my-docs/Web-Servers/Nginx/07-SSL.md

🔐 Nginx SSL Configuration Guide

📄 Example Server Block (HTTPS)

listen 443 ssl;
server_name example.com www.example.com;

# 🔒 SSL Certificate (Generated by Certbot)
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem; 
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem; 

# 📂 Website Root
root /var/www/example.com/html;
index index.html;

# 🚦 Request Handling
location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}

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🗂️ What Each Part Does

Directive	Meaning
listen 443 ssl;	Listens on port 443 for secure HTTPS traffic.
server_name	Specifies the domain(s) for this site.
ssl_certificate	The full certificate chain file from Certbot.
ssl_certificate_key	The private key file from Certbot.
root	Directory containing your website’s files.
index	Default file served for a directory request.
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;	Checks if a file/directory exists, else returns a 404.

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⚠️ SSL Notes

• Certbot certificates are stored here:

  /etc/letsencrypt/live/<your-domain>/
  

• Certificates expire every 90 days — set up auto-renew:

  certbot renew --quiet
  

• After renewal, always reload Nginx to apply changes:

  systemctl reload nginx