10 Best NGINX Courses For Beginners [2024]

In a world where site performance directly impacts user experience and search rankings, NGINX stands out as a critical skill for developers, sysadmins, and web engineers alike. Known for powering major platforms like Netflix, Dropbox, and WordPress, NGINX brings unmatched speed and reliability to high-demand sites. With its efficient, event-driven architecture, NGINX tackles the C10K problem—handling thousands of simultaneous connections smoothly and outpacing traditional servers like Apache by up to 70%.

For anyone serious about optimizing site performance and scalability, mastering NGINX is non-negotiable. This guide covers the best NGINX courses & tutorials to explain why NGINX has become the go-to web server for top-tier sites and how you can leverage its capabilities to boost your own site’s efficiency, aligning with current demands in SEO and user engagement.

Top NGINX Courses List

1. NGINX Fundamentals: High Performance Servers from Scratch
2. Learning NGINX Online Class
3. Introduction to NGINX
4. Master Class : NGINX WebServer and Custom Load Balancer
5. NGINX Tutorial for Beginners
6. The Perfect NGINX Server - CentOS Edition
7. Nginx - Beginner to Advanced
8. Nginx and PHP Fundamentals
9. Linux System Engineer: Web Servers and DNS Using Apache, NGINX, and BIND Online Class
10. NGINX, Apache, SSL Encryption - Certification Course

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1. NGINX Fundamentals: High-Performance Servers from Scratch

Learn to install & configure an NGINX web server from scratch.

In this NGINX tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Learn to customize the NGINX installation.
• Configure NGINX as a web server.
• Install & configure a server-side programming language as an NGINX backend.
• Learn to tweak NGINX for optimal performance.
• Secure NGINX with some security best practices.

Initially, you will emphasize the differences between Nginx and Apache for those with Apache experience and then the different ways of installing Nginx, customizing your installation, and configuring Nginx as a service.

The installation section also covers updating NGINX without the downtime and adding/removing modules. Mainly, this course is focused on configuring Nginx as a web server, including connecting it to a PHP backend and configuring some of NGINX's best features, such as Gzipping and GeoIP.

Finally, you will go over securing the server and the user via SSL and other security best practices.

Upon completion of this NGINX course, you will have the practical skills to immediately start building secure, high-performance web servers or improve and better understand existing hosting solutions you might work with.

You can take the NGINX Fundamentals: High-Performance Servers from the Scratch Certificate Course on Udemy.

• Course rating: 4.6 out of 5.0
• Duration: 4h
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

2. Learning NGINX

How to set up a high-performance architecture with NGINX.

The nginx tutorial includes:

• Installing and Configuring NGINX
• The Linux, NGINX, MySQL, and PHP Stack
• NGINX Security
• Reverse Proxies and Load Balancers

In this NGINX course, you will learn how Nginx offers to speed unmatched by competitors like Apache, on top of bonus features such as load balancing and HTTP caching.

Learn how to install and configure NGINX on a Linux machine, and set up the rest of the pieces you need for the complete LEMP web development stack.

Finally, you will explore the security features of NGINX, such as password authentication, HTTPS, and SSL certificates, and its capabilities as a reverse proxy and load balancer.

You can take the Learning NGINX Certificate Course on LinkedIn.

• Course rating: 4.8 out of 5.0
• Duration: 2h 33m
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

3. Introduction to NGINX

This introductory NGINX course dives into the essentials of NGINX, a powerful open-source web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer. Designed for beginners, the course guides you through key NGINX concepts, from installation to advanced configurations, empowering you to set up your own NGINX instance and secure it with SSL certification.

In this NGINX tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Layer 7 Load Balancing between services.
• Layer 4 Load Balancing between services.
• Set up NGINX as a Web Server.
• TLS Passthrough vs TLS Termination.
• Block Undesired Requests and Re-route requests to different services.
• Enable HTTPS with letsEncrypt.
• Enable HTTP/2 with NGINX.
• Enable TLS 1.3 with NGINX.
• NGINX Timeouts
• Scaling WebSockets with NGINX.
• Load Balancing WebSockets with NGINX.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the foundational skills needed to use NGINX for high-performance server management, handling everything from small applications to complex infrastructures with minimal memory usage. This course is ideal for those seeking a scalable, efficient server solution.

You can take the Introduction to NGINX Certificate Course on Udemy.

