#+title: How to Set Up a VPS Web Server #+date: 2021-03-30 ** Shared Hosting vs. VPS :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: shared-hosting-vs.-vps :END: Choosing a place to host a website is one of the most confusing decisions for beginner web developers. Even for experienced web devs, choosing between different forms of web hosting can be a daunting choice. First, let's take a look at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_web_hosting_service][shared web hosting]]. Shared web hosting is a product where you are purchasing a small piece of a web server that is being shared between many websites. As a result, the cost of shared hosting is extremely low. You won't have access to the server itself, which means you can't install your own software on the server, such as Docker. Usually, you are simply allowed to connect your domains to the server, set up domain security, and other small utilities. In contrast, a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server][virtual private server]] (VPS) is a virtual machine that replicates the environment of having a dedicated server to yourself. You are able to control the virtual server's host names, base file system, package manager, etc. Another great upside of a VPS is that since it's virtual, the company providing the VPS can dynamically increase the disk size, RAM size, or number of CPUs at any time. However, the virtual server is still physically located on a server that is shared between multiple virtual servers. The choice between shared hosting and VPS mostly depends on your skill level with system administration. If you're comforting working on a server that is mostly left up to you (or you're willing to learn), then a VPS is usually a better option. However, shared hosting is a fantastic option for people who don't want to have to learn how to manage their server. ** My Situation :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: my-situation :END: I had used shared hosting for approximately 5 years before trying my first VPS. I manage a homelab and have had success running a server and performing typical sysadmin duties, but I was still hesitant to get a VPS. One fear was that I always struggled to properly set up the networking part of a server - DNS and hostname configurations were not my friend. As a little bit of background, I originally used [[https://www.siteground.com][Siteground]] for my initially shared hosting and stayed on that platform for at least a year. However, the UI was clunky, and I didn't like how they handled certain technical aspects, so I switched to [[https://www.namecheap.com][Namecheap]]. Namecheap was great because it is the service I primarily use for purchasing domain names, which made it incredibly easy to link them to my hosting service. However, it was still mediocre shared hosting, and Namecheap is notorious for not letting you use [[https://letsencrypt.org][Let's Encrypt]] to obtain free SSL/TLS certificates; Namecheap wants to make you purchase certificates through their store. Finally, I settled down with [[https://www.iwebfusion.net][iWebFusion]] for about the last year of my shared hosting. This service was pretty great, came with free SSL/TLS, and I never had any complaints. However, I finally grew tired of not being able to install software on my own web server. I wanted to be able to try out things like [[https://postmill.xyz][Postmill]] or [[https://matrix.org][Matrix]]. This is possible with a VPS, so I decided to grab a new domain name to try it out. ** Getting Started: Buying a VPS :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: getting-started-buying-a-vps :END: The first step to moving over to a VPS is (you guessed it): finding a VPS provider. For my VPSs, I use [[https://1984hosting.com][1984]] and prefer their services much more than any alternative, due to their location (Iceland), their [[https://1984hosting.com/GDPR/][privacy policy]], their respect for GDPR, and the ability to remain anonymous if you pay in Bitcoin or Monero. [[https://njal.la][Njalla]] is another good, privacy-oriented option for VPS services. You'll have to decide what specifications you want on your VPS. For me, I only build and deploy low-resource HTML, PHP, and Python websites. This means I can survive on the smallest VPS: 1 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 25GB SSD for $5.00 per month. As noted above, the great thing about a VPS is you can request your provider to increase the resources at any time. ** Configuring DNS Settings :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: configuring-dns-settings :END: Okay, so now let's get into some actual work that has to be done to get content moved from a shared host to a VPS. At this point, I'm assuming you have a shared host with website content that you can still access, and you've purchased a new VPS and can SSH into that server. The first change is minor, but it should be done immediately in order to get things moving: DNS settings. Go to wherever your DNS settings are handled. If your shared host also managed your DNS settings, you'll need to first move that DNS over to your new VPS provider. For me, I route my DNS through [[https://www.gandi.net][Gandi]]. Once you know where your DNS settings are, go ahead and update the =A= records to match the public IP address of your VPS. For example: #+begin_src txt A example.com xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx A subdomain xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx CNAME www example.com. #+end_src If you have any other records that require updates, such as MX or TXT records for a mail server, be sure to update those accordingly. Personally, I don't host my own mail server. I route all mail on my custom domains to [[https://www.migadu.com][Migadu]]. Hosting your own email server can become complex quickly and is not for beginners. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate, so be sure to give it some time before assuming you've made an error. ** Server Updates and Packages :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: server-updates-and-packages :END: Now that the DNS settings have been changed, let's set up our server while we wait for the DNS to propagate. First up is to ssh into your server. If you've signed up with a service like DigitalOcean, you can add your SSH key to your account and to your VPS droplet so that you don't need a password in order to SSH. #+begin_src sh ssh root@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx #+end_src The VPS that is used in this blog post runs Ubuntu 20.04 with an Apache web server. If you're working on a different operating system (OS) or want a different web server, such as Nginx, you'll have to use different commands to set it up. First, let's update and upgrade our server. *NOTE:* Since we have logged in to the server as =root= for now, we don't need to use the =sudo= modifier before our commands. #+begin_src sh apt update && apt upgrade -y #+end_src ** Create A User Account :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: create-a-user-account :END: While being able to use =root= can be beneficial at times, you shouldn't use =root= unless you have to. So let's set up a new user in our system. The =-m= option below tells the OS to create a home directory for the new user. #+begin_src sh adduser USERNAME #+end_src Now, create a password for that user. #+begin_src sh passwd USERNAME #+end_src Finally, add the user to the sudoers file, so they can perform priveleged commands. #+begin_src sh usermod -a -G sudo USERNAME #+end_src If you are using SSH keys and not passwords, you'll need to copy your SSH key from your local machine to the VPS. If you haven't disabled password-based SSH yet, the easiest way to do this is =ssh-copy-id= from your local computer (not from the VPS): #+begin_src sh ssh-copy-id testuser@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx #+end_src If you've disabled password-based SSH, you'll need to manually copy your SSH key into the =~/.ssh/authorized_keys= file. ** Install Software :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: install-software :END: Our goal here is to host a web server, so the next step is to install the Apache web server and any other packages we need. From this point on, I will be logged in as a user (not =root=) and will need to use the =sudo= modifier for most commands. #+begin_src sh sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade -y; sudo apt autoremove -y sudo apt install apache2 #+end_src If you need other language support, such as PHP, you'll need to install that too. #+begin_src sh sudo apt install libapache2-mod-php php-dom sudo a2enmod php sudo systemctl restart apache2 #+end_src ** Website Files & Folders :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: website-files-folders :END: Next up is to create the directories for the domain(s) we want to be hosted on this web server. #+begin_src sh cd /var/www sudo mkdir example.com #+end_src We have a folder for =example.com= now, so let's add an =index.html= file and put it within a specific =public_html= folder. You don't need this =public_html= if you don't want it, but it helps with organizing items related to =example.com= that you don't want to publish to the internet. #+begin_src sh cd example.com sudo mkdir public_html && cd public_html sudo nano index.html #+end_src You can put anything you want in this =index.html= file. If you can't think of anything, paste this in there: #+begin_src html Hello, world!

