# NGINX fails to start

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/nginx-fails-to-start/298533>\
**Category:** Self-hosting\
**Created:** [March 8, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nginx-fails-to-start/298533 "2024-03-08T14:43:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Deenius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/deenius/32/369129_2.png) [@Deenius](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Deenius)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nginx-fails-to-start/298533/1 "2024-03-08T14:43:22Z")

</div>

Hi, everybody!

I’m trying to install discourse on a subdomain.

My main domain is running wordpress, which was built using docker-compose.

The subdomain and the domain are using the same VPS server.

For the installation I followed this guide: [https://meta.discourse.org/t/run-other-websites-on-the-same-machine-as-discourse/17247](https://meta.discourse.org/t/run-other-websites-on-the-same-machine-as-discourse/17247)

Unfortunately, NGIX cannot be started. When I run the systemctl status nginx command, the following message appears:

```plaintext
× nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2024-03-08 07:06:36 CST; 1h 14min ago
       Docs: man:nginx(8)
    Process: 27329 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 27330 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 42ms

Mar 08 07:06:33 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server...
Mar 08 07:06:33 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net nginx[27330]: nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:80 failed (98: Unknown error)
Mar 08 07:06:34 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net nginx[27330]: nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:80 failed (98: Unknown error)
Mar 08 07:06:34 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net nginx[27330]: nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:80 failed (98: Unknown error)
Mar 08 07:06:35 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net nginx[27330]: nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:80 failed (98: Unknown error)
Mar 08 07:06:35 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net nginx[27330]: nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:80 failed (98: Unknown error)
Mar 08 07:06:36 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net nginx[27330]: nginx: [emerg] still could not bind()
Mar 08 07:06:36 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net systemd[1]: nginx.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Mar 08 07:06:36 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net systemd[1]: nginx.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 08 07:06:36 vmi1695712.contaboserver.net systemd[1]: Failed to start A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server.

```

My site file for Discourse:

```plaintext
# Default server configuration
#
server {
        # listen 80 default_server;
        # listen [::]:80 default_server;

        # SSL configuration
        #
        # listen 443 ssl default_server;
        # listen [::]:443 ssl default_server;
        #
        # Note: You should disable gzip for SSL traffic.
        # See: https://bugs.debian.org/773332
        #
        # Read up on ssl_ciphers to ensure a secure configuration.
        # See: https://bugs.debian.org/765782
        #
        # Self signed certs generated by the ssl-cert package
        # Don't use them in a production server!
        #
        # include snippets/snakeoil.conf;

        root /var/www/html;

        # Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
        index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

        server_name forum.ictsharks.com;

        location / {
                proxy_pass http://unix:/var/discourse/shared/standalone/nginx.http.sock:;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                # First attempt to serve request as file, then
                # as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
                # try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
        }

        # pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
        #
        #location ~ \.php$ {
        # include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        #
        # # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
        # fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        # # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
        # fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        #}

        # deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
        # concurs with nginx's one
        #
        #location ~ /\.ht {
        # deny all;
        #}
}

```

I’ve checked it several times, but I can’t figure out where the error is.

Sorry, I’m a beginner with Linux / NGINX / Docker things. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nginx-fails-to-start/298533)._