How to setup a VPS for PHP/MySQL development

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is a step by step tutorial on how to create a VPS on stackable.com and configure it with a LAMPP stack, an FTP server, Mail server and Firewall.

Create VPS in stackable dashboard

Log into the stachable.com dashboard
Click on the Create New Container button at the top.
Fill in the form:

Name: project name, e.g., MBU4U for madebyus4u
Type: VPS
Password: a complicated password for root
Size: choose memory size that fits your need

Save password and VPS address in plain text document for future reference.

VPS Application User Setup

Log into the VPS using ssh

$ ssh root@ip-address

supply password after prompt

Change password of root

$ passwd

Supply new password and confirmation when prompted

Add new user, that would serve as the Application owner

$ adduser newusername

Create new admin group

$ groupadd admin

Add new user to admin group

$ usermod -g admin newusername

Give sudo privillege to admin group

$ visudo

once the file loads add the following line

%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

Exit ssh and switch to new user

$ ssh newusername@ip-address

Disable root log in over ssh, this is done for security reasons.

$nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Once file loads change the following line

PermitRootLogin = no

Then restart ssh

$ /etc/init.d/ssh restart

Install LAMPP stack

Install Apache2

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install apache2

Make public web directory for admin user

$ sudo mkdir app/public
$ sudo chmod 777 -R app/public

Create virtual host on Apache to point to newly created directory

$ sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/default /etc/apache2/sites-available/domain_name

Edit newly copied file

$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/domain_name

Add the following to the VirtualHost section as follows

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerAdmin admin@domain_name
    ServerName  domain_name
    ServerAlias www.domain_name
    DocumentRoot /home/user_name/app/public

</VirtualHost>

Enable mode rewrite

$ sudo a2enmod rewrite

In the virtual host configuration change AllowOverride option just under Option Indexes as follows:

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride all

Enable site configuration

$ sudo a2ensite file_name

Disable default configuration

$ sudo a2dissite default

Also edit /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts accordingly

Install SSL an Certificate

Generate SSL key on VPS

$ openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout yourdomain.key -out yourdomain.csr

Then use the *.csr file to generate SSL Certificate using godaddy.com tool. Download the certificate zip containing domainname.crt and sf_bundle.crt, upload them to the VPS; move the uploaded files to apache ssl folder,

$ sudo mkdir /etc/apache2/ssl

$ sudo cp /path/to/certificate /etc/apache2/ssl/

$ sudo cp /path/to/bundle /etc/apache2/ssl/

$ sudo cp /path/to/key /etc/apache2/ssl/

Open the default ssl apache config file

$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl

Change the following:

DocumentRoot /home/username/app/public

AllowOverride all

SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/domainname.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/domainname.key
SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl/sf_bundle.crt

Save and close, enable default-ssl site

$ sudo a2ensite default-ssl

Restart/reload apache

$ sudo service apache2 restart/reload

Install MySql

$ sudo apt-get isntall mysql-server libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql

Activate MySql

$sudo mysql_install_db

Finish up with the MySql set up script, and follow along with the instructions

$ sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

Note: Generate long password to be used for the mysql user

mysql> select password('seed');

Enable remote connection for MySql

$ sudo nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf

Find section [mysqld] and comment out the following lines:

#skip-networking or
#skip-external-locking 

Also add the following line

bind-address      = ip-address

Save and close file.

Restart mysql

$ sudo service mysql restart

Create admin user on MySql

$ mysql -u root password root_password

Once logged in to MySql create the db user with super user privileges

One from localhost

> CREATE USER 'mysql_user'@'localhost' identified by '41_character_password';
> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'mysql_user'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION; 

One from any host

> CREATE USER 'mysql_user'@'%' identified by '41_character_password';
> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'mysql_user'@'%' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Flush privileges to make sure the privileges are reloaded:

> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Install PHP

$ sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mcrypt

Add php to the directory index

$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dir.conf

Add index.php to the beginning of index files

<IfModule mod_dir.c>
  
  DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.cgi index.pl index.php index.xhtml index.htm

</IfModule>

Install PHP Modules as needed, find them using apt-cache search:

$ sudo apt-cache search php5-

Notable ones to add, php5-cli, php5-curl, php5-gd, php5-mysql

Restart apache to allow changes to take effect

$ sudo service apache2 restart

Install VSFTP

$ sudo apt-get install vsftpd

Edit vsftpd’s configuration

$ sudo nano /etc/vsftp.conf

Disable anonymous login

anonymous_enable=NO

enable local users

local_enable=YES 

Allow them to write in the directory

write_enable=YES

Jail local user to his own root directory

chroot_local_user=YES // uncomment this line

Restart vsftpd

$ sudo service vsftpd restart

Install Firewall

Install Uncomplicated Fire Wall UFW as follows

$ sudo apt-get install ufw

Add rules to open port as follows

$ sudo ufw allow 80 // Apache
$ sudo ufw allow 21 // FTP
$ sudo ufw allow 22 // SSH
$ sudo ufw allow 3306 // MySql
$ sudo ufw allow 443 // HTTPS-default 433 should be correct

Enable the UFW

$ sudo ufw enable

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