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I just switched to a VPS

I always choosed a shared hosting for my forums, and that's because I have no knowledge to manage a VPS.  I have a multi-domain shared hosting with cpanel, 50 GB, 1TB traffic and worked well for the last 3 years, but as every shared hosting it has his limits.

I bought a vps from Linode located to London, but this year should be availble a new center in Frankfurt which is very close to Italy.

I discovered ServerPilot.io and in a few minutes I was able to upload my files, my database, etc. It's a very light panel "in the cloud".

QuoteHow ServerPilot Works
ServerPilot is a SaaS platform for hosting PHP websites on Ubuntu servers. You can think of it as a modern, centralized hosting control panel.

ServerPilot does not provide servers. Instead, we make it easy to run your PHP apps on your own servers. Those servers can be cloud servers or VPSes at any provider, or they can even be virtual machines running on your laptop.

Connecting a Server

To manage a server with ServerPilot, you must first connect your server to us. You must start with a completely fresh Ubuntu server. If you've already installed Apache, Nginx, PHP, or MySQL, then the ServerPilot installer won't be able to connect your server to ServerPilot.

We'll give you a command to run that will install the ServerPilot agent on your server. The agent keeps a secure connection open to ServerPilot, does the actual management of your server, and sends back stats and logs.

What ServerPilot Does

All of the software your server needs, such as PHP, MySQL, Nginx, and Apache, will be installed automatically by ServerPilot once your server is connected.

ServerPilot will secure your server with a firewall. It will also update your server's packages and make sure they stay updated.

ServerPilot also monitors your servers and websites. You can view stats and logs through ServerPilot. You can configure your monitoring notification preferences through your accounts settings.

Managing Your Servers and Websites

Once your server is connected, log in to ServerPilot to configure a new website on your server. Just click on + Create App, give the app a name, and choose a PHP version. When you need to add a database, just click on + Create Database. ServerPilot takes care of all of the server configuration.

Once your app is created, you can upload files to your server using either SFTP or SSH.

There is no mail server installed, they suggest to use Gmail Apps or similar services. I still use my old shared hosting so I did not move my emails, just changed DNS settings and all works fine.

There are 2 weeks since I am using this services and for now I have to say I'm very glad with the results.
sorry for my bad english

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #1 –

Very cool tool !   and welcome to the land of VPS's :D

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #2 –

Interesting thing!
I've been trying out a VPS as well recently, but I choose "the hard way", and I'm trying to configure it manually from ssh (I didn't even setup an ftp daemon, and preferred sshfs to mount the remote drive to my local machine. LOL)
I'm currently trying to set up the mail server and is quite a pain! LOL
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #3 –

I just use ispconfig3 to create my own server. It has all that you need including an email server. You can also install it on a vps server too.

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #4 –

Quote from: emanuele – I choose "the hard way", and I'm trying to configure it manually from ssh
I also tried that, there are a lot of guides and tutorials online, but it's too much work to do. With serverpilot once installed everything is optimised, secure and working out of the box. Including updates ;)

Quote from: emanuele – I'm currently trying to set up the mail server and is quite a pain! LOL
most providers recommend to use Google Apps or similar products like Rackmail, Zohomail etc. It's not an easy task to setup the email server and also consumes some memory.  I still use the shared hosting and was the easiest way to setup mails.
For the emails sent from elkarte I started to use Mandrill, the free plan is perfect for my needs, at least for now.

Another review of serverpilot: https://www.ostraining.com/blog/general/serverpilot/

I think I forgot to mention, I use the free plan from serverpilot, and on my linode server I am hosting more than one website

QuoteI just use ispconfig3 to create my own server
Never tried it, but from what I've read online it uses a lot of RAM.
sorry for my bad english

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #5 –

I do it all from SSH as well with public/private keys, on an "odd" port as well, keeps it tidy.

php/nginx/mysql can be set up so very quickly.   xcache for user data, built in php for the opcache,  php as a unix socket and a hard to find phpmyadmin inside a password protected web area.

Mail takes some quality time with the error logs :P I've not noticed any memory or cpu degradation for running mail on my server, but it does take some time to be know as non-spammy vs one of the services.  That said there are serious geek points available for doing it :D

I like fail2ban to keep things cool, and UFW is a nice easy firewall.  Once done there are only a few ports left open on the server.

Pureftp, with TLS only connections, alias names and locked to your home directory.

sphinx for search.

sit back and enjoy with a beer in my hand, nitro stout :D

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #6 –

Quote from: radu81 –
QuoteI just use ispconfig3 to create my own server
Never tried it, but from what I've read online it uses a lot of RAM.
Not really. https://www.howtoforge.com/community/threads/how-much-of-ram-consumed-ispconfig-3.58136/

There are also ways to save RAM usages after setting up ISPConfig3 server.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/guides-ispconfig/3261-how-optimize-ispconfig.html
http://www.akamaras.com/linux/optimizing-ispconfig3-for-low-end-vps/

It also supports multi-servers where you can separate email server and others from your web server.

ISPConfig developers are using debian but I am using Ubuntu (a debian derivative) as I am more familiar with it and like its LTS.

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #8 –

By the way, congrats @radu81 :thumbup:

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #9 –

Thanks for the link @meetdilip but I an not planning to install a mail server into my vps. I prefer using the shared host, it's much simpler for me to manage in this way.
sorry for my bad english

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #10 –

You are welcome :)

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #11 –

VPS's are fun to play around with, if you are looking for a free panel to play around with try looking into vestacp.

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #12 –

Yes, there are lot of things to learn using a vps, every day there is something new to discover. For now the solution I used works fine for me I am not thinking to use a real panel ;)
sorry for my bad english

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #13 –

after 4 months using this configuration I retain myself very satisfied, not a down until now, everything is working fine and IMO my elkarte forum www.skodaclub.it is very fast. I am not missing my old shared host or cpanel ;)

I am using php 5.6, the only problem is that I have 600 pages of errors in a month using SMF, most from Aeva or other older mods. With Elkarte only a few errors, but for this I should open a new topic
sorry for my bad english

Re: I just switched to a VPS

Reply #14 –

I have no errors even with 140 mods, you better check those undefined indexes :P
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