when browsed to 192.168.0.2
Final Remark: Self-signed certificates are generally used for development, testing, and internal use. It is highly recommended to use certificates from Certificate Authorities (CAs) for the production environment.
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References
[n00] “What Is NGINX? - NGINX.” https://www.nginx.com/resources/glossary/nginx/ (accessed Mar. 19, 2024).
[n01] "Install Nginx" https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/tutorials/install/ (accessed Mar. 19, 2024).
