Servers
Nginx tab
Your web server — which sites it serves, whether its config is valid, and what its error log says.
Nginx is the program that answers visitors and hands them your website. When a visitor sees 502 Bad Gateway, 504 Gateway Timeout or a blank page, nginx is where you look first.
If the tab is empty, this server does not run nginx. It may use Apache or Caddy instead, which you can manage from Services and Logs.
Status
Whether nginx is running, and since when. If it is stopped, your sites are down — start it from here or from Services.
Test the configuration — nginx -t
The single most valuable button on this tab. It checks every config file and tells you whether nginx would accept them.
Always do this after editing anything:
- Edit the config.
- Press
nginx -t. - Only if it says OK, press Reload.
Reloading a broken config can take every site on the server down at once. Testing first makes that impossible.
Vhosts — your sites
Each server block (vhost) is one site. You see the domain names it answers for, the ports it listens on, and whether SSL is configured.
This is how you answer "is this domain actually set up on this server?".
Config tree
Every file nginx reads, including the ones pulled in from
sites-enabled/ and conf.d/. Open one to read it; edit it in the
File manager.
Copy a file before changing it.
Create config
Adds a new site block from a small form, rather than writing the file by hand. Useful when pointing a new domain at this server. There is also a guided task, Point a new domain to this server, which does the DNS check, the config and the certificate together — see Guided tasks.
Error log
Nginx's own log of what went wrong. The most common lines, translated:
| Line contains | Means |
|---|---|
connect() failed (111: Connection refused) | Your app is not running. Check PM2 or Services |
upstream timed out | Your app is too slow or stuck — the 504 page |
no such file or directory | A path in the config points at something that is not there |
SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file failed | A certificate file is missing or unreadable |
Permission denied | Nginx cannot read your site's files |
Reload vs restart
- Reload re-reads the config with no downtime and no dropped connections. Use this.
- Restart stops and starts nginx. Brief downtime. Only needed if reload does not take effect.
Certificates
Nginx serves the certificate; it does not issue it. To get or renew a free certificate, use the guided tasks Set up free SSL (https) or SSL certificate expired. To watch expiry dates automatically, add the site to Uptime monitoring.
Permissions
Operator and above can reload, edit and create configs. Viewers can read the status, vhosts and errors. All changes go to the Activity log.