Nginx configuration for Mac OS X with Homebrew, using sites-enabled directory.

README.md

mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-{enabled,available}
cd /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-enabled
ln -s ../sites-available/default.conf
ln -s ../sites-available/default-ssl.conf

File locations:

• nginx.conf to /usr/local/etc/nginx/
• default.conf and default-ssl.conf to /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-available
• homebrew.mxcl.nginx.plist to /Library/LaunchDaemons/

Not documented yet:

• How to create self-signed SSL certificates
• How to start and stop Nginx

default-ssl.conf

server {
    listen       443;
    server_name  localhost;

    ssl                  on;
    ssl_certificate      server.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key  server.key;

    ssl_session_timeout  5m;

    ssl_protocols  SSLv2 SSLv3 TLSv1;
    ssl_ciphers  HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers   on;

    location / {
        root   html;
        index  index.html index.htm;
    }
}

default.conf

server {
    listen       80;
    server_name  localhost;

    #access_log  logs/host.access.log  main;

    location / {
        root   html;
        index  index.html index.htm;
    }

    #error_page  404              /404.html;

    # redirect server error pages to the static page /50x.html
    #
    error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
        root   html;
    }
}

homebrew.mxcl.nginx.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>homebrew.mxcl.nginx</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/opt/nginx/sbin/nginx</string>
        <string>-g</string>
        <string>daemon off;</string>
    </array>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/usr/local</string>
  </dict>
</plist>

nginx.conf

#user  nobody;
worker_processes  1;

error_log  /Library/Logs/nginx/error.log;

events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}

http {
    include       mime.types;
    default_type  application/octet-stream;

    log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                      '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                      '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

    access_log  /Library/Logs/nginx/access.log  main;

    sendfile        on;

    keepalive_timeout  65;

    index index.html index.php;
    
    upstream www-upstream-pool{
        server unix:/tmp/php-fpm.sock;
    }

    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf; 
}

Good idea putting the logs in /Library/Logs. I had to create the directory /Library/Logs/nginx first—nginx couldn't handle that itself.

@spamguy What good in logs at /Library/Logs? Only unix way, only hardcore!

I can't seem to get nginx to load anything on port :8080
brew install nginx --with-passenger

followed brew's instructions but couldn't get localhost to work.
I have it running on my iMac but not on my MBP, is there some difference in configuration?

Thanks!

Thanks

You saved my day!!!

Forgot to include /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf;

include /etc/nginx/conf.d ??? i must make it, cause i didn't find it

You are right!

Found this "create your own signed certificate for mac" tutorial
https://certsimple.com/blog/localhost-ssl-fix

thanks dude!

Thanks a lot dude!

/usr/local/opt/nginx/sbin/nginx was /usr/local/opt/nginx/bin/nginx for me. Thanks!

👍 @trainiac

people always fail to inform others to edit /private/etc/hosts and add entries for the servers.

for example:

 127.0.0.1 localhost.sec1
 127.0.0.1 mywebsite.local.com

@nyxee or just let dnsmasq handle it

where can i find the /private/etc/hosts?

The hosts files is found at /etc/hosts in both Mac OS and Unix systems.

Typically, you can type

sudo nano /etc/hosts

and it will open the file, if you have nano installed. There is a good chance you have nano installed. Try it, if not, use your favourite text editor. Make sure you open the file with elevated privileges so you can save it. It is a system file.

As mentioned above, you can also use dnsmasq which auto forwards *.dev domains in your browser to localhost.

cd /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-available
and you configured your setttings this command vi default.conf (or different editor)
finally you could use this command

sudo nginx -s stop && sudo nginx

Works for me:
https://brianflove.com/2015/04/04/learning-nginx-on-os-x/

Hi, very new to nginx, how should I lunch nginx after setting up the mentioned files? Thanks for this gist!

I replaced

error_log  /Library/Logs/nginx/error.log;
access_log  /Library/Logs/nginx/access.log  main;

with

error_log  /usr/local/var/log/nginx/nginx_error.log;
access_log  /usr/local/var/log/nginx/nginx_access.log  main;

since I needed to have the logs in a centralized location. Btw, just make sure to set the proper access permission to the files when configuring the log files.

Hi, very new to nginx, how should I lunch nginx after setting up the mentioned files? Thanks for this gist!

sudo nginx

Be aware that your /Library/Logs is appeared to be destroyed and recreated during a Time Machine Backup and possibly other types of migrations.

Your log files created there for nginx will need to be recreated.

people always fail to inform others to edit /private/etc/hosts and add entries for the servers.

for example:

 127.0.0.1 localhost.sec1
 127.0.0.1 mywebsite.local.com

I used mkcert for registering local domains. I thought that was enough. It never came to my mind to edit the host file.
I spent many hours figuring out why I couldn't serve the new local domain.

Thank you so much 🙏