Hey folks,
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
When I started vpsBible, I’d planned by now to have written at least double the setup and maintenance documentation, and to have given about quadruple the forum support, that, in the event, I’ve provided.
As many of you know a project came my way that was hard to refuse but which sapped my time considerably more that I thought would be the case: a book, WordPress 3 Ultimate Security, which was published by the techy publishers Packt Publishing last week. You can check that out at guv.li/wp. For those that are interested in the platform Packt’s celebrating the launch with a special offer on WordPress tomes this month and I’ll be offering discounted copies of my scribble here within a week or two.
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 have been patient and, please believe me, your patience has matched my frustration. I love this vpsB project. Silly sod sad, probably, but truly I have a passion for vpsBible, to demystify the complexity that is setting up, maintaining and securing our web projects. (It is a bit sad really!)
For my absense, please accept my sincere apologies. For your patience, and the many encouraging emails I’ve received, please accept my sheer gratitude.
So where are we?
I’ve been wading through the existing vpsB documents over the last week or so, making notes for new implementations and updating a few pressing issues and minor details. I will from now be back at the forums to help out as best I can.
So far as new material is concerned, there’s a lot to add which is written already, on this local machine. Much of this concerns Apache, which has been glaringly neglected from vpsBible. Much of this concerns security, advanced security and defense in depth, subjects which I’ve been literally dreaming about from my research and practise over the course of the last year.
Therefore, over the next few months, expect to see lots of material about Apache and, otherwise, about defending PHP, MySQL, about some key maintenance tasks such as logging, about network defence, host intrusion detection, kernel hardening and similar topics that are guaranteed to make us want to jump up and dance. Ish.
You can also expect to see a new site in the Autumn as well. This one simply doesn’t cut the mustard. It’s insufficiently usable and, more importantly, its content isn’t as noob-friendly as it should be, IMHO. Without giving too much away, yet, a new vpsBible site with a raft of remastered and fresh content is in the works for what I see as the next, really rather exciting, phase of this project.
Have a present …
The vpsBible community has been good to me. It’s sponsored my time to be able to develop this project. From both subscriber and industry feedback I know now that vpsBible has enormous potential and, frankly, that I’ll not only have Meccano-style fun with the research and docs but also be able to earn a few quid along the way in the process. Splendid. I will be increasing prices for various levels of subscription and support in the future, one day not soon, but do not intend ever to forget the first few thousand of you guys and gals who supported the project in its early days. It is not my intention to forget my roots.
Plus I want to celebrate the book, sure. Believe you me, it will enrich this site both directly and indirectly, and your experience with it. Looking to the longer term, that was one of the reasons I took it on.
Some of the very early vpsBible subscribers may have wondered why their subscriptions never ran out? Well, I extended by a few months everyone who signed up on the New Site Offer. The problem was that I didn’t get round to telling you!
Anyway, for everyone who has signed up on the New Site Offer subscription deal, or who does so up until the end of August, I’ve extended the 12 month subscription to 24 months.
That’s a free year of thank you’s and, hopefully, of good will.
I guess I’m hoping that that gives me more than enough time to prove to the community that it’s a good idea not only to setup a VPS with the vpsBible method, but also to hang around here for maintenance and ongoing security guides, lots of useful scripts and advice. So yes, it’s a blatant bribe 
.
See you in the forums and kind regards.
Guv
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/Mac
“My local machine is Linux/Mac” Show me for Windows
22+ parts with video, here’s the index ..
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Setup Unmanaged VPS: The Ubuntu-Nginx Guide
Introducing vpsBible’s how-to guide for setting up a super-charged unmanaged VPS featuring Ubuntu and Nginx.
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VPS (Virtual Private Server) vs Shared vs Dedicated
Before getting stuck in, let’s compare the web host types in detail and weigh up the differences between managed & unmanaged VPS.
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Set Up a VPS Linux Distribution
Opening a VPS hosting account, we’ll choose, configure & launch a Linux server ‘distribution’.
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Set Up Command Line Interface (CLI) using PuTTY
Now we’ve got a server to play with, we’ll connect to it, using the ’ssh’ protocol for a super-secure link.
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Create a Linux User & Set Permissions
Initially you’ve logged into your remote Linux machine as ‘root’. We’ll add you as a user now, with root or SuperUser permissions.
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Encrypt Data with OpenSSH & Auto-Login with PuTTY
Now we can use ‘authentication keys’ to shore up our connection while simplifying login to an automated, password-free yet secure process.
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Harden the Secure Shell (SSH) & Create a Firewall
The final security step: galvanizing the OpenSSH protocol and setting up an ‘iptables’ firewall. Now the server is rock ruddy solid.
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Edit bashrc for User-Friendly Linux, plus System Updates
We use the terminal a whole lot so let’s cut ourselves a break and create some command shortcuts, then update the server.
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Add a Domain Zone to Your VPS
To make your server aware of yourDomain.com you’ll need a few ‘DNS’ records. Damn this is simple I’m practically asleep!
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Prepare Linux Server for Email with Postfix
In order to send and receive email from our web applications we’ll install some software and tweak the ‘RDNS’ record.
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Install PHP5 & MySQL – The One-Stop FastCGI Index Page
Add PHP5 & MySQL, but which FastCGI method is best? Here’s the benchmarking, 4 ways to install/compile, add caching modules & more.
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Nginx (better than Apache) Web Server
Let’s install this supersonic web server, tweaking its file structure & adding default configuration files.
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Setup FileZilla for Secure FTP (SFTP)
There’s FTP, and then there’s ‘Secure FTP’. We’ll set up FileZilla using SFTP – and those authentication keys – for secure file transfers.
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Serve Multiple Sites & Blogs with Virtual Hosts
We want a website folder structure, some permissions, some site-specific configuration files and, hey, we’ll hook up ‘FastCGI’.
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Adding Sub-Domains with Nginx
Need a sub-domain? If you do, here’s how to add subDomain.yourSite.com with an ‘A record’ and a configuration file.
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Integrate A CMS Like WordPress, WP MU, Drupal etc
For those of you wanting to use a specific content framework, such as a CMS, blogging or forum software, pop in here and we’ll sort that out.
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Google Apps for Domain-Specific Email
GA’s free Standard Edition for catchall webmail – POP-ping or IMAP-ped to your desktop client – saves precious server resources for your webs.
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Moving Day! How to Move Your Blog or Site
Nearly there. Here’s the web site or blog migration guide, relocating to your VPS with minimal or no downtime.
Manage Unmanaged VPS: Ubuntu-Nginx Administration
Already set it up? We’d best maintain it then.
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