To set up Nginx to serve a PHP application using FastCGI, you can follow these steps:
Install Nginx: First, you need to install Nginx on your server. Use the package manager for your operating system to install it. For example, on Ubuntu, you can run sudo apt update followed by sudo apt install nginx to install Nginx.
Install PHP and FastCGI: Next, you need to install PHP and FastCGI. Again, use the package manager to install PHP and its FastCGI module. For example, on Ubuntu, you can run sudo apt install php-fpm to install PHP-FPM, which is the FastCGI implementation for PHP.
Configure PHP-FPM: Once PHP-FPM is installed, you need to make some configurations. Open the PHP-FPM configuration file using a text editor. For example, on Ubuntu, the configuration file is located at /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php-fpm.conf. Adjust the configuration as needed, such as setting the user and group under which PHP-FPM should run.
Configure Nginx: Now, open the Nginx configuration file using a text editor. For example, on Ubuntu, the configuration file is located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf or /etc/nginx/sites-available/default. Edit the server block section to include the following directives:
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
}
These directives tell Nginx to handle PHP files by passing them to the PHP-FPM service using a Unix socket.
Test and restart: Save the configuration file and check if there are any syntax errors using the command sudo nginx -t. If everything is fine, restart Nginx to apply the changes by running sudo service nginx restart or sudo systemctl restart nginx.
That's it! Nginx should now be set up to serve your PHP application using FastCGI. Place your PHP files in the appropriate directory specified in the Nginx configuration (usually /var/www/html), and they should be served properly.