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Efficient Guide to Configuring Nginx and PHP on Linux

gitbox 2025-07-02

Introduction to Nginx

Nginx is a high-performance HTTP and reverse proxy server that also supports IMAP/POP3 proxying. Due to its excellent concurrency handling and low resource usage, it has become an essential component in modern web services.

Installing Nginx

Installing Nginx on most Linux distributions is straightforward. For example, on Ubuntu, run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installation, start the Nginx service with:

sudo systemctl start nginx

Verifying Nginx Installation

Open a browser and enter your server's IP address. If you see the default Nginx welcome page, the installation was successful.

Installing PHP

Next, install PHP and the required modules to support dynamic web pages:

sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql

Configuring PHP-FPM

PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) significantly improves PHP performance. Edit the PHP-FPM configuration file and modify key parameters:

sudo nano /etc/php/7.x/fpm/php.ini

Find and set the following:

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Save the file and restart the PHP-FPM service:

sudo systemctl restart php7.x-fpm

Configuring Nginx to Support PHP

Add PHP support configuration to the Nginx config file as shown below:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;
    root /var/www/html;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.x-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Replace your-domain.com and the PHP version number with actual values. After saving, restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Creating a PHP Test Page

To verify the setup, create a simple PHP info page:

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/html/info.php

Then visit http://your-domain.com/info.php in your browser. If the PHP info page displays, the configuration is successful.

Security and Performance Optimization

After the basic setup, it is recommended to further enhance server security and performance by disabling unnecessary PHP functions, enabling Nginx gzip compression, and setting access controls to ensure system stability and efficiency.

Conclusion

This article systematically explains how to install and configure Nginx and PHP on Linux, covering everything from initial setup to performance tuning, helping you quickly build a stable and efficient web server environment.

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