How To Fix nginx: [warn] the "ssl”Directive is deprecated (Nginx / VestaCP)

“nginx: [warn] the “ssl” directive is deprecated, use the “listen … ssl” directive instead in example.com.nginx.ssl.conf“ is a common alert on web servers with old nginx configurations or VestaCP.

nginx -t

This warn appears most often on the severver that have VestaCP installed a few years ago, when in the configuration directive was needed "ssl on".

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how to fix "ssl”Directive is deprecated in Nginx / VestaCP

Method 1. Edit file nginx.conf for the field

It is best for us to cancel with the # directive "ssl on ”for the domain in which we have nginx warn.

sudo nano /home/vestacpuser/conf/web/example.com.nginx.ssl.conf

# ssl on

Save the file and then run it again nginx -t. Error nginx: [warn] the “ssl” directive is deprecated…” it will no longer be present.

nginx -t

By this method, the error will not be permanently resolved. The new domains will follow the configuration file of the package assigned to the account on VestaCP.

Method 2. Edit VestaCP Web Template for Nginx.

Before we add a user in VestaCP, we need to create packages. VestaCP Packages. These packages contain several configurations for different CMS or scripts. Web Template (Nginx), Backend Template (PHP-FPM), DNS Template (NAMED).

When we add a field on a user VestaCP, Nginx configuration default of the new domain added will be given by Web Template (Nginx) selected for the user packageacquis.

We take the scenario in which we add Vesta Package Name: Stealth cu Web Template NGINX: wordpress2. If the template “wordpress2” contains directive “ssl on”, the new domains added with this template will have this outdated directive in configuration. So it's best to modify Web Template in VestaCP. So the new domains added will no longer receive "ssl on ”in the Nginx configuration.

How to edit a Web Template VestaCP to eliminate “ssl” directive is deprecated” ?

The templates that write the config files of the added domains are located in:

/usr/local/vesta/data/templates/web/nginx/php-fpm

These have two endings. .tpl for domains without SSL yes .stpl for domains with SSL activated.

[root@north php-fpm]# pwd
/usr/local/vesta/data/templates/web/nginx/php-fpm
[root@north php-fpm]# ls -all
total 224
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul  3 23:51 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Apr 25  2017 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1737 Feb 27 07:12 cms_made_simple.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1638 Feb 27 07:12 cms_made_simple.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1770 Feb 27 07:12 codeigniter2.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1671 Feb 27 07:12 codeigniter2.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6528 Feb 27 07:12 datalife_engine.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6429 Feb 27 07:12 datalife_engine.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1601 Feb 27 07:12 default.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1502 Feb 27 07:12 default.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2176 Feb 27 07:12 dokuwiki.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2076 Feb 27 07:12 dokuwiki.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2280 Feb 27 07:12 drupal6.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2177 Feb 27 07:12 drupal6.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2508 Feb 27 07:12 drupal8.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2415 Feb 27 07:12 drupal8.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1949 Feb 27 07:12 joomla.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1850 Feb 27 07:12 joomla.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1667 Feb 27 07:12 laravel.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1562 Feb 27 07:12 laravel.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5590 Feb 27 07:12 magento.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5488 Feb 27 07:12 magento.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1928 Feb 27 07:12 modx.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1828 Feb 27 07:12 modx.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2446 Feb 27 07:12 moodle.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2411 Feb 27 07:12 moodle.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1303 Feb 27 07:12 no-php.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1204 Feb 27 07:12 no-php.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1990 Feb 27 07:12 odoo.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1891 Feb 27 07:12 odoo.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1724 Feb 27 07:12 opencart.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1624 Feb 27 07:12 opencart.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2796 Feb 27 07:12 owncloud.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2701 Feb 27 07:12 owncloud.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2081 Feb 27 07:12 piwik.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1982 Feb 27 07:12 piwik.tpl
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  189 Feb 27 07:12 proxy_ip.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2124 Feb 27 07:12 pyrocms.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2021 Feb 27 07:12 pyrocms.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2478 Feb 27 07:12 sendy.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2390 Feb 27 07:12 sendy.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1952 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress2_rewrite.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1859 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress2_rewrite.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1842 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress2.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1743 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress2.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2701 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress2_wp_super_cache.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2596 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress2_wp_super_cache.tpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1601 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress.stpl
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1502 Feb 27 07:12 wordpress.tpl
[root@north php-fpm]# 

We take the above scenario, in which we have the template "wordpress2.stpl ”. We edit this file on the web server and delete the line with the directive "ssl on ”.

nano /usr/local/vesta/data/templates/web/nginx/php-fpm/wordpress2.stpl

After removing the line "ssl on ”from the template, save the file. The following areas that will be added with this template will no longer have an outdated directive. “ssl”Directive is deprecated, it will not appear when testing nginx.

In the same way all web templates can be modified VestaCP or new ones can be created to include custom nginx and php-fpm configurations.