🚀 Automate Nginx Installation & Testing on EC2 with Bash

Managing multiple servers manually can be time-consuming and error-prone. Imagine having to log in to each EC2 instance, install Nginx, enable it, restart it, and check if it’s working—repeatedly. 😅

With Bash scripting, you can automate all of this in one go, making your life easier and your workflow faster.

In this guide, we’ll explore a beginner-friendly script that installs Nginx on multiple EC2 servers, tests it, and even checks if the web server is responding. 🌐✨

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📝 The Script

#!/bin/bash

# 💻 List of EC2 servers (Public DNS)
servers=("ec2-107-21-157-14.compute-1.amazonaws.com" "ec2-3-85-205-198.compute-1.amazonaws.com")

# 🔑 Path to your private key
key="/Users/jgorle/Downloads/test.pem"

# 👤 EC2 username
user="ec2-user"

# 🎨 Colors
GREEN="\033[0;32m"
RED="\033[0;31m"
NC="\033[0m"  # No color

# 🔁 Loop through each server
for s in "${servers[@]}"; do
    echo -e "\n🔄 Connecting to $s ..."

    ssh -i "$key" -o ConnectTimeout=5 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $user@$s << 'EOF'
        GREEN="\033[0;32m"
        RED="\033[0;31m"
        NC="\033[0m"

        echo -e "\n📦 Installing Nginx..."
        sudo dnf install nginx -y || { echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to install Nginx${NC}"; exit 1; }

        echo -e "\n🔧 Enabling Nginx on boot..."
        sudo systemctl enable nginx || { echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to enable Nginx${NC}"; exit 1; }

        echo -e "\n🔄 Restarting Nginx..."
        sudo systemctl restart nginx || { echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to restart Nginx${NC}"; exit 1; }

        echo -e "\n📊 Nginx status:"
        systemctl status nginx | grep Active || echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to get Nginx status${NC}"

        echo -e "\n🔍 Checking if port 80 is open:"
        sudo ss -tlnp | grep ':80' || echo -e "${RED}❌ Port 80 not open${NC}"

        echo -e "\n🌐 Testing default Nginx page:"
        curl -I http://localhost || echo -e "${RED}❌ Could not reach default page${NC}"

EOF

    echo "------------------------"
done

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🔑 Step-by-Step Explanation

1️⃣ Server List

servers=("server1" "server2")

• Stores your EC2 instances’ public DNS in an array.

• Allows the script to loop through multiple servers automatically, instead of repeating commands manually.

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2️⃣ SSH Single Session

ssh -i "$key" -o ConnectTimeout=5 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $user@$s << 'EOF'

• Opens one SSH connection per server.

• << 'EOF' ... EOF runs all the commands inside the SSH session.

• Advantages:

  • Faster: No reconnecting for each command.

  • Clean: Keeps everything organized inside one block.

  • Beginner-friendly: Easy to read and modify.

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3️⃣ Install Nginx

sudo dnf install nginx -y || { echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to install Nginx${NC}"; exit 1; }

• sudo → Runs command as root (required for installation).

• dnf install nginx -y → Installs Nginx without asking for confirmation.

• || { ... exit 1; } → If installation fails, prints a red error message and stops this server’s execution.

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4️⃣ Enable Nginx on Boot

sudo systemctl enable nginx

• Ensures Nginx starts automatically on server reboot.

• Also includes error handling for failures.

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5️⃣ Restart Nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

• Applies configuration changes and ensures the service is running.

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6️⃣ Check Nginx Status

systemctl status nginx | grep Active

• Shows whether Nginx is active (running).

• Using grep Active filters only the important line for clarity.

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7️⃣ Check Port 80

sudo ss -tlnp | grep ':80'

• Confirms that Nginx is listening on HTTP port 80.

• ss -tlnp → TCP, listening, numeric, show process.

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8️⃣ Test Default Nginx Page

curl -I http://localhost

• Checks if the default web page responds.

• -I → Fetches only HTTP headers (fast and effective).

• If you get HTTP/1.1 200 OK, Nginx is running perfectly.

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⚡ Advantages of Using This Script

1. ✅ Automates repetitive tasks → saves time and effort.

2. ✅ Error handling → stops execution for a failing server but continues with others.

3. ✅ Single SSH session → more efficient than connecting for each command.

4. ✅ Multi-server support → loop through many EC2 instances.

5. ✅ Validates installation → ensures Nginx is running and reachable.

6. ✅ Beginner-friendly → color-coded output with emojis for readability.

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🎨 Sample Output

🔄 Connecting to ec2-107-21-157-14.compute-1.amazonaws.com ...

📦 Installing Nginx...
✅ Installed successfully

🔧 Enabling Nginx on boot...
✅ Enabled successfully

🔄 Restarting Nginx...
✅ Restarted successfully

📊 Nginx status:
Active: active (running) since Thu 2025-09-24 11:50:00 UTC; 5min ago

🔍 Checking if port 80 is open:
LISTEN 0      128          *:80                     *:*      users:(("nginx",pid=1234,fd=6))

🌐 Testing default Nginx page:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
------------------------

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💡 Use Cases

• Managing multiple EC2 instances automatically.

• Quick setup of web servers during infrastructure provisioning.

• DevOps automation practice for beginners.

• Ensures services are running and reachable without manual checks.

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This script is a great starting point for beginners to learn Bash scripting, SSH automation, and server management. You can expand it further to include disk, memory, and CPU checks, or deploy custom websites automatically. 🌐✨

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🌸 That’s a Wrap! Stay tuned for the next Learning Drop 💧

• Thanks for joining me on this little journey ✨.

  I’ll keep sharing my notes, and learnings — one page at a time 📓☕.

• 🌱 Peek into my GitHub for more shell scripts

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  🔍Check out my Google Drive Notes