Tutorial—Set up multiple websites or stores with nginx

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Set up multiple websites with nginx

This tutorial shows you step-by-step how to set up multiple websites using nginx.

Assumptions

We assume that:

  • You are working on a development machine (laptop, virtual machine, or similar).

    Additional tasks might be required to deploy multiple websites in a hosted environment; check with your hosting provider for more information.

    Additional tasks are required to set up Magento Commerce Cloud. After you complete the tasks discussed in this topic, see Set up multiple Magento Commerce Cloud websites or stores.

  • You accept multiple domains in one virtual host file or use one virtual host per website; the virtual host configuration files are located in /etc/nginx/sites-available.
  • You use the nginx.conf.sample provided by Magento with only the modifications discussed in this tutorial.
  • The Magento software is installed in /var/www/html/magento2.

  • You have two websites other than the default:

    • french.mysite.mg with website code french and store view code fr
    • german.mysite.mg with website code german and store view code de
    • mysite.mg is the default website and default store view

Refer to Create websites and Create store views for help locating these values.

Roadmap for setting up multiple websites with nginx

To set up multiple stores:

  1. Set up websites, stores, and store views in the Magento Admin.
  2. Create an nginx virtual host to map many websites or one nginx virtual host per Magento website (steps detailed below).

  3. Pass the values of the Magento variables $MAGE_RUN_TYPE and $MAGE_RUN_CODE to nginx using the Magento-provided nginx.conf.sample (steps detailed below).

    • $MAGE_RUN_TYPE can be either store or website:

      • Use website to load your website in your storefront.
      • Use store to load any store view in your storefront.

    • $MAGE_RUN_CODE is the unique website or store view code that corresponds to $MAGE_RUN_TYPE.

Step 2: Create nginx virtual hosts

This section discusses how to load websites on the storefront. You can use either websites or store views; if you use store views, you must adjust parameter values accordingly. You must complete the tasks in this section as a user with sudo privileges.

By using just one nginx virtual host file, you can keep your nginx configuration simple and clean. By using several virtual host files, you can customize each store (to use a custom location for french.mysite.mg for instance).

To use one virtual host (simplified):

This configuration expands upon Magento Nginx Configuration. To create one virtual host:

  1. Open a text editor and add the following contents to a new file named /etc/nginx/sites-available/magento:

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    map $http_host $MAGE_RUN_CODE {
    default '';
    french.mysite.mg french;
    german.mysite.mg german;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mysite.mg french.mysite.mg german.mysite.mg;
    set $MAGE_ROOT /var/www/html/magento2;
    set $MAGE_MODE developer;
    set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE website; #or set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE store;
    include /var/www/html/magento2/nginx.conf;
}
  2. Save your changes to the files and exit the text editor.

  3. Verify the server configuration:

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    nginx -t

  4. If successful, the following message displays:

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    nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

    If errors display, check the syntax of your virtual host configuration files.

  5. Create symbolic link in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory:

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    cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

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    ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/magento magento

For more detail about the map directive, see nginx documentation on the map directive.

To create multiple virtual hosts (customize per website):

To create multiple virtual hosts:

  1. Open a text editor and add the following contents to a new file named /etc/nginx/sites-available/french.mysite.mg:

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    map $http_host $MAGE_RUN_CODE {
    french.mysite.mg french;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name french.mysite.mg;
    set $MAGE_ROOT /var/www/html/magento2;
    set $MAGE_MODE developer;
    set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE website; #or set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE store;
    include /var/www/html/magento2/nginx.conf;
}

  2. Create another file named german.mysite.mg in the same directory with the following contents:

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    map $http_host $MAGE_RUN_CODE {
    german.mysite.mg german;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name german.mysite.mg;
    set $MAGE_ROOT /var/www/html/magento2;
    set $MAGE_MODE developer;
    set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE website; #or set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE store;
    include /var/www/html/magento2/nginx.conf;
}
  3. Save your changes to the files and exit the text editor.

  4. Verify the server configuration:

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    nginx -t

  5. If successful, the following message displays:

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    nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

    If errors display, check the syntax of your virtual host configuration files.

  6. Create symbolic links in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory:

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    cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

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    ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/french.mysite.mg french.mysite.mg

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    ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/german.mysite.mg german.mysite.mg

For more details about the map directive, see nginx documentation on the map directive.

Step 3: Modify nginx.conf.sample

Do not edit the nginx.conf.sample file; it is a core Magento file that may be updated with each new release. Instead, copy the nginx.conf.sample file, rename it, and then edit the copied file.

To edit the PHP entry point for the main application:

To modify the nginx.conf.sample file:

  1. Open a text editor and review the nginx.conf.sample file ,<magento2_installation_directory>/nginx.conf.sample. Look for the following section:

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    # PHP entry point for main application
location ~ (index|get|static|report|404|503|health_check)\.php$ {
    try_files $uri =404;
    fastcgi_pass   fastcgi_backend;
    fastcgi_buffers 1024 4k;

    fastcgi_param  PHP_FLAG  "session.auto_start=off \n suhosin.session.cryptua=off";
    fastcgi_param  PHP_VALUE "memory_limit=756M \n max_execution_time=18000";
    fastcgi_read_timeout 600s;
    fastcgi_connect_timeout 600s;

    fastcgi_index  index.php;
    fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include        fastcgi_params;
}

  2. Update the nginx.conf.sample file with the following two lines before the include statement:

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    fastcgi_param MAGE_RUN_TYPE $MAGE_RUN_TYPE;
fastcgi_param MAGE_RUN_CODE $MAGE_RUN_CODE;

An example updated PHP entry point for the main application looks like:

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# PHP entry point for main application

location ~ (index|get|static|report|404|503|health_check)\.php$ {
    try_files $uri =404;
    fastcgi_pass   fastcgi_backend;
    fastcgi_buffers 1024 4k;

    fastcgi_param  PHP_FLAG  "session.auto_start=off \n suhosin.session.cryptua=off";
    fastcgi_param  PHP_VALUE "memory_limit=756M \n max_execution_time=18000";
    fastcgi_read_timeout 600s;
    fastcgi_connect_timeout 600s;

    fastcgi_index  index.php;
    fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    # START - Multisite customization
    fastcgi_param MAGE_RUN_TYPE $MAGE_RUN_TYPE;
    fastcgi_param MAGE_RUN_CODE $MAGE_RUN_CODE;
    # END - Multisite customization
    include        fastcgi_params;
}

Verify your site

Unless you have DNS set up for your stores’ URLs, you must add a static route to the host in your hosts file:

  1. Locate your operating system’s hosts file.

  2. Add the static route in the format:

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    <ip address> french.mysite.mg
<ip address> german.mysite.mg

  3. Go to one of the following URLs in your browser:

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    http://mysite.mg/admin
http://french.mysite.mg/frenchstoreview
http://german.mysite.mg/germanstoreview

You’re done!

  • Additional tasks might be required to deploy multiple websites in a hosted environment; check with your hosting provider for more information.
  • Additional tasks are required to set up Magento Commerce Cloud; for more information, see Set up multiple Cloud websites or stores

Troubleshooting

  • If your French and German sites return 404s but your Admin loads, make sure you completed Step 6: Add the store code to the base URL.
  • If all URLs return 404s, make sure you restarted your web server.
  • If the Magento Admin doesn’t function properly, make sure you set up your virtual hosts properly.
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