If you have installed the nginx package from the Ubuntu repositories, you will have two directories.

/etc/nginx/sites-enabled and /etc/nginx/sites-available.

In the main nginx configuration, /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, you have the following line:

include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf;

So basically to list all available virtualhosts, you can run the following command:

ls /etc/nginx/sites-available

To activate one of them, run the following command:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/www.example.org.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

The scripts that comes with Apache is basically just simple shell wrappers that does something similar as above.

After linking the files, remember to run sudo service nginx reload/ service nginx reload

Just create this script /usr/bin/nginx_modsite and make it executable.

#!/bin/bash

##
#  File:
#    nginx_modsite
#  Description:
#    Provides a basic script to automate enabling and disabling websites found
#    in the default configuration directories:
#      /etc/nginx/sites-available and /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
#    For easy access to this script, copy it into the directory:
#      /usr/local/sbin
#    Run this script without any arguments or with -h or --help to see a basic
#    help dialog displaying all options.
##

# Copyright (C) 2010 Michael Lustfield <[email protected]>

# Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
# modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
# are met:
# 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
#    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
# 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
#    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
#    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
#
# THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
# ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
# IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
# ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
# FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
# DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
# OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
# HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
# LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
# OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
# SUCH DAMAGE.

##
# Default Settings
##

NGINX_CONF_FILE="$(awk -F= -v RS=' ' '/conf-path/ {print $2}' <<< $(nginx -V 2>&1))"
NGINX_CONF_DIR="${NGINX_CONF_FILE%/*}"
NGINX_SITES_AVAILABLE="$NGINX_CONF_DIR/sites-available"
NGINX_SITES_ENABLED="$NGINX_CONF_DIR/sites-enabled"
SELECTED_SITE="$2"

##
# Script Functions
##

ngx_enable_site() {
    [[ ! "$SELECTED_SITE" ]] &&
        ngx_select_site "not_enabled"

    [[ ! -e "$NGINX_SITES_AVAILABLE/$SELECTED_SITE" ]] && 
        ngx_error "Site does not appear to exist."
    [[ -e "$NGINX_SITES_ENABLED/$SELECTED_SITE" ]] &&
        ngx_error "Site appears to already be enabled"

    ln -sf "$NGINX_SITES_AVAILABLE/$SELECTED_SITE" -T "$NGINX_SITES_ENABLED/$SELECTED_SITE"
    ngx_reload
}

ngx_disable_site() {
    [[ ! "$SELECTED_SITE" ]] &&
        ngx_select_site "is_enabled"

    [[ ! -e "$NGINX_SITES_AVAILABLE/$SELECTED_SITE" ]] &&
        ngx_error "Site does not appear to be \'available\'. - Not Removing"
    [[ ! -e "$NGINX_SITES_ENABLED/$SELECTED_SITE" ]] &&
        ngx_error "Site does not appear to be enabled."

    rm -f "$NGINX_SITES_ENABLED/$SELECTED_SITE"
    ngx_reload
}

ngx_list_site() {
    echo "Available sites:"
    ngx_sites "available"
    echo "Enabled Sites"
    ngx_sites "enabled"
}

##
# Helper Functions
##

ngx_select_site() {
    sites_avail=($NGINX_SITES_AVAILABLE/*)
    sa="${sites_avail[@]##*/}"
    sites_en=($NGINX_SITES_ENABLED/*)
    se="${sites_en[@]##*/}"

    case "$1" in
        not_enabled) sites=$(comm -13 <(printf "%s\n" $se) <(printf "%s\n" $sa));;
        is_enabled) sites=$(comm -12 <(printf "%s\n" $se) <(printf "%s\n" $sa));;
    esac

    ngx_prompt "$sites"
}

ngx_prompt() {
    sites=($1)
    i=0

    echo "SELECT A WEBSITE:"
    for site in ${sites[@]}; do
        echo -e "$i:\t${sites[$i]}"
        ((i++))
    done

    read -p "Enter number for website: " i
    SELECTED_SITE="${sites[$i]}"
}

ngx_sites() {
    case "$1" in
        available) dir="$NGINX_SITES_AVAILABLE";;
        enabled) dir="$NGINX_SITES_ENABLED";;
    esac

    for file in $dir/*; do
        echo -e "\t${file#*$dir/}"
    done
}

ngx_reload() {
    read -p "Would you like to reload the Nginx configuration now? (Y/n) " reload
    [[ "$reload" != "n" && "$reload" != "N" ]] && invoke-rc.d nginx reload
}

ngx_error() {
    echo -e "${0##*/}: ERROR: $1"
    [[ "$2" ]] && ngx_help
    exit 1
}

ngx_help() {
    echo "Usage: ${0##*/} [options]"
    echo "Options:"
    echo -e "\t<-e|--enable> <site>\tEnable site"
    echo -e "\t<-d|--disable> <site>\tDisable site"
    echo -e "\t<-l|--list>\t\tList sites"
    echo -e "\t<-h|--help>\t\tDisplay help"
    echo -e "\n\tIf <site> is left out a selection of options will be presented."
    echo -e "\tIt is assumed you are using the default sites-enabled and"
    echo -e "\tsites-disabled located at $NGINX_CONF_DIR."
}

##
# Core Piece
##

case "$1" in
    -e|--enable)    ngx_enable_site;;
    -d|--disable)   ngx_disable_site;;
    -l|--list)  ngx_list_site;;
    -h|--help)  ngx_help;;
    *)      ngx_error "No Options Selected" 1; ngx_help;;
esac

How it works:

To list all the sites

$ sudo nginx_modsite -l

To enable site "test_website"

$ sudo nginx_modsite -e test_website

To disable site "test_website"

$ sudo nginx_modsite -d test_website

There's third-party nginx_ensite and nginx_dissite available.

