The Perfect NGINX Server - CentOS Edition

The PERFECT NGINX SERVER - CENTOS EDITION

Now updated for both CentOS 7 and CentOS 8.

This is a beginners course that assumes you have no knowledge configuring a CentOS server or NGINX.

NGINX is a high performance web server that is responsible for serving almost all of the most popular sites in the world. You can serve your WordPress sites using the same web server as the busiest sites in the world. NGINX can deliver your site(s) up to 70% faster than Apache.

CentOS is a free operating system derived entirely from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distribution. CentOS provides an enterprise class server operating system and is probably the most popular Linux distribution for servers. The main reason is stability. When you think of CentOS, think of stability and rock solid reliability with uptime measured in years rather than weeks.

I will teach you, step by step, to a point where you will have the skill, knowledge and confidence to host multiple secure and optimized WordPress sites on an unmanaged Virtual Private Server. You will need no support from your host. You will be your own system administrator and tech support agent.

Never used the command line before? Never edited a configuration file before? No problem, I will teach you and provide you with the knowledge you need. This course also includes a Linux Essential Skills Crash Course - learn the basics quickly and easily.

I cover all aspects, no matter if your are using Windows or MACOSX. We will download the software, I'll show you how to install and configure the software and most important how to use the software. Prior to each section, I'll explain what we are doing, why we are doing it and in plain easy to understand English. You wont find any long and boring PowerPoint presentations and minute after minute looking at me talking to the camera. Its us and the command line, nothing else. The command line is easy to use, just think of terminal as a very basic word processor. I'll be there guiding you step by step.

This course covers the entire spectrum of configuring a CentOS based NGINX server. We will cover everything from initial server configuration to installing NGINX, MariaDB and php7.4. We will configure, secure and optimize nginx, install, secure and optimize WordPress and end with installing Let's Encrypt SSL certificates and plugin free backups.

The most important aspect of any server is security. I don't just glance over this aspect, every configuration step you will take is geared towards security. Some of the security aspects included in the course are: SSH Keys, the firewall, fail2ban, changing "dangerous" default settings, NGINX "deny" directives and Security Enhanced Linux. These are just some of the steps we are going to use in securing your server and your sites. Installing a WordPress "security plugin" does not secure your server or your WordPress site. Some "security plugins" are a source of vulnerabilities themselves.

We will NOT disable SELinux ( Security Enhanced Linux ) to make security configuration easier, we will configure SELinux to work with our existing security configuration.

After security we need to look at site optimization. Speed is everything and with our optimization NGINX will deliver WordPress sites at blazingly fast speeds. We will use a varied approach to optimization - command line, "caching" directives, server side object and page caching. Only after optimizing the server will we look at WordPress caching plugins. A caching plugin is used to complement the server configuration, its not meant to be your first choice in optimization.

Performance: Redis Object Caching, FastCGI Caching, W3 Total Cache and how to correctly enable Cloudflare on your VPS.

Security: stop xmlrpc.php and the seemingly never ending wp-login.php attacks using Nginx Rate Limiting. Make use of nginx directives to block certain user agents, spam bots and common exploits. Nginx directives also aid in stopping certain sql and file injection attacks. Further protect your site by restricting from where assets can be fetched by the clients browser using a Content Security Policy.

By the end of this course, you will be ready to reap the benefits. There will be numerous new services you will be adding to your resume as a web developer. You will be able to charge for numerous new services -  site hosting, site optimization, ssl certificate installation and renewal, backups and even a monthly maintenance fee. This course will add a new recurring revenue stream - monthly recurring income - hosting your own sites using NGINX.

This course was not designed to be completed locally, on your pc or mac or using one of the many available "Virtual Machines". Oracle's VirtualBox is one example. The aim of the course is to instruct you on how to setup a secure/hardened hosting environment and then host multiple hardened WordPress sites on a commercially purchased VPS or dedicated server.

This course is not a lab experiment with no real-world application.

All that's left is for you to sign up for this course and start your wonderful journey as your very own system administrator running multiple NGINX powered WordPress sites on a CentOS based server.