my-docs/Web Servers & Reverse Proxies/Nginx/6-File-Server.md

📄 NGINX File Server Configuration

This configuration sets up an NGINX server to serve files from two different directories:

• /srv/files for general file browsing at the root path (/)
• /srv/images for image browsing at /image

server {
    # Define the domain name for this server block
    server_name domain;

    # Default root directory for the server
    root /srv/files;

    # Serve files and list directory contents at the root URL (e.g., http://domain/)
    location / {
        autoindex on;  # Enables directory listing
    }

    # Serve images and list contents at /image (e.g., http://domain/image/)
    location /image {
        autoindex on;            # Enables directory listing
        root /srv/images;        # Note: this overrides the global root
                                 # Final path served will be /srv/images/image/ due to how root works
    }
}

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⚠️ Important Notes

1. Path Behavior:

   • In the /image block, using root adds the location path (/image) to the end. So http://domain/image/ will map to /srv/images/image/.

   • If you want /image/ to map directly to /srv/images/, use alias instead:

     location /image/ {
         autoindex on;
         alias /srv/images/;
     }
     

2. Security:

   • Be cautious when enabling autoindex; it exposes directory contents to the public.
   • Consider restricting access or adding authentication for sensitive directories.

3. Permissions:

   • Ensure the NGINX user (usually www-data) has read access to the directories.