No Site Available No Conf. Where is everything?

mdg333 2017-09-25 08:44:11 UTC #1

I've just installed Nginx on Lightsail via Bitnami. Ubuntu 14.04.5 Nginx 1.12.0-2

In reading thru the instructions to do some basic things none of the directories exist and other files aren't where I'm told they should be.

IE: There is no /etc/nginx/sites-available/default directory.

Hell nginx isn't even in the etc directory.
Which means of course that the nginx.conf file isn't even there.

And there's no server block.

Now I'm sure it's there somewhere, but my frustration is how am I supposed to follow instructions if the files and directories people keep referring to either don't exist or are in a completely different location?

Can anyone shed any light in where all these things are?

Thanks.

jariza 2017-09-25 11:35:38 UTC #2

Hello @mdg333

The Bitnami Stacks structure is a little bit different. You will find NGINX at /opt/bitnami/nginx/ instead of the /etc/ folder. Please take a look to this section of the Docs:
https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/#how-can-i-get-started-with-nginx

You can Start/Stop the NGINX service as described below:
https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/#how-to-start-or-stop-the-services

More information at the Bitnami Official Documentation for NGINX:
https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/

Best Regards,

Juan Ariza

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mdg333 2017-09-26 01:40:57 UTC #3

Thanks Jazira,

I thought /opt/bitnami/nginx/ was it, I just wasn't sure. (First time Nginx user)

Now my next question is where do I put my website folders?

IE Most tutes and instructions say something like put them in /var/www
or html or htdocs.

Which would be fine except there are two different var locations

One at /var/www
and another at /opt/bitnami/var

I'm assuming it should be the second one despite what all the instructions ay.

But then again it may even have to be in /opt/bitnami/nginx/html

So where is the correct or best place to put website folders?

Thanks again.

jariza 2017-09-26 09:17:31 UTC #4

Hello @mdg333

When reading General Documentation about NGINX you'll find that they suggest /var/www/ or /var/www/nginx-default/ (it depends on the Linux Distro). When using the Bitnami NGINX, we recommend to always refer to the Bitnami Documentation.

The Difference between General Docs and the Bitnami Stacks is that they assume you installed NGINX using the Package the System Install (Using the Native Package installer of your Linux Distro). However, the Bitnami Stacks is a self contained stack that includes everything it needs (NGINX, MySQL, PHP, etc.) under the same directory /opt/bitnami/.

As you can check at the link below:
https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/#how-can-i-get-started-with-nginx

The main directory to deploy your PHP application is /opt/bitnami/nginx/htdocs/.

Best Regards,

Juan Ariza

mdg333 2017-09-26 23:22:56 UTC #5

Jazira,

All very interesting but doesn't answer my question.

At this stage all I want to do is set up the folders for some sites, sub domains and their index files.

So I need to know which folder to use.

As I said all the instructions I've seen say use /var/ww
but at this stage I've discovered three separate var folders in the bitnami installation.

And if I'm reading the Bitnami documentation right it says to put them in /opt/bitnami/apps/myapp/conf/

Which is completely different to what every other tute says.

Sorry if it seems I'm being pedantic but I need a baseline folder to start from, otherwise no instructions are going to make sense.

So again, where do I put my www folder or its equivalent.?

Thanks

I'm not doing anything with php yet, and besides the /opt/bitnami/nginx/htdocs/ doesn't exist either.

jariza 2017-09-27 09:18:41 UTC #6

Hello @mdg333

Sorry if I was not clear enough in the previous answer. I double check the documentation and it's a little been confusing and some parts are wrong. I am going to create a task for the Docs Team to improve it. Thanks so much for the feedback.

When using the Bitnami NGINX Stack, the equivalent to /var/ww is /opt/bitnami/nginx/html/. Therefore, you need to use that directory.

I guess you're following this guide:
https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/#how-to-create-a-custom-php-application

That guide describes a more complex scenario we suggest when using several PHP applications. We suggest a structure like this:

/opt/bitnami/
  |-/apps
    |-APP1
      |-htdocs
      |-conf
    |-APP2
      |-htdocs
      |-conf
    |-...

Including the application PHP files in the htdocs directory and the NGINX configuration files in the conf directory of every app. Then, editing the NGINX configuration files at /opt/bitami/nginx/conf/bitnami/ you can import the specific configuration files of every app.

This structure allows you to have everything related with an App within the same directory (/opt/bitnami/apps/MYAPP) and that's the main advantage of using it. However, as I mentioned this is a more complex configuration, if you want to start creating your website you can simply use /opt/bitnami/nginx/html/ since NGINX is already configured to server the files at that directory.

Best Regards,

Juan Ariza

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mdg333 2017-09-28 00:14:19 UTC #7

Thanks

That's what I thought but I just wanted to make sure.

I guess you're following this guide:
https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/#how-to-create-a-custom-php-application

Actually I'm following this one for virtual hosts

https://docs.bitnami.com/aws/infrastructure/nginx/#create_vhost_nginx

but same thing as far as i can see.

As I said at this stage I'm just setting up folders for different hosts and subdomains.

So if I understand this right, the new domains will go under

/opt/bitnami/apps/domain1/htdocs/domain1.com
/opt/bitnami/apps/domain2/htdocs/domain2.com

Hope that's right.

Thanks again.

jariza 2017-09-28 11:12:30 UTC #8

Hello @mdg333

Yes, more ore less:

App1 Content: /opt/bitnami/apps/app1/htdocs/
App2 Content: /opt/bitnami/apps/app2/htdocs/

Then you configure NGINX to use associate:

DOMAIN1 to /opt/bitnami/apps/app1/htdocs/
DOMAIN2 to /opt/bitnami/apps/app2/htdocs/

The NGINX configuration files of each app will be at:

APP1: /opt/bitnami/apps/app1/conf/
APP2: /opt/bitnami/apps/app2/conf

Best Regards,

Juan Ariza

mdg333 2017-09-29 00:07:41 UTC #9

Thanks, got it.

Really appreciate all your help.

jariza 2017-09-29 07:41:47 UTC #10

Hello @mdg333

I am glad that you were able to understand the structure, I understand it can be confusing for new users at the beginning but I'm sure you'd love its advantages once you get used to it. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Best Regards,

Juan Ariza

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