How to do it...

1. To serve static files, we're going to edit the default site configuration file /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf and make a few small changes.

Edit the file and add the following:

      server {
          listen 80;
          server_name server.yourdomain.com; 
          access_log /var/log/nginx/log/host.access.log combined;
         
          location / {
              root /var/www/html;
              index index.html; 
          }
      }

1. If the folder doesn't exist, create the /var/www/vhosts directory with the following command:

      mkdir -p /var/www/vhosts

1. Copy your existing website files into the /var/www/vhosts directory.
2. Ensure the files and folders have permission to be read by the nginx user:

      chmod -R o+r /var/www/vhosts
      chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/vhosts

1. From your web browser, browse the site and check that it's working.