# Nginx - Basic Configurations

Nginx is a web server that can be used for various purposes which are:

* Load balancer
    
* Reverse proxy
    
* Content cache
    
* Webserver
    
* Ingress Controller
    

For more details, one can refer to their official [site](https://www.nginx.com/blog/).

But here we will try to build a quick understanding of Nginx which helps us to launch a web application instantly.

For simplicity here Nginx will be installed on the Ubuntu machine.

Nginx can be installed as

```plaintext
apt install nginx -y
```

Check Nginx status

```plaintext
systemctl status nginx
```

Once Nginx gets installed:

* The Nginx binary resides inside `/usr/sbin/nginx`
    
* Nginx config directory path : `/etc/nginx`
    
* Nginx master config file: `/etc/nginx/nginx.conf`
    
* Service Unit file: `/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service`
    

Let's explore nginx binary

```plaintext
nginx -h
```

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1691001703238/f8e02d1d-9b27-4b16-a2f3-137c06343d8a.png align="center")

By seeing this output we can say, two major commands which we use very frequently are:

To `validate` nginx configuration

```plaintext
nginx -t
```

To `reload nginx configuration` without restarting nginx:

```plaintext
nginx -s reload
```

continue..