nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:98

Question

user www-data;
worker_processes 4;
pid /run/nginx.pid;

events {
        worker_connections 768;
        # multi_accept on;
}

http {

        ##
        # Basic Settings
        ##

        sendfile on;
        tcp_nopush on;
        tcp_nodelay on;
        keepalive_timeout 65;
        types_hash_max_size 2048;
        # server_tokens off;

        # server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
        # server_name_in_redirect off;

        include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
        default_type application/octet-stream;

        ##
        # Logging Settings
        ##

        access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
        error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

        ##
        # Gzip Settings
        ##

        gzip on;
        gzip_disable "msie6";

        # gzip_vary on;
        # gzip_proxied any;
        # gzip_comp_level 6;
        # gzip_buffers 16 8k;
        # gzip_http_version 1.1;
        # gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/x-javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;

        ##
        # nginx-naxsi config
        ##
        # Uncomment it if you installed nginx-naxsi
        ##
 #include /etc/nginx/naxsi_core.rules;

        ##
        # nginx-passenger config
        ##
        # Uncomment it if you installed nginx-passenger
        ##

        #passenger_root /usr;
        #passenger_ruby /usr/bin/ruby;

        ##
        # Virtual Host Configs
        ##

        include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
        #include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}
#mail {
#       # See sample authentication script at:
#       # http://wiki.nginx.org/ImapAuthenticateWithApachePhpScript
#
#       # auth_http localhost/auth.php;
#       # pop3_capabilities "TOP" "USER";
#       # imap_capabilities "IMAP4rev1" "UIDPLUS";
#
#       server {
#               listen     localhost:110;
#               protocol   pop3;
#               proxy      on;
#       }
#
#       server {
#               listen     localhost:143;
#               protocol   imap;
#               proxy      on;
#       }
#}


server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    server_name _;

    access_log /tmp/bokeh.access.log;
    error_log /tmp/bokeh.error.log debug;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:5100;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Host $host:$server_port;
        proxy_buffering off;
    }
}

and tested with

sudo nginx -t

get

nginx: [emerg] "server" directive is not allowed here in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:98
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed

I am trying to set up a reverse proxy wit nginx, how can I fix the error ?

Answer 1

As Louy pointed out, the answer in this is that the server directive needs to be nested in the http block, not at the same level.

Nginx helpfully has a list of all the directives.

Note, for each directive (like the server directive), the first block of documentation always includes a "Context" key, which details exactly which contexts the directive is allowed in.

This is a great resource to check for any "directive not allowed" error with Nginx. In the the case of the server directory, the only possible context is http, leaving only one possible fix.

Answer 2

nginx.conf file structure should be like below

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