Nginx vBulletin 4 Friendly URLs

Nginx and vBulletin 4.2.x Inbuilt Friendly URLs

For vBulletin 4.1.x using stock inbuilt Friendly URLs via mod_rewrite, you will need to add additional Nginx rewrite rules within your domain's Nginx vhost configuration file /usr/local/nginx/conf/conf.d/newdomain.com.conf. This file is created when you use Centmin Mod's menu option #2 to 'Add Nginx vhost domain'.

First, enable vBulletin v4.1.x Friendly URLs Mod Rewrite in AdminCP.

Notes: Below Nginx rewrite rules were tested with vBulletin Suite v4.1.2. Provided as-is, without support. For further help ask on Nginx forums.

Centmin Mod made a change in /usr/local/lib/php.ini for security to disable some PHP functions. For vB 4.2.x you need to edit php.ini (shortcut phpedit) and remove exec,passthru,shell_exec,system leaving just proc_open,popen. Then restart php-fpm (shortcut fpmrestart).

Email Note: For vBulletin 4.2 you may encounter delays sending emails. In vB AdminCP → Options → Email set: Enable -f parameter = yes, Use Cron Based Sending = no.

Nginx Rewrites for vBulletin 4.1.x (Web Root Install)

If vBulletin 4.1.x is installed in public web root at /home/nginx/domains/newdomain.com/public:

location / {{
    try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrite;
}}

location /includes {{
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}}

location /packages {{
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}}

location /vb {{
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}}

location /admincp {{
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php.conf;
    #auth_basic "Private";
    #auth_basic_user_file /usr/local/nginx/conf/htpasswd;
}}

location @rewrite {{
    # Forum
    rewrite /threads/.*             /showthread.php?$uri&$args      last;
    rewrite /forums/.*              /forumdisplay.php?$uri&$args    last;
    rewrite /members/.*             /member.php?$uri&$args          last;
    rewrite /blogs/.*               /blog.php?$uri&$args            last;
    rewrite /entries/.*             /entry.php?$uri&$args           last;

    # MVC
    rewrite ^/(?:(.*?)(?:/|$))(.*|$)$  /$1.php?r=$2                last;
}}

Restart Nginx: service nginx restart or shortcut ngxrestart

Nginx Rewrites for vBulletin 4.1.x (Subdirectory Install)

If vBulletin 4.1.x is installed in /home/nginx/domains/newdomain.com/public/forums:

location /forums {{
    try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrite;
}}

location /forums/includes {{
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}}

location /forums/packages {{
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}}

location /forums/vb {{
    allow 127.0.0.1;
    deny all;
}}

location /forums/admincp {{
    include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php.conf;
    #auth_basic "Private";
    #auth_basic_user_file /usr/local/nginx/conf/htpasswd;
}}

location @rewrite {{
    rewrite /forums/threads/.*      /forums/showthread.php?$uri&$args      last;
    rewrite /forums/forums/.*       /forums/forumdisplay.php?$uri&$args    last;
    rewrite /forums/members/.*      /forums/member.php?$uri&$args          last;
    rewrite /forums/blogs/.*        /forums/blog.php?$uri&$args            last;
    rewrite /forums/entries/.*      /forums/entry.php?$uri&$args           last;

    # MVC
    rewrite ^/forums/(?:(.*?)(?:/|$))(.*|$)$  /forums/$1.php?r=$2         last;
}}

Password Protecting AdminCP

Nginx does not support .htaccess like Apache. Use HttpAuthBasicModule with the included htpasswd.py tool:

python /usr/local/nginx/conf/htpasswd.py -c -b /usr/local/nginx/conf/htpasswd username password

To append to existing file, remove the -c option. Then uncomment the auth_basic lines in the admincp location block and restart Nginx.

ImageMagick Notes

For vB to work with ImageMagick instead of GD for image resizing: edit php.ini (phpedit) and remove exec from disabled_functions, set ImageMagick path to /usr/bin, then restart php-fpm (fpmrestart).