How to set up a VPS Web Server

This is more or less just a guideline to remind myself how I go about setting up a web server in a way I'll most likely remember it. This is not limited to a VPS, but I am using a VPS so we will proceed with that in mind.

First start off by getting yourself a vps. I use https://lowendbox.com/ to find myself a cheap vps. Sign up, buy your VPS subscription and launch your VPS at the provider's web portal. They may have a console you can use, but I will be using putty to connect to the server.

Next, set up putty to connect to your newly purchased vps. This can be easily installed on your windows machine by going to https://www.putty.org/. Alternatively, you can manually SSH instead if you prefer.

Enter the IP granted by the VPS provider, logging in as root and entering the password you have set with the VPS provider. If a root password is not provided, look in the VPS provider's web portal to see an option to update the root password. 

Begin by verifying what OS you're running. Typically it'll be CentOS/Almalinux. 

You can do this by either using cat /etc/os-release or hostnamectl.

The reason for this is because based on the version, you either use yum or apt-get/apt.

Next, make sure we are up to date on everything by entering 
sudo yum update

Let's go ahead and install apache by entering
sudo yum install httpd
Once installed, make sure it's enabled and started if not automatically
sudo systemctl enable httpd.service
sudo systemctl start httpd.service
If you're on a vps, chances are these already come preinstalled.

We will install nano which is a text editor since I like using it over Vi which is natively available.
sudo yum install nano

Optional:
We can install mariadb, php, phpmyadmin if we want here. That would make it a LAMP stack. We're not looking to do that at this time so let's finish out the web server.

Once it's all installed, apache will be up and running and you can view the test page.
We can create our website now. I generally do this step separately as it's a different can of worms.
Once complete, we can make a new directory to put our website in.

mkdir /var/www/html/example.com

Don't forget to create a new config file for the new website.

sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/example.com.conf

and inside of it 

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/example.com
    ErrorLog /var/www/html/example.com/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /var/www/html/example.com/logs/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

We may need to create the directory for the logs as well.
mkdir /var/www/html/example.com/logs

Let's restart apache to make sure everything is running right.

systemctl restart httpd.service

We should be able to reach our site now. 
We can also go ahead and get ourselves a domain to set 'A Record' so we can get an SSL certificate.
Here are the commands for obtain the ssl cert from certbot

sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install certbot python3-certbot-apache mod_ssl
sudo certbot --apache -d example.com

and then set up auto renewal of the cert so we don't have to manually do so every 90 days.

sudo certbot renew --dry-run
open crontab by typing
sudo crontab -e
inside put the following, adjusting as you'd like for your needs on how frequently to renew.
42 0,12 * * * certbot renew

If you're unable to access the site after setting up ssh, make sure the firewall is open.
firewall-cmd --add-service=https --permanent





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
One thing I find myself doing a lot is checking my own health markers. I try to stay on top of my own health, mainly due to a lack of health insurance, skepticism of doctors and my own curiosity regarding bodily health and function. To preface, I am a heavy user of cannabis. Specifically, extracts and oils. My main vice is THC-H, but also includes terpenes and other analogs of THC-9 which is deemed illegal beyond a certain threshold(Makes no sense because it's illogical) Cannabis, Marijuana, Ganja, Buddha, you name it, it's called many things. Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, Cannabis ruderalis[a] As an understudied medicine and plant(In terms of how it benefits people because big pharma are corrupt and morally bankrupt), I took it upon myself to measure my own usage and effects on me as an individual. Not systemically, but just playing it by ear and ball parking, because I can't be assed to do it formally. What I've noticed in my usage is my tolerance for anything has...
Read more
thus a story comes to a close with an experience i enjoyed with many creases and folds lots of ups and downs, mystery all around a chance for me to explore creatively in new grounds definitely felt an awakening for my artistic mind something i refused and avoided the grind but knowing the capability that i hold i wish to create more defined stories that i can shape and mold
Read more

Severance Season 1

Image
Just a one off piece about a series I watched recently, Severance, directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle. Some spoilers, so you've been warned.      In a rare mood, I strayed from my typical diet of youtube content and decided to watch a series. Recommended by a friend with some refined taste for cinema, I decided to watch Severance while I worked on other things.       The story revolves around the protagonist, Mark who is played by Adam Scott. A seemingly average office worker, Mark exemplifies the white collar man. The series starts out with a rather strange opening to explain, Severance, a form of employment by Lumon, a mega corporation who dabbles in a little bit of everything. Severance is a procedure done to employees employed by Lumon, which separate their work-life by manually splitting the individual by inserting a capsule into their brain, a procedure which can be done in less than an hour. After the procedure is done, the new employee i...
Read more