If you run multiple websites on same server, you might want to secure them with a single SSL certificate, to save cost on buying SSL certificates. You can easily do it with the SNI features, available from NGINX 0.9.8f. SNI allows you to protect multiple websites using a single SSL certificate. Let us look at how to configure multiple SSL virtual hosts in NGINX.
How to Configure Multiple SSL Virtual Hosts in NGINX
Here are the steps to configure multiple SSL virtual hosts in NGINX.
Before you proceed, please ensure that you have enabled virtual hosts in NGINX. Here are the steps to do it.
Let’s say you want to host 2 websites www.example.com and api.example.com on same IP.
1. Create Virtual Host Files
First, we create separate virtual host files – one for each domain. You can add the config for both websites in the same config file if you want. But this way it is cleaner and easier to manage.
$ sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/www.example.com
$ sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/api.example.com
2. Add Virtual Host Configuration
Add the following lines of code in the 2 files
If you have a wildcard or multi-domain certificate
In this case we use the same SSL certificate details for both virtual hosts
#www.example.com
server {
listen 80
server_name www.example.com
root /var/www/www.example.com/html; #also add a root dir here ssl on;
ssl_certificate /var/www/ssl/certif.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /var/www/ssl/certif.key;}
#api.example.com
server {
listen 80
server_name api.example.com
root /var/www/api.example.com/html; #also add a root dir here
ssl on;
ssl_certificate /var/www/ssl/certif.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /var/www/ssl/certif.key;
}
The key is to use different server_name and root values for each virtual host but use the same SSL certificate details for both.
If you have 2 different certificates
In this case, you use different SSL certificate details for both virtual hosts
#www.example.com
server {
listen 80
server_name www.example.com
root /var/www/www.example.com/html; #also add a root dir here ssl on;
ssl_certificate /var/www/ssl/certif.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /var/www/ssl/certif.key;}
#api.example.com
server {
listen 80
server_name api.example.com
root /var/www/api.example.com/html; #also add a root dir here
ssl on;
ssl_certificate /var/www/ssl/certif2.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /var/www/ssl/certif2.key;
}
3. Enable the domains
Next, enable the 2 domains
$ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/www.example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/www.example.com
$ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/api.example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/api.example.com
4. Reload NGINX web server
Reload NGINX server to apply changes.
$ sudo service nginx reload
That’s it! NGINX will serve both your websites from same directory.
