Articles about Nginx

Nginx is a powerful web server that can serve as a reverse proxy server.

In this page, you will find articles relating to Nginx. Topics include installing and configuring Nginx on different computing platforms (including Raspberry Pi).

How to put your Raspberry Pi server on the internet with ngrok

As I had mentioned in how to host multiple websites from home, a typical network architecture looks like the following:
Home network architecture In such a case, we will need our router to hold a public IP address and perform port forwarding for our home servers.

However, there can be cases where we do not have the environment to put our server on the internet.

In such a situation, you will find ngrok useful. Since ngrok accepts traffic on a public address and relays that traffic through to the ngrok process running on your machine, you can put your server on the internet easily.
ngrok demo diagram

Given that, let’s look at how you can put your Raspberry Pi server on the internet with ngrok.

How to setup a Raspberry Pi LEMP server with Raspbian Buster Lite for running PHP applications

Many useful applications are written in PHP backed by MariaDB/MySQL for data persistency.

When you wondering what you can use a Raspberry Pi for, one way is to turn it into a LEMP server for hosting PHP applications.

With this in mind, let us look at how we can setup a Raspberry Pi LEMP server with Raspbian Buster Lite for running PHP applications.

How to host a static website on your Raspberry Pi with Nginx running on Raspbian Buster Lite

After you had understood HTML, CSS and JavaScript from The Web Developer Bootcamp, you can start to host a static website on an actual web server.

If you had been the kind of fan who buy newly-launched Raspberry Pis, then you may find some lying around the house collecting dust.

In this situation, why not use one of your Raspberry Pi to host something that you had just learnt?

Given that, let’s look at how you can host a static website on your Raspberry Pi with Nginx running on Raspbian Buster Lite.

Understanding the default Nginx virtual host (or server) configuration

After you had installed Nginx, one of the first thing to do is to check whether it is running ok.

One way to do so is to use your browser to send a HTTP request to test it.

If you had installed Nginx on your local machine, then you may enter http://localhost or http://127.0.0.1 into the location bar of your browser.

When you had setup Nginx on a separate machine on your home network, you may also enter http://<ip_address_of_the_machine> in the location bar of your browser. For example, in how to host a WordPress website on a Raspberry Pi with Raspbian Buster Lite and Nginx, I had entered http://192.168.1.114 as the location to test out the Nginx server running on my Raspberry Pi.

So be it http://localhost, http://127.0.0.1, http://<ip_address_of_the_machine>, you will always see this page on your browser screen:

default welcome page of Nginx 1.14.2

In case you are wondering why your Nginx behaves this way, this post will explain what the default Nginx Virtual Host configuration does to Nginx.

How to host a WordPress website on a Raspberry Pi with Raspbian Buster Lite and Nginx

If you are thinking of starting a blog about computer technology, then you can consider hosting a WordPress website on your Raspberry Pi.

Since Raspberry Pi is a capable machine that does not take up too much space and power, it is a good as a web server.

In addition, if you have an Internet subscription that does not block port 80 and 443, hosting a WordPress at home can be cost effective.

Given these points, let’s look at how we can host a WordPress website on a Raspberry Pi with Raspbian Buster and Nginx.

How to start a blog about computer technology

Previously, I wrote about why programmers should blog. When you are convinced that you should blog as a programmer, you may wonder how to start a blog.

In order to have a place to refer people who wants to learn more about this topic, I write my experience in this article.

Given that in mind, this is how you can start a blog about computer technology.

How to host a static website on your Raspberry Pi Zero W with Raspbian Stretch Lite and Nginx web server

After you capture the Northern Lights with an entry level DSLR, you may want include them in your personal portfolio. Until you find the time to setup a content management system for your personal portfolio, you want to keep it as a static website.

At this point in time, you saw that Raspberry Pi Zero W and cover lying on the table. In addition to that, you have a spare micro USB charger that you used for charging your old Android phone.

Since you do not have any other use for these items, you decided to host your personal portfolio on that Raspberry Pi Zero W.

With this intention, this is how you can host a static website on your Raspberry Pi Zero W with Raspbian Stretch Lite and Nginx web server.

How to setup a Raspberry Pi web server with Raspbian Stretch Lite, Nginx, MariaDB and PHP as the LEMP stack

Raspberry Pi LEMP Linux Nginx MariaDB PHP

When you want to deploy a PHP application that you wrote, you can first deploy it on a Raspberry Pi. Once your PHP application gets enough traction, you can then port it over to a computer with more horsepower.

When your PHP application employs MySQL or MariaDB as the backing database, we can put it up on a LEMP stack. In this situation, HTTP requests will first be directed to the Nginx reverse proxy server. Whenever the request is made to a php application, Nginx will then pass it on to the PHP7 Fast CGI Process Manager (PHP FPM) for generating the HTTP response.

Given these points, this post provides the steps to setup a Raspberry Pi web server with Raspbian Stretch Lite, Nginx, MariaDB and PHP as the LEMP stack.

How to host a static website on your Raspberry Pi 3 with Raspbian Stretch Lite and Nginx

When you want to host a static website as your personal portfolio, you can consider using a Raspberry Pi 3. In addition to having a small form factor, a Raspberry Pi 3 is a single board computer that does not take up too much energy to run 24-7.

In order to host a static website on Raspberry Pi 3, you will need an operating system and a web server. Given these points, this is how to host a static website on your Raspberry Pi 3 with Raspbian Stretch Lite as the operating system and Nginx as the web server.