7. Essential Configuration Directives for Beginners

Now that you've successfully installed Nginx, it's time to dive into its core configuration. Nginx uses a hierarchical configuration file structure, typically found in /etc/nginx/ on Linux systems. The main configuration file is nginx.conf, which often includes other configuration files for better organization. Understanding a few essential directives will give you a solid foundation for managing your web server.

Let's explore some of the most crucial directives you'll encounter, starting with the fundamental structure and then moving to specific settings.

The Nginx configuration is organized into blocks, which are defined by curly braces {}. The two primary blocks are http and server. The http block contains settings that apply to the entire HTTP service, while the server block defines a virtual host, allowing you to host multiple websites on a single Nginx instance.

graph TD
    A[nginx.conf] --> B{http}
    B --> C{server}
    C --> D(location)
    C --> E(server_name)
    C --> F(listen)
    B --> G(worker_processes)

Here's a breakdown of key directives:

1. worker_processes: This directive specifies the number of worker processes that Nginx should spawn. A common recommendation is to set this to the number of CPU cores your server has. This allows Nginx to effectively utilize your server's processing power for handling requests concurrently.

2. events block: This block configures parameters related to network connections and event processing. The most important directive within this block is worker_connections, which sets the maximum number of simultaneous connections that each worker process can handle.