👋 Introduction

In this guide, I’ll show you how to set up a basic web server using Nginx on an Amazon EC2 instance. You’ll install Nginx, create your own HTML page, and access it from any browser using your EC2’s public IP address.

This tutorial is for beginners who want to learn how static websites are hosted in the cloud using Linux and Nginx — no Docker involved.

☁️ Step 1: Launch EC2 Instance on AWS

Go to AWS Console → EC2 → Launch Instance
Choose Amazon Linux 2023 (Free Tier eligible)
Select t2.micro instance type
Select or create a key pair (.pem file)
In Security Group, add:
- Type: HTTP, Port: 80, Source: Anywhere (0.0.0.0/0)
- Type: SSH, Port: 22, Source: Your IP
Launch your instance 🚀

🔑 Step 2: Connect to EC2 via SSH

From your terminal, connect like this:

ssh -i your-key.pem ec2-user@<your-ec2-public-ip>

Replace your-key.pem with your actual key file name
Replace <your-ec2-public-ip> with the IP shown in the EC2 dashboard

Once connected, you’ll see:

[ec2-user@ip-... ~]$

✅ You're now logged into your EC2 Linux machine.

🌐 Step 3: Install and Start Nginx

Install Nginx:

sudo dnf install nginx -y

Start Nginx:

sudo systemctl start nginx

Check if it’s running:

sudo systemctl status nginx

You should see: active (running) ✅

🌍 Step 4: Access Default Nginx Page in Browser

In your browser, enter:

http://<your-ec2-public-ip>

🎉 You’ll see the default Nginx Welcome Page — it means the web server is working correctly!

📝 Step 5: Add Your Own HTML Page (Static Website)

Let’s replace the default page with your own:

Go to Nginx web root:

cd /usr/share/nginx/html

Create your own index.html:

sudo nano index.html

Paste this sample content:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>My Static Site</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Welcome to My Website!</h1>
  <p>This page is hosted on AWS EC2 using Nginx.</p>
</body>
</html>

Save and Exit:

Press Ctrl + O, then Enter to save
Press Ctrl + X to exit nano

Refresh the Browser Page:

http://<your-ec2-public-ip>

🔥 You’ll now see your custom HTML page live on the internet!

🔍 Step 6: Check Services and Ports (Optional)

See all running services:

systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

Check which service is using which port:

sudo ss -tulpn

Nginx will be shown using port 80.

🛑 Step 7: Stop or Disable Nginx (Optional)

To stop the server:

sudo systemctl stop nginx

To prevent it from auto-starting on reboot:

sudo systemctl disable nginx

Check status again:

sudo systemctl status nginx

💡 Tips and Learnings

EC2 is your virtual machine in the cloud 🖥️
Nginx is a fast, lightweight web server 🌐
You host a site by replacing the index.html file
Always ensure port 80 is open in the security group
Use systemctl to manage services and ss to inspect network ports

🧠 Bonus: Serve Your Full Website

You can upload your entire website (HTML, CSS, JS files) into /usr/share/nginx/html using:

scp -i your-key.pem index.html ec2-user@<your-ec2-ip>:/usr/share/nginx/html

Or use Git or S3 to download files directly inside EC2.

👏 Conclusion

That’s it! You just launched your first static website using Nginx on AWS EC2 — no Docker or complicated tools. This method is fast, beginner-friendly, and powerful.

Deploy and Terminate Nginx on Amazon Linux EC2