How to host multiple sites on one server

A single VPS can host dozens of sites. In Nginx, each site is a separate "server block", identified by its domain.

1. One directory per site

mkdir -p /var/www/site-a /var/www/site-b

2. One server block per domain

/etc/nginx/sites-available/site-a:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name site-a.com www.site-a.com;
    root /var/www/site-a;
    index index.html;
}

Same for site-b, with its own server_name and root.

3. Enable them

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/site-a /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/site-b /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

4. Point each domain

Both domains point to the same server IP. Nginx picks the right site by server_name. See How to point a domain to your VPS.

Money-saving tip

With hourly billing, one larger VPS hosting several sites often costs less than several separate small plans.