Setting Up Your Server for Web Hosting

This overview covers the essential components you need to host websites on your dedicated server.

1. Choose a Web Server

Install either Nginx (recommended for performance) or Apache (recommended for .htaccess compatibility):

apt install nginx -y   # or: apt install apache2 -y

2. Install PHP

apt install php php-fpm php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml -y

3. Install a Database

apt install mariadb-server -y
mysql_secure_installation

4. Point Your Domain to the Server

At your domain registrar or DNS provider, create an A record:

• Name: @ (root domain) and www
• Value: your server's IP address

DNS changes propagate within 1–24 hours.

5. Create a Virtual Host / Server Block

Create a config file for your domain (example for Nginx):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/yourdomain.com;
    index index.php index.html;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

6. Obtain an SSL Certificate

apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

7. Upload Your Site Files

Place your website files in /var/www/yourdomain.com/ using SFTP or SCP. Set correct ownership:

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/yourdomain.com