HOW-TO Set Up a Linux VPS Server for Newbies: VPS BIBLE




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Set Up a VPS Linux Distribution

01 Feb 10
How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS image

Once you’ve decided to go for an unmanaged virtual private server, you’ll set up an account and launch a Linux distribution. In this tutorial – Set Up a VPS Linux Distribution – I’ll walk you through those basic steps, advising on the Linux systems available, configuring some options and illustrating a typical unmanaged VPS control panel.

It takes 5 minutes, from sign up to booting the box for the first time. OK, it’ll take you longer the first time.

Setup Unmanaged VPS: The Ubuntu-Nginx Guide

Take your virtual private server from zero to hero

  .. from blank box to cute-as server ..  

with this easy-to-follow copy/paste guide.

22+ parts with video, here’s the index.

You can watch the video for a walk-through of a typical control panel and Linux distribution setup. For that, and throughout this tutorial and series, I example Linode but the same will apply for Slicehost and many other VPS providers, near as damn it.

Video: Configure Your Linux VPS

Watch the, er, guvideo for a better idea of how to do this.


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Alternatively, the vpsBible forum is free and you are welcome.

How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS

Goto Linode.com

… or Slicehost.com, or wherever else. I’d suggest you read VPS (Virtual Private Server) vs Shared vs Dedicated for some handy tips about choosing your unmanaged VPS provider, and to see if that really is the best route for your requirement.

Sign Up & Choose Your Plan

How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS image 2

OK, so if you have a real hustle-bustle site you may want a larger server chunk, maybe even a server rack, but for the vast majority of us the basic will do, at least for now. For guvnr.com and a bunch of sister sites, blogs and client developments, I chose the Linode 360 with 360MB RAM, 18GB storage and 200GB monthly data transfer (that image is old .. Linode were feeling generous a few months back). That’s $20 a month. You can always upgrade later, either to a bigger plan or just with extra RAM, space and so on.

Login to Linode Manager ..

How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS image 3

.. with the password they emailed you. You’ll be directed to the Linode Manager homepage, where you can manage your Linode, your DNS settings, your account, and submit support tickets. Should you so require, you can add more Linodes and IP addresses there too.

Check Out Your Linode

Feel free to get a bit excited. Click on the Linode, Slice, what-have-you…

How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS image 4

…and that takes you to the Dashboard, where you can create or delete configuration profiles, disk images and Linux distributions (distros), shutdown/boot/reboot a distro, check various stats and generally salivate.

From here you can also click through to your:-

  • Ajax Console really handy if you lock yourself out of the command line interface, which we’ll be setting up in the next part
  • Network Manager where you can check network settings, set reverse DNS for email and, for multi Linodes, add and move IPs, and configure IP failover
  • Graphs to check CPU, Traffic and Disk In-Out
  • Settings & Utilities where you can set root passwords, set alerts and the Shutdown Watchdog, and clone a Linode
  • Extras where you can add or remove extra resources, rather than upgrade the entire plan

.. But ignore all that for now. Instead, on the Dashboard, click on Deploy a Linux Distribution. Far more fun.

Select Your Linux Distribution

OK, so there are 22 Linux variants. Choices, choices.

I chose Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (that’s Hardy Heron) because I use its Desktop counterpart as well and the syntax is the same, so that’s convenience. More importantly, this server is highly regarded as a stable, well-supported server. If you’ve been to Ubuntu Forums you’ll see the community is active and helpful, and that’s good for Linux newbies and tech-heads alike.

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is available too, and for my PC I use that, but not for a server for this reason: Hardy Heron is an LTS distribution, which means it’s a Long Term Support edition, until 2013. Non-LTS editions aren’t supported so long, which may mean having to upgrade earlier than you’d like. That said, at the end of April 2010 Ubuntu will release the next LTS edition, Lucid Lynx (10.04) so I’ll be explaining then how to upgrade to that and, after sufficient good reviews, most likely recommending that in this guide rather than Hardy Heron.

As well as the Heron on which I launched this site, I’ve built an Intrepid distro using the exact same procedure as outlined in this series, including installing the super sexy Nginx web server. So if you do want either of these two distros, I can confirm that this tutorial works for both. I’ve not tried for Karmic on a server but have heard from Guvnr’s community (vpsBible’s sister site) that the procedure is identical.

At Linode at least, with both Ubuntu editions and with other distros there are 64bit versions, which many would prefer to 32bit. Not me. I think 32bit is faster, using less resources. Some will disagree but, researched, most folks concur.

So, if you like what I say, for your needs, check the radio box next to “Ubuntu 8.04 LTS”.

Select Disk Image Size

I set this to 6000MB, or 6gB, because I wanted to play with other servers too. (You can have as many distros as you want, but only have one booted, per Linode, at any one time.) By default, your distro will be set at your maximum VPS size, about 18gB. That’s up to your preference. If you don’t want to play with other distros, leave as default. You can resize a distro later, whenever you want, but have to boot down to do that.

Select Swap

“We recommend a swap partition not exceed 256-512 MB.” That’s what they say. For most, 256 is fine. That’s what I choose. Of course, we’ve got 360MB of regular RAM to eat up anyway before swap kicks in to save the day.

For secondary distros, you can create another swap or share the existing. Generally, you’d share the swap because, after all, you can only use one distro (have it booted up), potentially using the swap, at any given time.

Root Password

Pop in whatever you like. We’ll be changing it from the command line interface anyway, soon enough.

