Include directive for modular config in Nginx - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using the Include Directive for Modular Nginx Configuration

📖 Scenario: You are managing a web server using Nginx. To keep your configuration clean and easy to maintain, you want to split your main configuration into smaller files. This helps when you add or change settings later.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use the include directive in Nginx to modularize your configuration files. You will create a main config file and include a separate file with server settings.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a main Nginx configuration file named nginx.conf with basic settings.

Create a separate file named server.conf with server block configuration.

Use the include directive in nginx.conf to load server.conf.

Verify the configuration is correctly included by printing the combined config.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web servers often have many sites and settings. Splitting config files helps teams work together and update settings safely.

💼 Career

Knowing how to modularize Nginx configs is a key skill for DevOps engineers managing web infrastructure.

1

Create the main Nginx configuration file

Create a file named nginx.conf with the following content exactly: a worker_processes 1; directive and an empty http { } block.

Nginx

# Create nginx.conf with worker_processes and empty http block
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Start with worker_processes 1; on top, then add http { } below it.

2

Create the server configuration file

Create a file named server.conf with a server block that listens on port 80 and has a server_name example.com; directive.

Nginx

worker_processes 1;

http {

}

# Create server.conf with server block listening on port 80 and server_name example.com
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Write a server { } block with listen 80; and server_name example.com; inside.

3

Include the server configuration in the main config

Modify nginx.conf to include the server.conf file inside the http block using the include server.conf; directive.

Nginx

worker_processes 1;

http {

    # Add include directive here
    # Your code here
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
}

Need a hint?

Inside the http { } block, add include server.conf; on its own line.

4

Print the combined Nginx configuration

Print the contents of nginx.conf to show the full configuration including the included server block.

Nginx

# Print the nginx.conf content
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a print statement to output the exact content of nginx.conf including the include directive.