Directory listing (autoindex) in Nginx - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Enable Directory Listing with Nginx Autoindex

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a simple web server using Nginx. You want visitors to see a list of files when they visit a folder without an index file.

🎯 Goal: Configure Nginx to show directory listings (autoindex) for a specific folder on your server.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a server block configuration file for Nginx

Set the root directory to /var/www/html/files

Enable autoindex directive to show directory listing

Reload Nginx to apply the changes

Verify the directory listing is shown when accessing the folder

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web servers often need to show directory contents when no index file is present, such as for file sharing or downloads.

💼 Career

Knowing how to configure Nginx autoindex is useful for system administrators and DevOps engineers managing web servers.

1

Create Nginx server block configuration

Create a file called /etc/nginx/sites-available/files.conf with a server block that listens on port 80 and sets the root directory to /var/www/html/files.

Nginx

# Create the server block configuration file
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use server { ... } block with listen 80; and root /var/www/html/files;.

2

Enable autoindex directive

Inside the server block in /etc/nginx/sites-available/files.conf, add the line autoindex on; to enable directory listing.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html/files;
    # Enable directory listing
    # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Add autoindex on; inside the server block.

3

Create symbolic link to enable site

Create a symbolic link from /etc/nginx/sites-available/files.conf to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/files.conf using the command ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/files.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/files.conf.

Nginx

# Create symbolic link to enable the site
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use ln -s command to create the symbolic link.

4

Reload Nginx and verify directory listing

Reload Nginx with sudo systemctl reload nginx and then access http://localhost/ in your browser to see the directory listing of /var/www/html/files. Write a print statement that outputs Directory listing enabled to confirm.

Nginx

# Reload Nginx and confirm directory listing
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use sudo systemctl reload nginx to reload and print("Directory listing enabled") to confirm.