How to disable nginx server header?

2024-03-17

I am running nginx on my own laptop and i am using Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS

pre-requisites

• install nginx
• have knowledge on how to edit nginx configuration file

Install nginx-extras

If you have installed nginx with apt package manager, you have to install the following package to disable the server header.

 
sudo apt update && sudo apt install nginx-extras
 

Edit nginx configuration file

Open the nginx configuration file in your favorite text editor. The default location of the configuration file is /etc/nginx/nginx.conf . Add the following line to the http block.

 
events {

}

http {
  server {
    listen 80;
    root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    more_clear_headers Server; # will remove server header
    server_tokens off; # will remove version number
  }
}
 

And then restart the nginx server.

 
sudo nginx -t # to check if the configuration file is correct
sudo nginx -s reload # to reload the configuration file
 

check the server header using curl

 
curl -I localhost
 

And also check the server header using browser developer tools.