How to Redirect HTTP to HTTPS in Nginx | Hostvento Knowledge Base

What you need

Nginx on Ubuntu or another Linux system.
A valid SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt is free).
SSH or terminal access with sudo.
A domain that points to your server.

Step 1: Install Nginx

sudo apt install nginx

Step 2: Get an SSL certificate

Install Certbot with the Nginx plugin:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Request the certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx

Certbot asks if you want to redirect HTTP to HTTPS. If you choose yes, it adds the redirect for you. The steps below show how to do it by hand, or how to check it.

Step 3: Set up the redirect

Open your site config, for example /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com (or /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.com.conf):

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Add a server block for port 80 that sends everything to HTTPS:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    return 301 https://example.com$request_uri;
}

listen 80 catches the plain HTTP requests.
return 301 sends a permanent redirect, which search engines understand.
$request_uri keeps the path and query string.

The HTTPS server block (port 443 with your certificate) must also exist and use server_name example.com www.example.com. Also redirect https://www.example.com to your main domain if you want one address.