nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here

Question

That is not an nginx configuration file. It is part of an nginx configuration file.

The nginx configuration file (usually called nginx.conf) will look like:

events {
    ...
}
http {
    ...
    server {
        ...
    }
}

The server block is enclosed within an http block.

Often the configuration is distributed across multiple files, by using the include directives to pull in additional fragments (for example from the sites-enabled directory).

Use sudo nginx -t to test the complete configuration file, which starts at nginx.conf and pulls in additional fragments using the include directive. See this document for more.

Example valid nginx.conf for reverse proxy; In case someone is stuck like me. where 10.x.x.x is the server where you are running the nginx proxy server and to which you are connecting to with the browser, and 10.y.y.y is where your real web server is running

events {
  worker_connections  4096;  ## Default: 1024
}
http {
 server {
   listen 80;
   listen [::]:80;

   server_name 10.x.x.x;
 
   location / {
       proxy_pass http://10.y.y.y:80/;
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
   }
 }
}

Here is the snippet if you want to do SSL pass through. That is if 10.y.y.y is running a HTTPS webserver. Here 10.x.x.x, or where the nignx runs is listening to port 443, and all traffic to 443 is directed to your target web server

events {
  worker_connections  4096;  ## Default: 1024
}

stream {
  server {
    listen     443;
    proxy_pass 10.y.y.y:443;
  }
}

and you can serve it up in docker too

 docker run --name nginx-container --rm --net=host   -v /home/core/nginx/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf nginx

The path to the nginx.conf file which is the primary Configuration file for Nginx - which is also the file which shall INCLUDE the Path for other Nginx Config files as and when required is /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.

You may access and edit this file by typing this at the terminal

cd /etc/nginx

/etc/nginx$ sudo nano nginx.conf

Further in this file you may Include other files - which can have a SERVER directive as an independent SERVER BLOCK - which need not be within the HTTP or HTTPS blocks, as is clarified in the accepted answer above.

I repeat - if you need a SERVER BLOCK to be defined within the PRIMARY Config file itself than that SERVER BLOCK will have to be defined within an enclosing HTTP or HTTPS block in the /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file which is the primary Configuration file for Nginx.

Also note -its OK if you define , a SERVER BLOCK directly not enclosing it within a HTTP or HTTPS block , in a file located at path /etc/nginx/conf.d . Also to make this work you will need to include the path of this file in the PRIMARY Config file as seen below :-

http{
    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; #includes all files of file type.conf
}

Further to this you may comment out from the PRIMARY Config file , the line

http{
    #include /etc/nginx/sites-available/some_file.conf; # Comment Out 
    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; #includes all files of file type.conf
}

and need not keep any Config Files in /etc/nginx/sites-available/ and also no need to SYMBOLIC Link them to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ , kindly note this works for me - in case anyone think it doesnt for them or this kind of config is illegal etc etc , pls do leave a comment so that i may correct myself - thanks .

EDIT :- According to the latest version of the Official Nginx CookBook , we need not create any Configs within - /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ , this was the older practice and is DEPRECIATED now .

Thus No need for the INCLUDE DIRECTIVE include /etc/nginx/sites-available/some_file.conf; .

Quote from Nginx CookBook page - 5 .

"In some package repositories, this folder is named sites-enabled, and configuration files are linked from a folder named site-available; this convention is depre‐ cated."

There might be just a typo anywhere inside a file imported by the config. For example, I made a typo deep inside my config file:

loccation /sense/movies/ {
                  mp4;
        }

(loccation instead of location), and this causes the error:

nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/xxx.xx:1