OK, here’s what I have…

How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS image 5

Back to the Dashboard

How To Set Up a Linux Distribution on Your VPS image 6

And now you have something to work with; a configuration profile, complete with main disk image and swap image.

Boot it up

Click on “Boot”. It will, and we’ll have something to play with.

That’s that for now.

In The Works ..

In Set Up the Command Line Interface (CLI) using PuTTY – else Setup openSSH for Linux-to-Linux if your local box is Linux – we’ll create remote access to our shiny new Linux distro and, from there, after a generous sprinkling of security, crack on installing the heavy-lifting apps to turn this baby box into a cute-as server. Meantime, I’ll be down the pub. Here’s the index…

Setup Unmanaged VPS: The Ubuntu-Nginx Guide

Take your virtual private server from zero to hero

with this easy-to-follow copy/paste guide.

“My local PC runs Windows” Show me for Linux

22+ parts with video, here’s the index ..

  • nginx control panel image

    Appendix 1a: Nginx Control Panel

    You’re migrating shared-to-VPS and want a GUI like cPanel? No you don’t, not after you read this! What’s more, you don’t need one either.

  • nginx control panel image

    Appendix 1b: Nginx Control Panel Workarounds

    For every control panel module there’s an equivalent terminal command. They’re all linked from here so, hey, no excuses!

  • web sites folder structure image

    Appendix 2: Add Web Sites Nginx Cheatsheet

    Once you’ve set up your first site, adding more gets easier. Especially when you can refer to this. (Let’s face it, I’m just too good to you.)



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For those posts ported from Guvnr.com (pre-Feb/2010), archive comments remain.

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Thank you.

  • Tarak April 18th, 2009 at 10:41 am

    You are a God send – that all I can say – too busy learning from you to take a breath – thanks

  • the_guv April 18th, 2009 at 11:21 am

    Hi Tarak, saw your cmt at my YouTube channel too – http://youtube.com/user/guvnrDOTcom.

    Dude, comments like yours brighten my day, Sir. Mighty pleased you’re finding it handy.

    Am busy editing other videos in this series right now :)

  • Re: Tutorial April 27th, 2009 at 2:13 am

    [...] Deploy a Linux Distribution for Newbies – VPS Bible Pt 2 – GUVNR [...]

  • mike May 6th, 2009 at 4:05 am

    Hi, nice post. I was looking everywhere for this info, and you present it so clearly, so thanks for posting. Will definitely be referring back to this vps series. Keep up great writing

  • the_guv May 7th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    @Mike – cheers to you, that’s good to hear.

  • Dave May 16th, 2009 at 10:01 am

    Wow.. excellent stuff. You are a God send for newbies like me.
    Cheers!

  • the_guv May 17th, 2009 at 6:36 am

    @Dave – you are most welcome – comments like yours make it worthwhile. … from one newbie to another :)

  • oligolli June 28th, 2009 at 12:26 am

    Thanks for all these tutorials, really helped this newbie.

    I’m on Centos however, so haven’t followed them to the letter, but I’m a bit puzzled by the Nginx user and the permissions on /wp-content/uploads.

    I have no user or group “www-data” on Centos and later on you set the permissions of wordpress files and folders to the group “webmasters”.

    I cannot upload pictures to wordpress unless I change the owner to the nginx user or set chmod 777. Am I missing something?

  • jacqueline September 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    we just bought an unmanaged windows VPS, could please tell me where i can read about how to set it up and set up the site on it which i would like to choose joomla for.

    Thank you

  • the_guv October 6th, 2009 at 6:30 am

    @Jacqueline .. hi, sorry for delay.

    hmmn .. why windows? and why joomla? well, i guess joomla’s fair enough .. but why windows? why oh why, dear lady, why windows?

    truth is, no. I googled it for you and it was me at the top of the results! sorry.

    out of interest, really, why windows?! if you only pay by the month, cancel it, get a regular linux vps and follow this guide, is genuinely the best advice i can give.

    as for joomla, that will be dead simple to set up … very similar to how i say to set up wordpress in these pages. set up the vps as per whatever guide, and then just add joomla as you would add site files .. and joomla themselves will doubtless have good docs and a healthy forum.

  • Mike October 18th, 2009 at 5:47 am

    Ollie my boy you are a godsend!! I just discovered your tutorial videos on Google video learning to set up firewalls for a web server (for some sites I am developing in Wordpress child themes) from the Command Line Interface in Ubuntu and just came across your site. Wow!! Extensive, detailed, straight-forward and EXTREMELY EXTREMELY Helpful. Your blog truly is the essence of Web 2.0.. Keep it coming mate I am addicted to your knowledge database that you provide on your site and will spread the word.. keep it coming.. A new fan..

  • the_guv October 23rd, 2009 at 9:20 am

    @Mike .. m8, that is a geezer comment. of course, we aim to please! thaaaaaaaaaank you. cracking.

  • Giwrgos November 11th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    Very nice tut-guide-walkthrough-bible awesomely done for linux newbies like me! Recently i am giving a try to Centos. Could you be so kind and -just minor edits- add the equivelant commands of Centos that you are using? would be great help. Also been looking for a vps host, and i like your work in review of linode. Thank you again. :) Greetings from Greece.

  • Job November 24th, 2009 at 8:53 am

    Very clear instructions and professional delivery! Thanks so much. :)

  • the_guv November 24th, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    @Job .. big cheers, appreciate that.