Hello, world!

#+end_src If you want something to be served at =example.com/page01/file.txt=, you'll have to create the =page01= directory under the =example.com= directory. For example: #+begin_src sh cd /var/www/example.com/public_html sudo mkdir page01 sudo nano file.txt #+end_src ** Apache Configuration :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: apache-configuration :END: Now, let's set up the files that will tell the server where to find the files for =example.com=. We will copy the default configuration file and create our own. #+begin_src sh cd /etc/apache2/sites-available sudo cp 000-default.conf example.com.conf sudo nano example.com.conf #+end_src This configuration file will have a few default lines, but you'll need to edit it to look similar to this (settings may change based on your personal needs): #+begin_src config ServerAdmin your-email@email-provider.com ServerName example.com ServerAlias www.example.com DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined #+end_src Now, enable the configuration for your new site, disable the default configuration, and reload the web server. #+begin_src sh sudo a2ensite example.com.conf sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf sudo systemctl reload apache2 #+end_src You can always run a test to make sure no errors or warnings are found in your configuration files. #+begin_src sh sudo apache2ctl configtest #+end_src Now, restart the web server entirely. After this, you should be able to browse to =http://example.com= and see the HTML content you provided earlier. Note that SSL/TLS has not been enabled yet, so you won't be able to use the secure version yet (=https://example.com=). #+begin_src sh sudo systemctl restart apache2 #+end_src You can repeat this for as many websites as you need. Just create the domain folders in =/var/www/=, add the configuration file, enable the configuration, and restart =apache2=. ** SSL/TLS Certificates: Serve Websites Over HTTPS :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: ssltls-certificates-serve-websites-over-https :END: In order to serve secure content, you'll need to obtain SSL/TLS certificates. Luckily, there's a free tool called [[https://certbot.eff.org][Certbot]] that helps us with the process. The first step is to install =snapd= and =core= for Ubuntu. #+begin_src sh sudo apt install snapd sudo snap install core sudo snap refresh core #+end_src Next, install the =certbot= snap package. #+begin_src sh sudo snap install --classic certbot #+end_src Execute the following command to ensure that the =certbot= command can be run. #+begin_src sh sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot #+end_src Finally, you can run =certbot= one of two ways: 1. run it and let it alter your Apache configuration files automatically to enable HTTPS redirects. 2. run it and only allow it to create certificates. You'll need to manually alter the config files to enable HTTPS redirects. Run certbot and allow automatic config changes: #+begin_src sh sudo certbot --apache #+end_src Run certbot for certificates only and don't allow it to alter config files: #+begin_src sh sudo certbot certonly --apache #+end_src The Certbot packages on your system come with a cron job or systemd timer that will renew your certificates automatically before they expire. You will not need to run Certbot again unless you change your configuration. You can test automatic renewal for your certificates by running this command: #+begin_src sh sudo certbot renew --dry-run #+end_src Now, test your domains by going to =https://example.com=. ** Firewall Security :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: firewall-security :END: To enable better security on your server, you'll need to enable a basic firewall. For Ubuntu, we'll use [[https://cleberg.net/blog/secure-your-network-with-the-uncomplicated-firewall.html][the uncomplicated firewall]]. Now, add the following rules to the firewall allow SSH, Apache, and HTTP(S) connections. If you need to, you can enable different ports for specifics applications, SFTP, etc. #+begin_src sh sudo ufw default deny incoming sudo ufw default allow outgoing sudo ufw allow OpenSSH sudo ufw allow Apache sudo ufw allow proto tcp from any to any port 80,443 #+end_src Once you've added all the rules you need, enable the firewall. #+begin_src sh sudo ufw enable #+end_src ** Troubleshooting :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: troubleshooting :END: If you run into any issues during your VPS set-up, be sure to walk back through your actions and make sure you didn't miss any steps. Many websites have fantastic guides to setting up various web servers. This is one of the areas [[https://www.digitalocean.%20com/community/tutorials][where DigitalOcean shines]]. For simpler or more Linux-oriented questions, I suggest using [Linuxize] (https://linuxize.com). If you're getting certain errors (e.g. =500 Internal Server Error=) and need to debug locally, you can view the =access.log= and =error.log= files in the =/var/log/apache/= directory.