When configuring Nginx to run as a non-privileged user (in this case "ayush"), you might encounter the error:

getgrnam("ayush") failed in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:1
nginx.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1

This occurs because Nginx cannot find the specified user's group information in the system's group database.

First verify the user actually exists in your system:

# Check user exists
id ayush

# Check group exists
getent group ayush

If the group doesn't exist, create it with matching GID:

sudo groupadd -g $(id -u ayush) ayush

Alternatively, specify both user and group in nginx.conf:

user ayush ayush;  # user group

Or use the numeric UID/GID:

user 1000 1000;  # replace with actual UID/GID from 'id ayush'

For systems using systemd, you can modify the service file:

sudo systemctl edit nginx.service

[Service]
User=ayush
Group=ayush

After applying changes:

sudo nginx -t  # Test configuration
sudo systemctl restart nginx
journalctl -u nginx --no-pager -n 20  # Check logs

When running Nginx as non-root:

• Ensure the user has proper permissions for web directories
• Use appropriate directory ownership:

  sudo chown -R ayush:ayush /code/server
  

• Set correct permissions:

  find /code/server -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
  find /code/server -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
  

---

When trying to configure Nginx to run under a non-root user account, you might encounter the following error in your logs:

Dec 11 22:26:13 manjaro nginx[17194]: 2015/12/11 22:26:13 [emerg] 17194#0: getgrnam("ayush") failed in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:1
Dec 11 22:26:13 manjaro systemd[1]: nginx.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1

The getgrnam() function is a system call that retrieves group information by name. This error occurs when Nginx can't find the specified user's group information in the system's group database.

First, let's verify that the user exists in the system:

id ayush
# Expected output should show user and group information
# Example: uid=1000(ayush) gid=1000(ayush) groups=1000(ayush),...

If this command returns "no such user", you'll need to create the user first.

Option 1: Use the Correct Group Syntax

In your nginx.conf, you can specify both user and group:

user ayush ayush;
# or using UID/GID if preferred
# user 1000 1000;

Option 2: Create the Missing Group

If the group doesn't exist, create it:

sudo groupadd ayush
sudo usermod -aG ayush ayush

Option 3: Run Nginx as Root (Not Recommended)

While possible, this isn't recommended for security reasons:

user root;

Here's a complete working configuration:

user ayush ayush;
worker_processes auto;

error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;

events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}

http {
    include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;
    default_type  application/octet-stream;

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log;
    sendfile        on;
    keepalive_timeout  65;

    server {
        listen       8080;
        server_name  localhost;

        location / {
            root   /home/ayush/www;
            index  index.html;
        }
    }
}

After fixing the user/group issue, ensure proper permissions:

sudo chown -R ayush:ayush /var/log/nginx/
sudo chown -R ayush:ayush /var/lib/nginx/
sudo chown -R ayush:ayush /home/ayush/www/

Always test your configuration before restarting Nginx:

sudo nginx -t

If successful, reload Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx