Compiling Nginx From Source Centos 7


Compiling Nginx From Source Centos 7

Overview

Nginx is a web server that is used to host websites, from small personal sites to large web applications. It is open source, so it is available to download and install free of charge. CentOS 7 users may want to compile Nginx from source if they want to customize the installation and get the latest version. This guide will show you how to compile Nginx from source on CentOS 7.

Prerequisites for Compiling Nginx

Before you start, there are a few prerequisites that you should take care of. You’ll need to install the necessary software and libraries that Nginx needs in order for it to compile correctly. First, install the following packages with yum:

CentOS 7 comes with many pre-installed packages, but to make sure that you have the most up-to-date packages available, it’s a good idea to run the following command:

sudo yum update

Once the update is finished, you can install the following packages:

 sudo yum install gcc gcc-c++ make openssl-devel
libxml2 libxml2-devel libxslt libxslt-devel
gd-devel perl-devel perl-ExtUtils-Embed

These packages will provide the necessary libraries and tools for Nginx to compile successfully.

Download the Nginx source code

You’ll need to download the source code for Nginx before you can compile it. You can download the source code from the official website (http://nginx.org/en/download.html). The current version as of writing this guide is 1.10.2, and can be downloaded by using either wget or curl:

wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.10.2.tar.gz
curl -O http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.10.2.tar.gz

It’s important to keep the version number in the commands up to date with the latest version.

Compile & Install Nginx

Now that you have the necessary prerequisites and have downloaded the Nginx source code, you can start compiling and installing it. First, unpack the Nginx source code and compile it with the following commands:

tar -zxvf nginx-1.10.2.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.10.2
./configure
make
make install

It’s important to note that the configure step is where you can customize the installation. This is a very important step, as you can customize the compilation options such as available modules, the location of the installation, etc. Be sure to read the documentation (http://nginx.org/en/docs/configure.html) for all of the available options before compiling.

Once the compilation is finished, the installation is almost complete. But before you can start using Nginx, you will need to edit the nginx.conf file located in the conf/ directory. This file should be edited to configure Nginx to fit your needs. The documentation (http://nginx.org/en/docs/beginners_guide.html) has a detailed guide to all available options.

Starting & Stopping Nginx

Once you have finished configuring Nginx, you can start the web server with the following command:

/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx

You can also stop the web server with the following command:

/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -s stop

Troubleshooting Nginx

When it comes to configuring and troubleshooting Nginx, the logs located in /usr/local/nginx/logs/ are the best place to start. The access.log and error.log will show you what is going on with your web server. You can also use the tail command to watch the log files in real-time:

tail -f /usr/local/nginx/logs/access.log
tail -f /usr/local/nginx/logs/error.log

If you are having problems getting Nginx to serve content correctly, you can use the command line tool curl to download the content directly:

curl -i http://example.com

This can help you to debug any problems you might be having.

Conclusion

Compiling Nginx from source on CentOS 7 can be an easy and straightforward process, as long as you properly configure and install the necessary prerequisites and libraries. Once the installation is complete, you can use the logs and command line tools to troubleshoot any problems you might encounter.

FAQs

Q: Do I need to have a dedicated server to compile and install Nginx?

A: No, you can compile and install Nginx on any CentOS 7 system, including VPS and shared hosting.

Q: What do I need to do before compiling and installing Nginx?

A: Before compiling and installing Nginx, you need to make sure that you have the necessary prerequisites and libraries installed. This includes installing the gcc, make, openssl-devel, libxml2, etc packages.

Q: How do I configure Nginx?

A: To configure Nginx, you need to edit the nginx.conf file located in the conf/ directory. The documentation has a detailed guide to all available options.

Q: How do I troubleshoot any problems I might be having with Nginx?

A: The logs located in /usr/local/nginx/logs/ are the best place to start. You can also use the tail command to watch the log files in real-time. You can also use the command line tool curl to download the content directly.

Thank you for reading this article. We hope that this guide has been helpful to you in successfully compiling and installing Nginx from source on CentOS 7. Be sure to read other articles in the same way.

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