Migrate Apache2 to Nginx

Let’s migrate Apache2 to Nginx to increase WordPress website performance.

1. Install Nginx

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install nginx

2. Allow Nginx from Firewall

sudo ufw allow "Nginx Full"

3. Configure Nginx with 8080 Port

Open file with editor

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Change port to 8080

listen 8080 default_server;
listen [::]:8080 default_server;

Test configuration before apply

sudo nginx -t

Start Nginx server

sudo service nginx start

Test connection

curl http://localhost:8080

4. Configure website config file

Create a new config file

sudo touch /etc/nginx/sites-available/zemna.net.conf

Open config file using editor

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/zemna.net.conf

Update configuration

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;

  root /var/www/zemnanet-website/html;

  index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

  server_name zemna.net www.zemna.net;

  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
  }

  location ~ .php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
  }
}

Activate configuration

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/zemna.net.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

5. Stop Apache2 and Start Nginx

sudo service apache2 stop
sudo srvice nginx start

6. Install Lets Encrypt SSL

Install required package

sudo apt install python-certbot-nginx -t stretch-backports

Obtaining an SSL Certificate

sudo certbot --nginx -d zemna.net -d www.zemna.net

7. Remove Apache2

sudo apt remove apache2
sudo apt autoremove

Remove from firewall configuration

sudo ufw delete allow "WWW Full"