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I have reconfigured nginx but I can't get it to restart using the following configuration:

server { listen 80; server_name www.example.com; return 301 $scheme://example.com$request_uri; } server { listen 80; server_name example.com; access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log; error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log; location /robots.txt { alias /path/to/robots.txt; access_log off; log_not_found off; } location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; } location / { proxy_pass_header Server; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_redirect off; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X-Scheme $scheme; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_connect_timeout 30; proxy_read_timeout 30; proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000; } location /static { expires 1M; alias /path/to/staticfiles; } }

After running sudo nginx -c conf -t to test the config, the following error is returned.

nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here in /etc/nginx/sites-available/config:1 nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-available/config test failed
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7 Answers 7

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404

That is not an nginx configuration file. It is part of an nginx configuration file.

The nginx configuration file (usually called nginx.conf) will look like:

events { ... } http { ... server { ... } }

The server block is enclosed within an http block.

Often the configuration is distributed across multiple files, by using the include directives to pull in additional fragments (for example from the sites-enabled directory).

Use sudo nginx -t to test the complete configuration file, which starts at nginx.conf and pulls in additional fragments using the include directive.

See this document for more information.

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11 Comments

This anwser is correct and has been rightly upvoted - im trying to clarify further , may help other noobs like me . Have thus answered this question below .
If the included files contain an error . . . like a missing } then you will get this error with the sudo nginx -t test as well.
@PaulGibson i am getting same error did you fixed that issue?
@Richard Smith i got nginx: [emerg] unexpected "}" in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:10 this error i received can you let me know how to fix ?
@KapilSoni you need to find the unmatched brace. Use the command sudo nginx -T (uppercase T) to view the entire configuration across all included files and identify where you have a missing {.
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55

Here is an example of a valid nginx.conf file for reverse proxy.

10.x.x.x is the nginx proxy server. 10.y.y.y is the real web server.

events { worker_connections 4096; ## Default: 1024 } http { server { listen 80; listen [::]:80; server_name 10.x.x.x; location / { proxy_pass http://10.y.y.y:80/; proxy_set_header Host $host; } } }

Here is how to do SSL pass through, if 10.y.y.y is running a HTTPS webserver. 10.x.x.x is listening on port 443, and all traffic to port 443 is directed to your target web server.

events { worker_connections 4096; ## Default: 1024 } stream { server { listen 443; proxy_pass 10.y.y.y:443; } }

Here is how to serve it in Docker.

docker run --name nginx-container --rm --net=host -v /home/core/nginx/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf nginx
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17

The path to the nginx.conf file which is the primary Configuration file for Nginx - which is also the file which shall INCLUDE the Path for other Nginx Config files as and when required is /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.

You may access and edit this file by typing this at the terminal

cd /etc/nginx

/etc/nginx$ sudo nano nginx.conf

Further in this file you may Include other files - which can have a SERVER directive as an independent SERVER BLOCK - which need not be within the HTTP or HTTPS blocks, as is clarified in the accepted answer above.

I repeat - if you need a SERVER BLOCK to be defined within the PRIMARY Config file itself than that SERVER BLOCK will have to be defined within an enclosing HTTP or HTTPS block in the /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file which is the primary Configuration file for Nginx.

Also note -its OK if you define , a SERVER BLOCK directly not enclosing it within a HTTP or HTTPS block , in a file located at path /etc/nginx/conf.d . Also to make this work you will need to include the path of this file in the PRIMARY Config file as seen below :- 

http{ include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; #includes all files of file type.conf }

Further to this you may comment out from the PRIMARY Config file , the line 

http{ #include /etc/nginx/sites-available/some_file.conf; # Comment Out include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; #includes all files of file type.conf }

and need not keep any Config Files in /etc/nginx/sites-available/ and also no need to SYMBOLIC Link them to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ , kindly note this works for me - in case anyone think it doesnt for them or this kind of config is illegal etc etc , pls do leave a comment so that i may correct myself - thanks .

EDIT :- According to the latest version of the Official Nginx CookBook , we need not create any Configs within - /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ , this was the older practice and is DEPRECIATED now .

Thus No need for the INCLUDE DIRECTIVE include /etc/nginx/sites-available/some_file.conf; .

Quote from Nginx CookBook page - 5 .

"In some package repositories, this folder is named sites-enabled, and configuration files are linked from a folder named site-available; this convention is depre‐ cated."

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10

There might be a typo inside a file imported by the config.