• Course rating: 4.4 out of 5.0
• Duration: 7h
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

4. Master Class: NGINX WebServer and Custom Load Balancer

Hands-on install & configure an Nginx web server load balancer from scratch, live labs for beginners on NGINX.

In this nginx tutorial, you will learn how to:

• create custom NGINX web servers from scratch.
• have an in-depth understanding of HTTP Protocol.
• configure Web Application Firewall.
• customize your Nginx install.
• tune and manage NGINX LoadBalancers.
• install & configure a server-side programming language as an NGNX backend.
• tweak NGNX for optimal performance.
• secure NGNX with some security best practices.

Here, you will learn how to master NGINX. NGINX is not just an HTTP Server but can also act as a Reverse Proxy and load Balancer.

Mastering NGINX means having a solid foundation for HTTP Protocol. Thus this course initially focuses on HTTP Protocol and then we slowly move to NGNX and using NGNX in a High-Performance Enterprise Environment.

Initially, you will look at the differences between NGINX and Apache for those with Apache experience and then explain the different ways of installing NGINX, customizing your installation, and configuring NGINX as a service.

The installation section also covers updating NGINX without the downtime and adding/removing modules. Mainly, this course is focused on configuring Nginx as a web server, including connecting it to a PHP backend and configuring some of NGINX's best features, such as Gzipping and GeoIP.

Finally, you will go over securing the server and the user via SSL and other security best practices.

Upon completion of this course, you will have the practical skills to immediately start building secure, high-performance web servers or improve and better understand existing hosting solutions you might work with.

You can take Master Class: NGINX WebServer and Custom Load Balancer Certificate Course on Udemy.

• Course rating: 4.4 out of 5.0
• Duration: 9h 32m
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

5. NGINX Tutorial for Beginners

Learn Nginx fundamentals of web servers & advanced features of Nginx which will help to become a master in web server development from scratch.

In this nginx tutorial, you will learn:

• webservers and NGINX, along with what is HTTP protocol.
• why should you install NGINX, and which one is better between Apache and NGINX?
• different ways to install NGINX.
• directives, configuration files, context types, and variables.
• different modules including core, events, HTTP, and optional.
• how NGINX works and how you can deploy websites on the webserver
• LEMP Stack including installing, configuring, and deploying apps.
• how to monitor your web server for errors.
• integrating security and SSL certifications.
• migrating from Apache to NGINX.

The NGINX course will start with a brief introduction to web servers and where NGINX fits, as well as a detailed difference between Apache and NGINX. From there, you will learn different ways to install and deploy the NGINX server. The following sections will include everything you need to set up the web server, including the different directives, modules, configuration processes, etc.

You will also learn about the LEMP Stack, how to monitor the web server, security and integrating SSL configuration and certificates, how to migrate from Apache to NGINX, including tips and tricks to get the most out of your web server, as well as the most popular FAQs related to server technology.

• Course rating: 4.3 out of 5.0
• Duration: 7.7 hours
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

6. The Perfect NGINX Server - CentOS Edition

The Absolute Beginners CentOS Course to Setting Up Multiple Blazingly Fast WordPress Sites Using NGINX.

In this nginx tutorial, you will learn how to:

• setup, from scratch, a secure, hardened, and optimized CentOS-based Virtual Private Server
• purchase, from any host, an unmanaged VPS and have the knowledge to set up the VPS correctly and most importantly securely
• use NGINX, host, and serve multiple WordPress sites on a single CentOS-based server.
• install, secure, and optimize NGINX, MariaDB, and PHP.
• install a WordPress site in a few seconds using the WordPress Command Line Interface.
• secure and Optimize a WordPress site correctly.
• install multiple WordPress sites on a single server.
• install FREE Let's Encrypt SSL certificates and configure automatic renewal of the SSL certificates for all your sites hosted on the server.
• create a site backup solution to backup your sites - plugin-free.

Learn how to install and configure the software and most importantly how to use the software. This course covers the entire spectrum of configuring a CentOS-based NGINX server.

The course will cover everything from initial server configuration to installing NGINX, MariaDB, and php7.4. Next, you will learn how to configure, secure, and optimize Nginx, install, secure, and optimize WordPress, and end with installing Let's Encrypt SSL certificates and plugin-free backups.

• Course rating: 4.9 out of 5.0
• Duration: 10h 24m
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

7. Nginx - Beginner to Advanced

Beginners Guide to master the HTTP Protocol and NGINX.

