How do I host a website on my VPS?

Hosting a website on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) provides you with greater control, flexibility and performance compared to shared hosting. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up a VPS to host a website using Nginx, serve PHP files, and set up a MariaDB database.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

1. A VPS running a Linux distribution (Ubuntu 24.04 is used in this guide).
2. SSH & sFTP access to your VPS.
3. A domain name pointing to your VPS's IP address.

Step 1: Update Your Server

First, log into your VPS via SSH and update your package list:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Nginx

To install Nginx, use the following commands:

sudo apt install nginx -y

Once installed, start and enable Nginx:

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Step 3: Install PHP

Install PHP and common modules:

apt -y install php8.3 php8.3-{common,cli,gd,mysql,mbstring,bcmath,xml,fpm,curl,zip}

Step 4: Configure Nginx to Serve PHP Files

Create a new Nginx server block configuration file for your website:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain

Add the following configuration to the file:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_domain;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name your_domain;

    root /var/www/your_domain;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    # SSL Configuration - Replace the example your_domain with your domain
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain/privkey.pem;
    ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers "ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384";
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param PHP_VALUE "upload_max_filesize = 100M \n post_max_size=100M";
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
        fastcgi_intercept_errors off;
        fastcgi_buffer_size 16k;
        fastcgi_buffers 4 16k;
        fastcgi_connect_timeout 300;
        fastcgi_send_timeout 300;
        fastcgi_read_timeout 300;
        include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Replace your_domain (5) with your actual domain name, if you installed a different php version you also need to change the PHP version here.

Create the root directory for your website:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/your_domain

Transfer the website files inside this directory using sFTP.

Set the proper permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/your_domain/*

Enable the new website config:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 5: Install SSL

One of the easiest ways to install an SSL is by using certbot.

Install certbot:

sudo apt install -y certbot

Stop nginx:

sudo systemctl stop nginx

Generate SSL:

certbot certonly --standalone -d your_domain

Replace your_domain with your actual domain name.

Start nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl start nginx

Step 6: Install MariaDB

Install MariaDB:

sudo apt install mariadb-server -y

Secure the installation:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts to set the root password and secure your database server.

Step 7: Create a MariaDB Database and User

Log in to MariaDB:

sudo mariadb -u root -p

Create a new database and user:

CREATE DATABASE your_database;
CREATE USER 'your_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON your_database.* TO 'your_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Replace your_database, your_user, and your_password with your preferred database name, username, and password.

Conclusion

You've successfully set up your VPS to host a website, serve PHP files, and manage a MariaDB database. You can now deploy your website and manage your server. Remember to keep your server and software updated for security and performance.

Updated on: 08/08/2024