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diff --git a/content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.md b/content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.md deleted file mode 100644 index fd04682..0000000 --- a/content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,164 +0,0 @@ -+++ -date = 2022-02-16 -title = "Migrating to a New Web Server Setup with Debian, Nginx, and Agate" -description = "" -draft = false -+++ - -# Server OS: Debian - -I've used various Linux distributions throughout the years, but I've never used -anything except Ubuntu for my servers. Why? I really have no idea, mostly just -comfort around the commands and software availability. - -However, I have always wanted to try Debian as a server OS after testing it out -in a VM a few years ago (side-note: I'd love to try Alpine too, but I always -struggle with compatibility). So, I decided to launch a new VPS and use -[Debian](https://www.debian.org) 11 as the OS. Spoiler alert: it feels identical -to Ubuntu for my purposes. - -I did the normal things when first launching the VPS, such as adding a new user, -locking down SSH, etc. If you want to see that level of detail, read my other -post about [How to Set Up a VPS Web -Server](https://cleberg.net/blog/how-to-set-up-a-vps-web-server/). - -All of this has been similar, apart from small things such as the location of -users' home folders. No complaints at all from me - Debian seems great. - -# Web Server: Nginx - -Once I had the baseline server configuration set-up for Debian, I moved on to -trying out [Nginx](https://nginx.org) as my web server software. This required -me to install the `nginx` and `ufw` packages, as well as setting up the initial -UFW config: - -```sh -sudo apt install nginx ufw -sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full' -sudo ufw allow SSH -sudo ufw enable -sudo ufw status -sudo systemctl status nginx -``` - -Once I had the firewall set, I moved on to creating the directories and files -for my website. This is very easy and is basically the same as setting up an -Apache server, so no struggles here. - -```sh -sudo mkdir -p /var/www/your_domain/html -sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/your_domain/html -sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/your_domain -nano /var/www/your_domain/html/index.html -``` - -The next part, creating the Nginx configuration files, is quite a bit different -from Apache. First, you need to create the files in the `sites-available` folder -and symlink it the `sites-enabled` folder. - -Creating the config file for your domain: - -```sh -sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain -``` - -Default content for an Nginx config file: - -```sh -server { - listen 80; - listen [::]:80; - - root /var/www/your_domain/html; - index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html; - - server_name your_domain www.your_domain; - - location / { - try_files $uri $uri/ =404; - } -} -``` - -Finally, symlink it together: - -```sh -sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ -``` - -This will make your site available to the public (as long as you have -`your_domain` DNS records pointed at the server's IP address)! - -Next, I used [certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/) to issue an HTTPS certificate -for my domains using the following commands: - -```sh -sudo apt install snapd; sudo snap install core; sudo snap refresh core -sudo snap install --classic certbot -sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot -sudo certbot --nginx -``` - -Now that certbot ran successfully and updated my Nginx config files to include a -`443` server block of code, I went back in and edited the config file to include -security HTTP headers. This part is optional, but is recommended for security -purposes; you can even test a website's HTTP header security at [Security -Headers](https://securityheaders.com/). - -The configuration below shows a set-up where you only want your website to serve -content from its own domain, except for images and scripts, which may come from -`nullitics.com`. All other content would be blocked from loading in a browser. - -```sh -sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain -``` - -```sh -server { - ... - add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'none'; img-src 'self' https://nullitics.com; script-src 'self' https://nullitics.com; style-src 'self'; font-src 'self'"; - add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"; - add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"; - add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY"; - add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains"; - add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer"; - ... -} -``` - -```sh -sudo systemctl restart nginx -``` - -## Nginx vs. Apache - -As I stated at the beginning, my historical hesitation with trying Nginx was -that the differences in configuration formats scared me away from leaving -Apache. However, I prefer Nginx to Apache for a few reasons: - -1. Nginx uses only one config file (`your_domain`) vs. Apache's two-file - approach for HTTP vs. HTTPS (`your_domain.conf` and - `your_domain-le-ssl.conf`). -2. Symlinking new configurations files and reloading Nginx are way easier than - Apache's process of having to enable headers with `a2enmod mod_headers`, - enable PHP with `a2enmod php` (plus any other mods you need), and then - enabling sites with `a2ensite`, and THEN reloading Apache. -3. The contents of the Nginx config files seem more organized and logical with - the curly-bracket approach. This is a minor reason, but everything just felt - cleaner while I was installing my sites and that had a big quality of life - impact on the installation for me. - -They're both great software packages, but Nginx just seems more organized and -easier to use these days. I will certainly be exploring the Nginx docs to see -what other fun things I can do with all of this. - -# Gemini Server: Agate - -Finally, I set up the Agate software on this server again to host my Gemini -server content, using Rust as I have before. You can read my other post for more -information on installing Agate: [Hosting a Gemini -Server](https://cleberg.net/blog/hosting-a-gemini-server/). - -All in all, Debian + Nginx is very slick and I prefer it over my old combination -of Ubuntu + Apache (although it's really just Nginx > Apache for me, since -Debian seems mostly the same as Ubuntu is so far). |