Make sure that /etc/init.d/nginx is executable (chmod 755 will do it).

In RHEL:

chkconfig --add nginx

chkconfig --level 235 nginx-on

After that you can confirm with:

chkconfig --list

You should see nginx listed as "on" at those levels. You can run

/path/to/nginx -t

service nginx reload

to confirm.

If your script doesn't work, this is the one that I use:

#! /bin/sh

### BEGIN INIT INFO # Provides: nginx # Required-Start: $all # Required-Stop: $all # Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 # Default-Stop: 0 1 6 # Short-Description: starts the nginx web server # Description: starts nginx using start-stop-daemon ### END INIT INFO

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin DAEMON=/usr/local/sbin/nginx NAME=nginx DESC=nginx

test -x $DAEMON || exit 0

# Include nginx defaults if available if [ -f /etc/default/nginx ] ; then . /etc/default/nginx fi

set -e

case "$1" in start) echo -n "Starting $DESC: " start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile
/usr/local/nginx/logs/$NAME.pid \ --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_OPTS echo "$NAME." ;; stop) echo -n "Stopping $DESC: " start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile
/usr/local/nginx/logs/$NAME.pid \ --exec $DAEMON echo "$NAME." ;; restart|force-reload) echo -n "Restarting $DESC: " start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile \ /usr/local/nginx/logs/$NAME.pid --exec $DAEMON sleep 1 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile \ /usr/local/nginx/logs/$NAME.pid --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_OPTS echo "$NAME." ;; reload) echo -n "Reloading $DESC configuration: " start-stop-daemon --stop --signal HUP --quiet --pidfile
/usr/local/nginx/logs/$NAME.pid \ --exec $DAEMON echo "$NAME." ;; *) N=/etc/init.d/$NAME echo "Usage: $N {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2 exit 1 ;; esac

exit 0

Hope that helps!

Jim