How to Host a Website — From Basic to Advanced

ns1.dns-parking.com
ns2.dns-parking.com

# Or for Hostinger:
ns1.hostinger.com
ns2.hostinger.com

# FileZilla Quick Connect Settings
Host:     ftp.yourdomain.com   (or your server IP)
Username: your_ftp_username    (from hosting control panel)
Password: your_ftp_password
Port:     21 (FTP) or 22 (SFTP - recommended)

# After connecting, navigate to:
# Remote: /public_html/  (or /www/ depending on host)
# Local:  Your website folder on your computer

# Drag and drop files from left (local) to right (remote)

# SSH into your server
ssh username@your-server-ip

# Navigate to web root
cd /var/www/html

# Clone your repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git .

# Or pull latest changes if already cloned
git pull origin main

# Set correct permissions
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

# Install Certbot (Let's Encrypt client)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

# Obtain and install SSL certificate for Nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# For Apache
sudo apt install python3-certbot-apache -y
sudo certbot --apache -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# Auto-renewal (runs twice daily via cron)
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

# Check renewal timer
sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

# A Record - point root domain to server IP
@       IN  A       203.0.113.10

# A Record - point www subdomain to server IP
www     IN  A       203.0.113.10

# CNAME - alternative: alias www to root
www     IN  CNAME   yourdomain.com.

# MX Record - email server
@       IN  MX  10  mail.yourdomain.com.

# TXT Record - SPF for email authentication
@       IN  TXT     "v=spf1 include:hostinger.com ~all"

# Connect to your VPS via SSH
ssh root@your-server-ip

# Or with a specific key file
ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-key.pem root@your-server-ip

# First thing: update the system
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Create a non-root user (security best practice)
adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

# Switch to new user
su - deploy

# Install Nginx
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start and enable Nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

# Check status
sudo systemctl status nginx

# Test Nginx config
sudo nginx -t

# Reload after config changes
sudo systemctl reload nginx

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

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    # PHP support (if needed)
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
    }

    # Deny access to .htaccess
    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    # Gzip compression
    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript;
}

# Enable the site
# sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourdomain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
# sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Install UFW (usually pre-installed)
sudo apt install ufw -y

# Allow SSH (IMPORTANT: do this before enabling UFW)
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH

# Allow HTTP and HTTPS
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

# Enable firewall
sudo ufw enable

# Check status
sudo ufw status verbose

# Block a specific IP (if needed)
sudo ufw deny from 192.168.1.100

# Install Node.js (via NodeSource)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install nodejs -y

# Install PM2 process manager globally
sudo npm install -g pm2

# Start your app
pm2 start app.js --name "my-app"

# Start with ecosystem file
pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

# Save PM2 process list (survives reboots)
pm2 save
pm2 startup

# Monitor processes
pm2 status
pm2 logs my-app
pm2 monit

# Install PHP 8.1 and extensions
sudo apt install php8.1 php8.1-fpm php8.1-mysql php8.1-curl \
  php8.1-mbstring php8.1-xml php8.1-zip php8.1-gd -y

# Install Composer
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

# Clone your PHP app
cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-php-app.git yourdomain.com
cd yourdomain.com

# Install dependencies
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

# Set permissions
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/yourdomain.com
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/yourdomain.com
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/yourdomain.com/writable  # CodeIgniter

# Copy and configure .env
cp .env.example .env
nano .env  # Edit database credentials etc.

name: Deploy to Production

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main  # Trigger on push to main branch

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js (if needed)
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test

      - name: Build project
        run: npm run build

      - name: Deploy to server via SSH
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v1.0.3
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.SERVER_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.SERVER_USER }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          port: 22
          script: |
            cd /var/www/yourdomain.com
            git pull origin main
            npm ci --production
            pm2 restart my-app
            echo "Deployment complete!"

name: Deploy PHP App

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup PHP
        uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with:
          php-version: '8.1'

      - name: Install Composer dependencies
        run: composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

      - name: Deploy via SSH
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v1.0.3
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.SERVER_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.SERVER_USER }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          script: |
            cd /var/www/yourdomain.com
            git pull origin main
            composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
            php artisan migrate --force   # Laravel
            php artisan config:cache
            php artisan route:cache
            sudo systemctl reload php8.1-fpm
            echo "PHP app deployed!"

http {
    # Enable Gzip
    gzip on;
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_proxied any;
    gzip_comp_level 6;
    gzip_min_length 1000;
    gzip_types
        text/plain
        text/css
        text/javascript
        application/javascript
        application/json
        application/xml
        image/svg+xml;

    # Browser caching for static assets
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|woff2)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }
}

# Install Fail2Ban
sudo apt install fail2ban -y

# Create local config (don't edit jail.conf directly)
sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

# Key settings to configure:
# [DEFAULT]
# bantime  = 3600      # Ban for 1 hour
# findtime = 600       # Within 10 minutes
# maxretry = 5         # After 5 failed attempts

# [sshd]
# enabled = true
# port    = ssh
# logpath = %(sshd_log)s

# Start and enable
sudo systemctl start fail2ban
sudo systemctl enable fail2ban

# Check banned IPs
sudo fail2ban-client status sshd

#!/bin/bash
# Daily backup script - add to cron: 0 2 * * * /home/deploy/backup.sh

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
BACKUP_DIR="/home/deploy/backups"
WEB_DIR="/var/www/yourdomain.com"
DB_NAME="your_database"
DB_USER="db_user"
DB_PASS="db_password"

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup website files
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/files-$DATE.tar.gz" $WEB_DIR

# Backup database
mysqldump -u $DB_USER -p$DB_PASS $DB_NAME | gzip > "$BACKUP_DIR/db-$DATE.sql.gz"

# Delete backups older than 7 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

# Optional: Upload to S3
# aws s3 cp "$BACKUP_DIR/files-$DATE.tar.gz" s3://your-bucket/backups/
# aws s3 cp "$BACKUP_DIR/db-$DATE.sql.gz" s3://your-bucket/backups/