Nested location blocks in Nginx - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Nested location blocks

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a simple web server using nginx. You want to serve different content based on the URL path. For example, the root path should show a welcome page, and a subpath should serve a special section with its own rules.

🎯 Goal: Build an nginx configuration with nested location blocks. The main location / serves the homepage, and a nested location /admin/ serves admin pages with a different root directory.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a server block listening on port 80

Add a location / block with root /var/www/html

Add a nested location /admin/ block inside location / with root /var/www/admin

Print the final configuration to verify the nested blocks

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web servers often need to serve different content or apply different rules based on URL paths. Nested location blocks help organize these rules clearly.

💼 Career

Understanding <code>nginx</code> configuration and nested location blocks is essential for DevOps roles managing web servers and deploying applications.

1

Create the basic server block

Create an nginx server block that listens on port 80. Inside it, add a location / block with the root directory set to /var/www/html.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Remember to open and close the server and location blocks with curly braces.

2

Add a nested location block for admin

Inside the existing location / block, add a nested location /admin/ block. Set its root directory to /var/www/admin.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        root /var/www/html;
        # Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Place the location /admin/ block inside the location / block.

3

Add an index directive to the root location

Inside the location / block, add an index directive with the value index.html to serve the homepage file.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        root /var/www/html;
        # Your code here
        location /admin/ {
            root /var/www/admin;
        }
    }
}

Need a hint?

The index directive tells nginx which file to serve by default in a directory.

4

Print the final nginx configuration

Print the entire nginx configuration to verify the nested location blocks and directives.

Nginx

# Print the nginx configuration below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Since this is a configuration file, printing means showing the full text content.