Hosting Multiple Websites on One Server Using Nginx

Objective

Host multiple websites on a single web server by combining:

DNS (BIND9) Nginx Virtual Hosts (Server Blocks)

Environment

  • Virtualization: VirtualBox
  • OS: ( 1 DNS Server VM + 1 Web Server VM + 1 Client VM)

Network Topology

dns-topology

Prerequisites

This lab builds upon the Private DNS Infrastructure with BIND9 (3-VM Lab). The following components are assumed to already be configured:

  • BIND9 installed and running on the DNS server.
  • The company.lab DNS zone created and configured.
  • The zone file (/etc/bind/db.company.lab) already exists.
  • The client is configured to use the internal DNS server (192.168.10.10) via Netplan.
  • DNS resolution between the client and the DNS server has been verified.

In this lab, the existing DNS infrastructure is extended by adding additional DNS records and configuring Nginx virtual hosts to host multiple websites on a single web server.

Phase 1 - Add DNS Records

Step 1 - Edit the Zone file

sudo nano /etc/bind/db.company.lab

zone-file

Note: Always increment the SOA serial number after editing the zone file.

Step 2 - Validate the Zone

sudo named-checkzone company.lab /etc/bind/db.company.lab

Expected Output: OK

Reload BIND:

sudo systemctl reload bind9

Phase 2 - Verify DNS

From the client:

dig blog.company.lab A +short
dig shop.company.lab A +short
dig api.company.lab A +short

Expected Output: 192.168.10.101

verify-dns

Phase 3 - Create Website Directories

On the webserver:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/www.company.lab
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/blog.company.lab
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/shop.company.lab
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/api.company.lab

Create simple home pages:

echo "<h1>Welcome to www.company.lab</h1>" sudo tee /var/www/www.company.lab/index.html
echo "<h1>Welcome to blog.company.lab</h1>" sudo tee /var/www/blog.company.lab/index.html
echo "<h1>Welcome to shop.company.lab</h1>" sudo tee /var/www/shop.company.lab/index.html
echo "<h1>Welcome to api.company.lab</h1>" sudo tee /var/www/api.company.lab/index.html

Phase 4 - Configure Nginx Virtual Hosts

Step 1 - Create the Server Block

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/www.company.lab

nginx-conf

Step 2 - Enable the website

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/www.company.lab\
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 3 - Validate the configuration

sudo nginx -t

Expected outcome: syntax is ok / test is successful

Step 4 - Reload Nginx

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Note: Configure the remaining virtual hosts by repeating the Phase 4. Each configuration differs only in two directives (server_name and root)

Phase 5 - Testing

On client:

testing