Can be installed as quick as

git clone https://github.com/perusio/nginx_ensite.git
cd nginx_ensite
sudo make install

(see the repo, though)

Example usage: nginx_ensite example.org (see more at online man page).

NGINX

If you're using one of the official upstream packages of nginx from http://nginx.org/packages/, the best way is to navigate to the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory, and rename the affected file from having a .conf suffix to having a different one to disable the site:

sudo mv -i /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf{,.off}

Or the opposite to enable it:

sudo mv -i /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.com.conf{.disabled,}

This is because the default /etc/nginx/nginx.conf has the following include directive:

http {
    …
    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
}

Debian/Ubuntu

However, if you're using a Debian/Ubuntu derivative, then in addition to conf.d, you may also have the evil non-standard sites-available and sites-enabled directories, some files under which may be sloppily included without regard to their extension:

http {
    …
    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

As such, in Debian/Ubuntu, you might first have to figure out where the site config is located.

• You could use the following command to get a list of all available sites by running find(1) to find all regular files matching the given mask:

  find /etc/nginx -maxdepth 2 -type f \( -path "*/conf.d/*.conf" -or -path "*/sites-*/*" \)

• You could use the following command to get a list of all enabled sites:

  find /etc/nginx -maxdepth 2 \( -path "*/conf.d/*.conf" -or -path "*/sites-enabled/*" \)

Then to disable/enable sites on Debian/Ubuntu:

• To disable a site: if the config is in conf.d, just rename the file to no longer have a .conf suffix; or if in sites-enabled, move it out of sites-enabled.

• To enable a site, the best way would be to move it to /etc/nginx/conf.d, and rename to have a .conf suffix.

P.S. Why do I think Debian's include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*; is evil? Try editing a couple of files in that directory, and have your emacs create the backup files (with the ~ suffix), then ask me again.

Link with full path:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/site_1.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
service nginx reload

Compact ngensite/ngdisite shell scripts

After reading the replies here while setting up a new Debian server, then going off to do some research, I made a couple of readable shell scripts to help me enable/disable sites on a server with at least some security (root disabled, non-default ports, etc.). Once the files are executable with chmod +x anyone with root access can call these scripts from anywhere as /usr/local/bin/ is in the Debian PATH by default.

These work (the way I've used for years) by creating and deleting aliases in sites_enabled so don't touch the contents of virtual hosts files in sites_available.

Enable site

in: /usr/local/bin/ngensite:

#!/bin/sh
read -p "Website to enable: " site;
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/"$site" /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
echo "$site enabled. Now run 'service nginx reload'"

Then from the command-line: sudo ngensite

(The prompt will need the exact nginx virtualhosts config file).

Disable site

in: /usr/local/bin/ngdissite:

#!/bin/sh
read -p "Website to disable: " site;
rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/"$site"
echo "$site disabled. Now run 'service nginx reload'"

Then from the command-line: sudo ngdissite

(The prompt requires the exact name of the nginx virtualhosts config file).

If you spot any issues in these (they're very simple but do the job for me) please comment.

Another method is just to rename the site's config file to something that ends without .conf

E.g. sudo mv mysite.conf mysite.conf.disabled

Then reload nginx, and that vhost will fall back to the default.

I know it's not technically correct, but I just mv the config in sites-available to sites-enabled. It works fine, don't live a complicated life.

To enable:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/site /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

To disable:

unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/conf

I want to submit my script written in Bash to accommodate this feature. It's called nginxsite → https://github.com/L1so/nginxsite/. For more info check the github link.

Enabling

To activate a site, replace (YOUR SITE) with your actual site domain (located in /etc/nginx/sites-available/).

sudo ngxensite (YOUR SITE)

Disabling

To deactivate a site, replace (YOUR SITE) with your actual site domain (located in /etc/nginx/sites-available/).

sudo ngxdissite (YOUR SITE)

Create server block

To create a site, replace (YOUR DOMAIN) with your actual domain.

sudo ngxcreate (YOUR DOMAIN)

Running ngxcreate without any argument will give you a prompt to enter desired site name, if you don't include tld, the script will give you .com domain.

$ sudo ngxcreate
Please Enter a Domain Name (default TLD is .com):
examplesite

Will save a new file named /etc/nginx/sites-available/examplesite.com

Delete server block

To delete a site, replace (YOUR DOMAIN) with your actual site domain.

sudo ngxdelete (YOUR DOMAIN)

Example given below.

root@mutiny:~# ngxdelete bar.co 
Removing --> /etc/nginx/sites-available/bar.co