Hosting ASP.Net Core MVC using Nginx in Linux

Thank you. The important thing is that I need to configure a port. Must I use a different port for each application (website) using ASP.Net in the Nginx instance?

I do not have a CreateHostBuilder method. The following is the entire contents of my Program.cs. I think it is the same as it was when it was created by dotnet new mvc. Your sample is using older code, correct? Perhaps that is part of the reason I cannot understand other code samples.

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");
    // The default HSTS value is 30 days. You may want to change this for production scenarios, see https://aka.ms/aspnetcore-hsts.
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseRouting();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllerRoute(
    name: "default",
    pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");

app.Run();

There is at least one article that indicates I must execute tha application (Kestrel in it) as well as configure Nginx but you do not say that I need to and I hope I understand you that I do not need to do that.

I am already publishiing the application to a directory like /var/www/myapp. I do have an Nginx server block in /etc/nginx/sites-available and a symbolic link to it in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/.

The nameservers are pointing to DigiatlOcean and the domain is added to the Droplet so the A records are pointing to it.

Hi Sam , 

To host an ASP.NET Core MVC application with Nginx on your DigitalOcean Droplet, you need to perform a few steps to configure both the ASP.NET Core application and Nginx.

ASP.NET Core Application Configuration:

First, make sure your ASP.NET Core application is configured to listen on a port that Nginx can proxy requests to. By default, ASP.NET Core applications listen on port 5000. You can modify the Program.cs file in your MVC application to use a different port if needed. Open Program.cs and modify the CreateHostBuilder method as follows:

public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
    Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
        {
            webBuilder.UseStartup();
            webBuilder.UseUrls("http://localhost:5000"); // Change the port if needed
        });

1. Build and Publish the ASP.NET Core Application: You mentioned that you are already building and publishing the application using dotnet build and dotnet publish. Ensure that the output of the publish process is placed in a folder that can be served by Nginx. Typically, you would publish the application to a directory like /var/www/myapp.

2. Nginx Configuration: Next, you need to configure Nginx to proxy requests to your ASP.NET Core application. Open the Nginx configuration file for the specific domain you want to use for your ASP.NET Core application. This configuration file is usually found in the /etc/nginx/sites-available/ directory. Create a new configuration file or modify an existing one. For example, if you want to use example.com, you could create a file called example.com in the sites-available directory.

a basic Nginx configuration that you can use as a starting point:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000; // Use the same port as in your ASP.NET Core application
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

In this configuration, Nginx listens on port 80 for requests coming to example.com and www.example.com, and it proxies those requests to your ASP.NET Core application running on localhost port 5000.

1. Enable the Nginx Configuration: After crsudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
   eating or modifying the Nginx configuration file, you need to create a symbolic link to enable the site. Run the following commands:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

 

Test and Reload Nginx: Test the Nginx configuration for syntax errors:

sudo nginx -t
 

If the test is successful, reload Nginx to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl reload nginx
 

Domain DNS Configuration: Finally, make sure that your domain (example.com) points to the IP address of your DigitalOcean Droplet. You can do this by updating the DNS settings for your domain through your domain registrar's control panel.

That's it! Your ASP.NET Core MVC application should now be accessible through your custom domain (example.com) via Nginx.