Setting Up a Free Nginx Web Server and Exposing It via Intranet Tunneling

In this tutorial the author, a senior architect, explains how to build a personal website without any cost by using free tools.

1. Install Nginx – Download the 1.23 version from the official site ( http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.23.1.zip ), unzip it and observe the directory structure.

2. Configure Nginx – Edit nginx.conf in the conf folder, uncomment important directives (remove the leading # ) and adjust settings such as the listening port.

3. Start Nginx Service – Run nginx.exe from the Nginx root directory; a brief black console window indicates successful startup. Open a browser and navigate to your-hostname:configured-port to see the default page.

4. Add Website Files – Create an index.html file (example HTML+CSS code provided) and place it in the server directory. After renaming the file and refreshing the browser, the custom page is displayed.

5. Intranet Tunneling – To make the site reachable outside the local network, register on the FeiGe tunneling service, open a free tunnel, set the local IP and port, and run the provided npc.exe client with the generated command. Once the tunnel is active, the public URL can be used to access the site.

Images illustrating each step are included throughout the guide.