Popular Nginx Commands (Systemctl & Nginx Commands)

Nginx is a powerful server application that routes network traffic. It’s often used as a reverse proxy server but can also be configured as a web server. Therefore there are a few important Nginx commands you should be aware of in order to get familiar with the basics of this web server. These commands are essential when applying new changes or when troubleshooting issues.

Nginx Commands

Reference the following list of popular commands if you ever need a quick reminder on how to use a certain command or what it does.

Status Nginx

You can display the status of the Nginx service by entering the following command in a terminal

sudo systemctl status nginx

Start Nginx

sudo systemctl start nginx

sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start

Stop Nginx

Stopping Nginx will kill all system processes quickly. This will terminate Nginx even if there are open connections.

sudo systemctl stop nginx

sudo /etc/init.d/nginx stop

Restart Nginx

Use one of the following commands to run an Nginx restart

sudo systemctl restart nginx

sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart

Quit Nginx

sudo systemctl quit nginx

Reload Nginx

You can reload Nginx by using one of the following commands

sudo systemctl reload nginx

sudo /etc/init.d/nginx reload

Test Nginx Configuration

This helps prevent any unforeseen errors which can cause your website to gown down.

nginx -t

Check Nginx Version

systemctl -v nginx