nginx (pronounced as engine-x) is a lightweight, high performance http server, reverse proxy server, IMAP, SMTP and POP3 server. In this tutorial my test box hostname and ip address are “server.unixmen.com” and “192.168.1.200”.

Install EPEL Repository

nginx will not be found in Official CentOS repository, so lets install EPEL repository first.

[root@server ~]# wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm [root@server ~]# rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

Install MySQL

[root@server ~]# yum install mysql mysql-server -y

Start the MySQL service and make to start automatically on every reboot.

[root@server ~]# /etc/init.d/mysqld start 
[root@server ~]# chkconfig mysqld on

Set MySQL root password.

[root@server ~]# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation 

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL
      SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE!  PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user.  If you've just installed MySQL, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):     ## Press Enter ## 
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL
root user without the proper authorisation.

Set root password? [Y/n]     ## Press Enter ##
New password:                ## Enter new password ##
Re-enter new password:       ## Re-enter new password ##
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
 ... Success!

By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for
them.  This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother.  You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]     ## Press Enter ##
 ... Success!

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'.  This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]     ## Press Enter ## 
... Success!
By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access.  This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.

Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]     ## Press Enter ##
 - Dropping test database...
 ... Success!
 - Removing privileges on test database...
 ... Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]     ## Press Enter ##
 ... Success!

Cleaning up...

All done!  If you've completed all of the above steps, your MySQL
installation should now be secure.

Thanks for using MySQL!

Install nginx

[root@server ~]# yum install nginx -y

Start nginx and make it to start automatically on every reboot.

[root@server ~]# /etc/init.d/nginx start 
Starting nginx: [ OK ] 
[root@server ~]# chkconfig nginx on

Stop Apache or any other web servers if you have.

[root@server ~]# /etc/init.d/httpd stop 
[root@server ~]# chkconfig httpd off

Open the nginx port in your firewall/router if you want to access the web server from other systems.

[root@server ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables 
-A INPUT -p udp -m state --state NEW --dport 80 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW --dport 80 -j ACCEPT

Restart iptables

[root@server ~]# /etc/init.d/iptables restart

Now point your web browser with “http://192.168.1.200”. The test page of nginx will open.

[root@server ~]# yum install php php-common php-fpm -y

[root@server ~]# /etc/init.d/php-fpm start 
[root@server ~]# chkconfig php-fpm on

[root@server ~]# vi /usr/share/nginx/html/testphp.php 
<?php 
phpinfo(); 
?>

[root@server ~]# vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf 
worker_processes 1;

[root@server ~]# vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
server { 
     listen 192.168.1.200:80; 
     server_name server.unixmen.com

[root@server ~]# /etc/init.d/nginx restart