How to Install Nginx on CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux

Nginx is a fast, lightweight web server and reverse proxy. This guide shows how to install Nginx on CentOS-family systems, manage the service, open the firewall and organise your configuration.

A quick note first: CentOS Linux 7 reached end of life on 30 June 2024, and CentOS Linux 8 ended in 2021. If you still run them, plan a migration. The steps below work on CentOS Stream 9, Rocky Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 9, and are very similar on version 10.

Prerequisites

• A server running CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux.
• A user with sudo rights.
• Optionally, a domain name pointing to the server’s IP address.

Step 1: Install Nginx

Option A: from the distribution repository

The AppStream repository includes a stable Nginx build, so this is the simplest method:

sudo dnf install -y nginx

Option B: from the official nginx.org repository

Use this method if you need a newer version. Create /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repo:

[nginx-stable]
name=nginx stable repo
baseurl=http://nginx.org/packages/centos/$releasever/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key
module_hotfixes=true

Then install:

sudo dnf install -y nginx

Check the version with nginx -v.

Step 2: Start and enable the service

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx
sudo systemctl status nginx

The enable --now command starts Nginx immediately and also at every boot.

Step 3: Open the firewall

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Now open http://your_server_ip in a browser. You should see the default welcome page.

Step 4: Manage Nginx

Always run nginx -t before a reload. As a result, a typo will not take your site offline.

Step 5: Understand the configuration files

Step 6: Create a server block

Create a web root and a test page:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/html
echo "Hello from example.com" | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/html/index.html

Then create /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.com.conf:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/example.com/html;
    index index.html;
    access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;
}

On systems with SELinux enforcing, label the new directory so Nginx can read it:

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_content_t "/var/www(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www

Finally, test and reload:

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Best practices

• Use one file per site in conf.d, named after the domain.
• Hide the version number with server_tokens off; in the http block.
• Add HTTPS as soon as the site works. See how to set up an SSL certificate for Nginx.
• Keep SELinux enforcing rather than disabling it.

Related guides

• How to install Nginx from source
• Nginx interview questions

Sources

• nginx.org: official documentation

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