Member Avatar for alazanski

Please, help me build a web server. For more information, please visit: SNIP

Edited by happygeek because: link snipped
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by laobhaise

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Following 's request and 's comments, the shortest safe path to a usable server is a small checklist, a few tested commands, and a couple of important cautions (especially around email and CMS choice). The workflow below assumes a fresh, systemd-based Linux install and a domain name with an A record pointing to the server IP.

Start and harden the OS, create a non-root admin, enable SSH keys, keep packages current, then install the web stack and a database. Example commands for Debian/Ubuntu-family systems (adjust for other distros):

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo adduser deploy
sudo usermod -aG sudo deploy
# install web server, PHP, database, certbot and UFW
sudo apt install -y apache2 php php-mysql mariadb-server certbot python3-certbot-apache ufw
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Apache Full'
sudo ufw enable

Create the database and user for a CMS, set correct ownership/permissions, and obtain TLS certificates:

sudo mysql
CREATE DATABASE cms_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'cms_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cms_db.* TO 'cms_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/example.com

sudo certbot --apache -d example.com -d www.example.com

Important notes and maintenance: running a full mail server is difficult for reliable delivery—SPF, DKIM, DMARC, PTR records and reputation management are required; many choose a hosted mail provider instead. Keep the CMS and PHP up to date (older releases are often insecure), enable automatic security updates, install fail2ban, and automate backups. Simple cron MySQL dump example (use secure keys, rotate and offsite-copy backups):

mysqldump -u root -p'rootpass' cms_db | gzip > /root/backups/cms-$(date +%F).sql.gz

Free control panels (e.g., Virtualmin, ISPConfig) can reduce administration overhead if a GUI is preferred. The list above is a practical, minimal route to a production-ready host while highlighting where extra effort or external services are normally recommended.

Member Avatar for laobhaise

Hi there,

See below for answers to your questions:

-------------------------------------------------------------
Now, I need some help from you guys! Which operating system should I choose (Ubuntu Server, or something like that. For the time being, I want a free operating system). How can I install/configure the operating system and how to get it up and running? How can I install Joomla 1.5 on it (it needs MySQL)?

I would say look at Ubuntu Server with a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) install and then install Joomla on top of that.

And how can I install/configure email accounts for my domain?

Check out Zentyal (used to be called ebox)

I’ve also heard of a software called Webmin. What is this?

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration of a Unix / Linux Server.

Is there any other software that I can use for managing my domains, files, email accounts, etc. (something like Parallels, or cPanel just that it needs to be free or really cheap, because I’m currently on a tight budget)

As I mentioned above check out Zentyal.... It's free :).

Regards,
Louisa

Edited by happygeek because: links snipped
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