From 2be43cc479dfd4cfb621f14381330c708291e324 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Cleberg Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:46:20 -0500 Subject: conversion from Zola to Weblorg --- content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.org | 167 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 167 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.org (limited to 'content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.org') diff --git a/content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.org b/content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc257ac --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2022-02-16-debian-and-nginx.org @@ -0,0 +1,167 @@ +#+date: <2022-02-16> +#+title: Migrating to a New Web Server Setup with Debian, Nginx, and Agate +#+description: + + +* 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 [[https://www.debian.org][Debian]] 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 +[[https://cleberg.net/blog/how-to-set-up-a-vps-web-server/][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 [[https://nginx.org][Nginx]] as my web server software. +This required me to install the =nginx= and =ufw= packages, as well as +setting up the initial UFW config: + +#+begin_src 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 +#+end_src + +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. + +#+begin_src 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 +#+end_src + +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: + +#+begin_src sh +sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain +#+end_src + +Default content for an Nginx config file: + +#+begin_src 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; + } +} +#+end_src + +Finally, symlink it together: + +#+begin_src sh +sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ +#+end_src + +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 [[https://certbot.eff.org/][certbot]] to issue an HTTPS +certificate for my domains using the following commands: + +#+begin_src 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 +#+end_src + +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 [[https://securityheaders.com/][Security Headers]]. + +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. + +#+begin_src sh +sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain +#+end_src + +#+begin_src 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"; + ... +} +#+end_src + +#+begin_src sh +sudo systemctl restart nginx +#+end_src + +** 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: +[[https://cleberg.net/blog/hosting-a-gemini-server/][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). -- cgit v1.2.3-70-g09d2