In this nginx tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Have an in-depth understanding of HTTP Protocol.
• Set up your website with Reverse Proxies.
• Have a solid foundation for Load Balancers and know how to practically implement them.
• Configure Web Application Firewall.

Upon completing this course, you will have a solid understanding of Nginx and its associated features. They will be able to both deploy as well as manage Nginx in production environments.

• Course rating: 4.2 out of 5.0
• Duration: 11h
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

8. Nginx and PHP Fundamentals

Nginx and PHP are two of the biggest platforms on the Web. Get up and running with these lightweight, easy-to-learn technologies that provide high-performance solutions with low operating costs.

The nginx tutorial includes:

• Introduction to Nginx and PHP Fundamentals
• Hosting Static Content in Nginx
• PHP Part 1: Basic Web Forms
• PHP Part 2: Packages and Integration
• Hosting PHP in Nginx

In this NGINX course, you'll start from the ground up learning how to host static HTML and dynamic PHP sites in Nginx, and how to build websites in PHP that interact with the user and integrate with cloud services like Windows Azure and Amazon AWS.

The course takes a hands-on approach, migrating an ASP.NET MVC website to PHP, and you'll see performance and cost comparisons for the two stacks.

You can take the Nginx and PHP Fundamentals Certificate Course on Pluralsight.

• Course rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 (210 Ratings total)
• Duration: 2h 52m
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

9. Linux System Engineer: Web Servers and DNS Using Apache, NGINX, and BIND

Learn how to configure DNS, Apache, and NGINX web servers on Linux.

In this nginx tutorial, you will learn how to:

• understand web server, DNS configuration, and management for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)—one of the most popular Linux distributions.
• configure a caching-only web server using BIND, the open-source DNS software, and set up and secure an Apache webserver.
• use basic authentication to create a password-protected website and a private site for group collaboration.
• create standard virtual hosts as well as those using nonstandard ports, and secure hosts with SSL and TLS.

The course shows how to configure a caching-only web server using BIND, the open-source DNS software, and set up and secure an Apache webserver. Then, it shows how to use basic authentication to create a password-protected website and a private site for group collaboration.

Next, learn how to create standard virtual hosts as well as those using nonstandard ports, and secure hosts with SSL and TLS. Finally, get an introduction to NGINX, the open-source web server that's taken the world by storm, and find out how to create virtual hosts with this popular Apache alternative.

You can take the Linux System Engineer: Web Servers and DNS Using Apache, NGINX, and BIND Certificate Course on LinkedIn.

• Course rating: 4.7 out of 5.0
• Duration: 2h 3m
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

10. NGINX, Apache, SSL Encryption - Certification Course

Install, Configure, and Secure NGINX & Apache on an Ubuntu Server using Digital Ocean & Let's Encrypt SSL.

In this nginx tutorial, you will learn how to:

• deploy a virtual server on Digital Ocean.
• work with dynamic, static, and floating IPs.
• use Terminal for remote authentication.
• install and configure LAMP Stack on Ubuntu 18.04.
• test PHP.
• host multiple domains on one Apache Virtual server.
• configuring Virtual Host files and directives.
• DNS Zone file configuration.
• understanding the difference between Apache & NGINX.
• installing NGINX on a Digital Ocean Droplet or any Virtual Server of your choice.
• modifying the NGINX Block Configuration file for hosting Websites.
• installing essential components on NGINX such as MySQL, PHP & PhpMyAdmin.
• securing PhpMyAdmin using symbolic links and NGINX's built-in authentication gateway.
• securing your hosted websites with free SSL using Certbot & Let's Encrypt.
• install and configure WordPress on your NGINX server.
• about types of SSL certificates.
• how SSL certificates work.
• SSL certificate Status Reports.
• redirect all Domain Variations to HTTPS.

This course will guide you through the process of installing, securing, and configuring NGINX or Apache on an Ubuntu web server. You will also learn to encrypt all web traffic, using a Free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt.

Initially, you will explore the most widely used web server technology available, Apache. Understanding how to work with Apache is an instrumental part of the web development process.

This section of the course offers an in-depth look into the role of SSL certificates when it comes to server security and web traffic encryption. Next, you will configure your free SSL certificate using Let’s Encrypt Certificate Authority.

You can take NGINX, Apache, SSL Encryption - Certification Course Certificate Course on Udemy.

• Course rating: 4.2 out of 5.0
• Duration : 3h 36m
• Certificate: Certificate on completion

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