I had this typo deep inside my config file:

loccation /sense/movies/ { mp4; }

loccation instead of location, and this causes the error:

nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/xxx.xx:1
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1

for those who find this question in a search, on finding an old code project, that used to work, no longer functional:

you are not delusional. your configuration may have worked on older versions of nginx, which did not have (or at least enforce) the http block shown in the accepted answers.

for example, running the debian:wheezy docker image and installing nginx, one can verify the default configuration file starts with:

server { #listen 80; ## listen for ipv4; this line is default and implied #listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on; ## listen for ipv6 root /usr/share/nginx/www; index index.html index.htm; # Make site accessible from http://localhost/ server_name localhost; ... }
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0

Replace this:

include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;

In your nginx.conf with this:

include /etc/nginx/conf.d/includes-optional/cpanel-proxy-vendors/*.conf;

Or this:

/etc/nginx/conf.d/includes-optional/site-available/*.conf;
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0

The same error happened for me, followings are my configurations: OS and nginx version:

[root@primary2 ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core) [root@primary2 ~]# uname -rm 3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64 x86_64 [root@primary2 ~]# /etc/nginx/sbin/nginx -V nginx version: nginx/1.24.0 built by gcc 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-16) (GCC) built with OpenSSL 1.0.2k-fips 26 Jan 2017 TLS SNI support enabled configure arguments: --prefix=/etc/nginx --with-http_ssl_module [root@primary2 ~]#

NGINX configure files:

/etc/nging/conf/nginx.conf

[root@primary2 conf]# pwd /etc/nginx/conf [root@primary2 conf]# cat nginx.conf #user nobody; worker_processes 1; #error_log logs/error.log; #error_log logs/error.log notice; #error_log logs/error.log info; #pid logs/nginx.pid; include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; 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 logs/access.log main; sendfile on; #tcp_nopush on; #keepalive_timeout 0; keepalive_timeout 65; #gzip on; server { listen 80; server_name localhost; #charset koi8-r; #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; } # proxy the PHP scripts to Apache listening on 127.0.0.1:80 # #location ~ \.php$ { # proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1; #} # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000 # #location ~ \.php$ { # root html; # fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000; # fastcgi_index index.php; # fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /scripts$fastcgi_script_name; # include fastcgi_params; #} # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root # concurs with nginx's one # #location ~ /\.ht { # deny all; #} } # another virtual host using mix of IP-, name-, and port-based configuration # #server { # listen 8000; # listen somename:8080; # server_name somename alias another.alias; # location / { # root html; # index index.html index.htm; # } #} # HTTPS server # #server { # listen 443 ssl; # server_name localhost; # ssl_certificate cert.pem; # ssl_certificate_key cert.key; # ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:1m; # ssl_session_timeout 5m; # ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5; # ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on; # location / { # root html; # index index.html index.htm; # } #} } [root@primary2 conf]#

/etc/nginx/conf.d/abc.conf

[root@primary2 conf.d]# pwd /etc/nginx/conf.d [root@primary2 conf.d]# cat abc.conf server { listen 9003; server_name www.xyz.com; location / { proxy_pass http://10.0.9.216:9002; } } [root@primary2 conf.d]#

The error happened for me:

[root@primary2 conf]# /etc/nginx/sbin/nginx -t nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here in /etc/nginx/conf.d/abc.conf:1 nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/conf/nginx.conf test failed [root@primary2 conf]#

After I modified the /etc/nginx/conf/nginx.conf to the following:

[root@primary2 conf]# pwd /etc/nginx/conf [root@primary2 conf]# cat nginx.conf #user nobody; worker_processes 1; #error_log logs/error.log; #error_log logs/error.log notice; #error_log logs/error.log info; #pid logs/nginx.pid; 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 logs/access.log main; sendfile on; #tcp_nopush on; #keepalive_timeout 0; keepalive_timeout 65; #gzip on; server { listen 80; server_name localhost; #charset koi8-r; #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; } # proxy the PHP scripts to Apache listening on 127.0.0.1:80 # #location ~ \.php$ { # proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1; #} # pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000 # #location ~ \.php$ { # root html; # fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000; # fastcgi_index index.php; # fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /scripts$fastcgi_script_name; # include fastcgi_params; #} # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root # concurs with nginx's one # #location ~ /\.ht { # deny all; #} } # another virtual host using mix of IP-, name-, and port-based configuration # #server { # listen 8000; # listen somename:8080; # server_name somename alias another.alias; # location / { # root html; # index index.html index.htm; # } #} # HTTPS server # #server { # listen 443 ssl; # server_name localhost; # ssl_certificate cert.pem; # ssl_certificate_key cert.key; # ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:1m; # ssl_session_timeout 5m; # ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5; # ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on; # location / { # root html; # index index.html index.htm; # } #} include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; } [root@primary2 conf]#

the ERROR gone.

[root@primary2 conf]# /etc/nginx/sbin/nginx -t nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/conf/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/conf/nginx.conf test is successful [root@primary2 conf]# /etc/nginx/sbin/nginx -s reload [root@primary2 conf]#
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