This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
The auditor reads a paste. It flags server_tokens on, autoindex on, and a listen 443 with no certificate path. If none of those appear, it says the short list was not found. That is not a full review and not a certification.
One gap. Do not reload Nginx during the reading. Do not turn a listing on, or a token on, to make a check look different. Redact keys before the paste goes in a ticket. The config is from a server you administer.
The security companion in the plan stays prose.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Paste a config you hold.
- Read the short list.
- Pick one gap.
- Redact secrets.
- Do not reload.
- Do not weaken a setting.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Nginx Config Audit Checklist goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A reload during the reading.
- A setting weakened to clear a flag.
- A config from a server you do not administer.
- A key left in the ticket.
- The short list treated as a certification.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Nginx Config Audit Checklist: The paste is from your server. One gap is chosen. No reload was done. No setting was weakened. Secrets are redacted. And this is not a certification.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The server is written. One flag or a clean short list is written. No reload was done. No secret is in the note. And the short list was not called a certification. If one of those fails, stop.
# The auditor does not read the server.
# Flags: server_tokens on, autoindex on, listen 443 without a certificate path.
# One gap. Do not reload.
# Not a certification.Before you leave the host
Nginx Config Audit Checklist ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
Tools for this guide
These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.
Related pillar guides
More in this cluster
The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.
- Pillar: Server Hardening & Audit Guide
- Checklist: Apache Config Audit Checklist
- Checklist: sudoers Audit Checklist
- Checklist: Crontab Audit Checklist
Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.