nginx server configuration: subdomain to folder

As I found this Q&A on Google while looking for a solution for the same problem, I wanted to post the solution I finally used.

The first server block by MTeck looks pretty nice, but for the subdomains part you could simply do the following:

server {  listen 80;  server_name "~^(?<sub>.+)\.domain\.tld$";  root /path/to/document/root/$sub;  location / { try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php; }  location ~ \.php {    include fastcgi_params;    fastcgi_pass  unix:/etc/nginx/sockets/domain.socket;  }}

This makes the root configuration directive dependent on the subdomain.

I spent hours beating my head against the wall and this is what works for me

server {    listen       80;    server_name ~^(?P<sub>.+)\.example\.com$; #<-- Note P before sub, it was critical for my nginx    root /var/www/$sub; #<-- most important line cause it defines $document_root for SCRIPT_FILENAME    location / {            index index.php index.html; #<-- try_files didn't work as well    }    location ~ \.php$ {            fastcgi_pass   127.0.0.1:9000; #<-- probably you have another option here e.g. fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;            fastcgi_index  index.php;            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root/$fastcgi_script_name;            include        fastcgi_params;    }}

You should take a look at http://wiki.nginx.org/IfIsEvil. You're doing a whole lot wrong in this configuration file.

server {    server_name domain.tld www.domain.tld;    location / {        try_files $uri /index.php;    }    location ~ \.php {        include fastcgi_params;        fastcgi_pass  unix:/etc/nginx/sockets/domain.socket;    }}server {    server_name "~^(?<sub>.+)*\.(?<domain>.*)$";    return 301 $scheme://$domain/$sub$request_uri;}

If what you want is to keep that internal, you won't be able to rewrite it. By definition, a cross site rewrite needs to be sent back to the browser. You'll have to proxy the request.

server {    server_name "~^(?<sub>.+)*\.(?<domain>.*)$";    proxy_pass http://$domain/$sub$request_uri;}

You should read the Nginx wiki. All of this is explained in depth.