Nginx: “no ssl_certificate is defined for the listen … ssl directive” on custom port 8001

Question

Sorry if this question was asked before but I tried the suggestions in there and still cannot resolved it.

I’m running Django project behind Nginx on my VPS. Main project is at https://myproject.com (port 443) and works like a charm.

I want to expose a second Django project at https://myproject.com:8001 but I couldn't load it on that address, I got the error mentioned in the title: no ssl_certificate is defined for the listen … ssl directive” on custom port 8001

For this, I updated /etc/nginx/sites-available/myproject to this (first part works fine for the main project at https://myproject.com, the second part is where I encounter some issues (marked with # NEW CONFIG FOR SECOND PROJECT (on :8001)):

# Redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name myproject.com www.myproject.com;

    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

# Serve the app over HTTPS
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name myproject.com www.myproject.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/myproject.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/myproject.com/privkey.pem;

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location /static/ {
        alias /home/myname/myproject/staticfiles/;
    }

    location /media/ {
        alias /home/myname/myproject/media/;
        access_log off;
        expires 1h;
    }

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
    }
}

##########################################
# NEW CONFIG FOR SECOND PROJECT (on :8001)
# HTTP on :8001 → HTTPS on :8001
server {
    listen 8001;
    server_name myproject.com www.myproject.com;

    return 301 https://$host:8001$request_uri;
}

# HTTPS on :8001 for second project
server {
    listen 8001 ssl;
    server_name myproject.com www.myproject.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/myproject.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/myproject.com/privkey.pem;

    # Optional per-app static/media (comment out if not used)
    location /static/ { alias /home/myname/project2/staticfiles/; }
    location /media/  { alias /home/myname/project2/media/; access_log off; expires 1h; }

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9001;
    }
}

That works, but then how can redirect visitors of http://myproject.com:8001 to https://myproject.com:8001 ? — Malloc
– Malloc, Commented Sep 2 at 10:39
I wanted to see what block was causing the breaking changes. ill think about this a bit but I may also pull www vs non ww into their own directives to rule out its not an issue with that. (shouldn't be) but best to isolate things for debugging — Cameron
– Cameron, Commented Sep 2 at 15:07
also just to confirm, your proxy pass is :9001, is that also supposed to be 8001 from your app? — Cameron
– Cameron, Commented Sep 2 at 15:10
I have not had a chance to test it with multiple projects locally, but maybe this will help? gist.github.com/audetcameron/d0ce164d11bc795fd07435a44b62325a — Cameron
– Cameron, Commented Sep 2 at 15:58

Taha Mokhtari HashemAbad · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-02 17:21:05Z

1

You can’t use the same port for HTTP and HTTPS in Nginx. That’s why you get the no ssl_certificate is defined error.

Basically, each port can only be either HTTP or HTTPS. So for your second project:

Use one port (say 8001) for HTTPS with your SSL certificate.
If you want HTTP too, use a different port (like 8000) and redirect it to HTTPS.

Example for HTTPS only:

server {
    listen 8001 ssl;
    server_name myproject.com www.myproject.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/myproject.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/myproject.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9001;
    }
}

After that, test and reload Nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

answered Sep 2 at 17:21

Taha Mokhtari HashemAbad

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