How to Set Up a Web Server on Your VPS

A fresh Fast Hive VPS is a bare operating system - there is no web server on it until you install one. This guide takes you from a newly deployed server to a working website served over HTTPS, using Nginx, PHP-FPM, MariaDB and a free Let's Encrypt certificate. Commands are given for both Debian/Ubuntu and AlmaLinux/Rocky.

Step 1 - Install the stack

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx mariadb-server php-fpm php-mysql php-cli \
     php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-zip

# AlmaLinux / Rocky
sudo dnf install -y nginx mariadb-server php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-cli \
     php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-zip

Start the services and have them come back after a reboot:

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx mariadb php-fpm
systemctl status nginx --no-pager

Step 2 - Open the firewall

Your firewall should already be default-deny. Let web traffic through, and nothing else:

# ufw (Ubuntu / Debian)
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw status verbose

# firewalld (AlmaLinux / Rocky)
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Browse to your VPS IP address. You should see the default Nginx page. If you do not, the firewall or the service is the reason - fix that before continuing.

Step 3 - Secure the database

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Set a root password, remove anonymous users, disallow remote root login, and drop the test database. Then create a database and a user for your site:

sudo mysql

CREATE DATABASE mysite CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'mysite'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'a-long-generated-password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mysite.* TO 'mysite'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 4 - Create the site directory

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public
echo '<?php phpinfo();' | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/public/index.php

# Ubuntu/Debian run the web server as www-data; AlmaLinux/Rocky as nginx
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
sudo find /var/www/example.com -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/example.com -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Step 5 - Configure the site

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com (Debian/Ubuntu) or /etc/nginx/conf.d/example.com.conf (AlmaLinux/Rocky):

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/example.com/public;
    index index.php index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

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

    # Never serve dotfiles
    location ~ /\. { deny all; }
}

The PHP-FPM socket path varies by distribution and version - confirm yours with ls /run/php/ and adjust. On Debian/Ubuntu, enable the site, then test and reload:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

nginx -t validates the configuration before you reload. Get into the habit - it turns a typo into a message instead of an outage.

Step 6 - Point your domain

Create an A record for the domain pointing at your VPS IP address, and one for www. DNS must resolve before the next step, because the certificate authority verifies control by reaching your domain.

nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8

Step 7 - Add HTTPS

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# AlmaLinux / Rocky
sudo dnf install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

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

Certbot obtains the certificate, edits your Nginx configuration to serve HTTPS, and offers to redirect HTTP to HTTPS - accept that. It also installs a renewal timer. Confirm it works:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run
systemctl list-timers | grep certbot

Step 8 - Finish up

1. Delete the phpinfo file. sudo rm /var/www/example.com/public/index.php - it exposes a great deal about your server.
2. Upload your real site, or install your application.
3. Set PHP limits appropriately in /etc/php/*/fpm/php.ini - memory_limit, upload_max_filesize, post_max_size - then reload PHP-FPM.
4. Turn display_errors off for production.
5. Take a snapshot now that the server is configured and working.

Apache instead of Nginx

If you prefer Apache, install apache2 (Debian/Ubuntu) or httpd (AlmaLinux/Rocky) in place of Nginx, use a virtual host rather than a server block, and run certbot --apache. Apache reads .htaccess files, which some applications expect; Nginx does not, and equivalent rules go in the server block instead.

Do not install both. They will fight over ports 80 and 443, and the second one to start simply fails.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

Nginx or Apache?

Nginx is lighter under concurrent load and is the common default. Choose Apache when your application depends on .htaccess and you would rather not translate those rules.

Can I host several sites on one VPS?

Yes - one server block per site, each with its own root directory, database and certificate. That is a normal reason to choose a VPS.

Should I install a control panel instead?

A panel handles vhosts, mail and certificates for you at the cost of some control and resources. If you want that experience, ordering cPanel with the VPS is the cleaner route than adding one afterwards.

Do I need to configure mail as well?

Running your own mail server is a substantial undertaking - deliverability, spam filtering, reputation. For most people, keeping mail on Fast Hive hosting or a dedicated mail provider and pointing the MX records there is the better answer.

How do I keep this patched?

Enable unattended security updates, and check periodically that they are actually running. On an unmanaged VPS nothing patches itself unless you set it up.

Will Fast Hive help if I break the web server?

Our engineers support the hypervisor, network and storage. For the stack you installed we will help you diagnose - reading logs and identifying what is failing - but the configuration is yours. See the VPS support scope article.