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How would you set up a private shared Web hosting VPS?
I've been a DreamHost customer for well over a decade, and while they have been rock solid and easy to use, I'm now up for the challenge to replace them by building a simple Web hosting VPS that would let me easily manage several web sites and domains.
These sites are small, low-traffic personal sites and a couple "friend" client sites for various local organizations. I have two small WordPress sites, and about six gpEasy and/or DokuWiki sites.
Unique domains point to each site.
OK, so I got a great deal on a VPS Resource Pool from HostMyBytes with 4GB RAM and 5 IPs to create up to 5 VPS's. So far, I'm very happy with performance and the flexibility the resource pool provides. And given my needs, I think that I have sufficient online resources to create one or more VPS's that should handle my several sites.
My strategy is to install a control panel to manage the domains and sites. I'm thinking setting up either CentOS VPS and the CentOS Web Panel, or using Ubuntu and some other control panel like Vesta, WebMin, or some such. I'd then use DreamHost solely as a registrar and DNS to point to my VPS and dump their Web hosting.
So how would you approach this?
I know this will be a challenge since I'm not a Linux guru, but I have palyed around with VPS's for about a year now, and I have managed hosted sites for many years. And if I can make this work, it will save me about 2/3 the cost of what I'm paying DreamHost.
Comments
I don't think you need a panel unless people are actively making emails and bitching for support, and adding new sites over time. You give them an ssh/jail account and let them use sftp for uploads.
If you don't really need a panel you can go with something like vpssim.com or centminmod.com. I'd also use CloudFlare for DNS.
The panel would really be for my benefit, though I'm not opposed to learning the required command line stuff.
As always, suggesting VestaCP for free panel. Looks neat and works fine. Some people will say it's not secure enough, but nothing is 100% secure.
Another one is ispconfig, which is also free. But I haven't used this much.
Well, your obvious choices are cpanel, vestacp and a few other choices I can't remember.
Vesta basic is free, cpanel not.
Both of them add overhead and more things like security to be concerned about.
Vestacp is not really recommended by those who use it for "production". Funny thing is everyone's definition of production differs.
I'd go without a panel if you only had 5-10 websites.
i would suggest a panel for both your and the client's benefit. Most don't know how to handle a site through SSH. cpanel and plesk are good options, but they're paid. Kloxo MR is a good free option as well. You can manage a shared hosting server with those pretty easily
Puppet.
either go with command line options like centminmod or vpssim, or go for Webmin, if you want a free panel.
I'm hosting few website in 1GB ram VPS without a panel. Debian 7 and Nginx works pretty fast.
Kloxo MR is superb I use it for all my VPSes
The problem with your approach is that things will inevitably go wrong at some point, and you are going to be better served by having those admin skills already honed rather than trying to get up to speed at the time of a crisis. If your main reason to switch to a VPS from a managed provider is simply cost, you generally find that saving a few bucks won't compensate you for your time.
I used DreamHost myself for a long time, and it was only a mix of service failures and a desire to provide services that they didn't offer that finally got me to switch to a VPS. But I've been a Linux user for over two decades, so I'm not relying on any panels to do the heavy lifting for me. If you're going the VPS route, I highly suggest going all the way and actually learn to use the system(s) you've got.
I would recommend webmin with virtualmin.
Fairly easy to get up to speed with and really eases the task of managing multiple sites.
Also provides a straightforward way for the end-user to manage the day-to-day stuff.
Use a panel that supports nginx and php-fpm. I'm using ajenti with the ajenti V add-on.
@jbarr
There is very little command line stuff. Just learn to install apache-mod-php5 and mysql with phpmyadmin. and then it's very easy. If you need help contact me I'd gladly help and tell you what and how to do.
Not sure why you need the 5 IPs or 5 VMs, btw. You could easily host everything on one IP on one VM and save yourself the headache.
Also...if you're keeping Dreamhost for DNS...why not just host there? I don't see the point of self-hosting AND Dreamhost. You could do DNS yourself or do it at your registrar or use a DNS service.
If you're a complete n00b, I'd recommend cPanel because there's support and it's very standard. But of course it's $15/mo.
I really doubt you're going to save money moving off Dreamhost, though of course you may have other motivations like the fun of DIY and that's cool. I'm also skeptical you'll find it easier to manage...by all means, if you want to learn linux, hosting, etc. then go for it, but you're going to spend more money and a lot more time. Which of course may be just what you want :-)
Thanks everyone for your input! Your varied suggestions are exactly what I expected, and they do help.
I definitely agree with the several "command line" suggestions, and particularly @impossiblystupid in that learning the system is really more important in the long run than simple convenience in the short run.
That said, I'll check into some of the panels mentioned, however my first goal is really to learn the concepts of adding multiple domains, users, and Web sites to the server. I've had absolutely NO problems in learning how to set up "single site" VPS's running all sorts of sites--it's the "multi-site" concept that I need to get through.
Also, my DreamHost account doesn't expire until October of this year, so that should give me ample time to work through everything.
I suggest using nginx. Make a new server on digitalocean, vultr, amazon or elsewhere with hourly billing, set up serverpilot.io(free package is fine) and see what their configuration files are like.
They use nginx+apache, but you can throw out apache from the picture and you can go with nginx only. with php5-fpm and mariadb, it's very good without the control panel overhead.
make 1 vps with 2 GB ram and install webuzo control panel / CentOS web panel
create 2 vps with 1gb or less ram and install ngnix and varnish on it
configure the ngnix as a reverse proxy
and you know the rest...
But 90% of the fun comes when you have more than 1 VPS! I don't really need anything more than SQLite databases for most of what I do, but if I did I would definitely set aside a server (or two) just for that task, possibly even making it IPv6-only.
DH doesn't get you much bang for your buck for either their shared hosting or VPS offerings. As a registrar, they've been fine, and I've had no real problems with their DNS. Until the need arises to make a switch, I'm not going to bother changing it.
Well, I went from their $9.99/month plan to a $15/year RamNode server than handles all my modest needs (with a faster response time, no less). I do have to do the admin work, yes, but at least I can do the admin work. With DH, they'd get into a state where they would block their own servers for sending spam, so I couldn't even internally send myself the output from my cron jobs! It all comes down to what trade-offs are acceptable to you when it comes to costs, savings, and value.
That's impossibly stupid.
cPanel
All the suggestions here make no consideration of your admission of lack of experience. Add additional layers of complexity and when one layer fails....
try Kloxo-MR panel, it's great. i used it for my webhosting service
Well, it looks like I'm going to go the command line all the way.
Digital Ocean has some EXCELLENT tutorials on Nginx and LEMP stacks on Ubuntu that clearly explain the concepts I need including server blocks (virtual hosts).
I now have a skeleton of a multi-site structure for several domains, each pointing to their respective site roots. I now just have to play around with moving or rebuilding the several sites and test the hell out of it.
Obviously, there are scores of ways to do this, but forcing myself to learn the command line route helps me better understand what's going on, and will help later on with troubleshooting.
I definitely want at least 3 VPS's: Sandbox, Test, Production. The resource pool gives me the flexibility I want.
All of my domains are registered with Dreamhost, and from what I've read, cancelling the hosting but keeping the registrar service still provides the DNS service I need to point the domains at my new site. The registration costs obviously won't go away, but the hosting cost will drop from $98 per year down to under $50 per year. A modest savings, but a savings none the less.
I'm only a n00b to the extent that I don't manage Linux regularly. But I know my way around a command line enough to create a relatively secure a host and provide single-site Web services. But I love to learn!
Since I do this as a hobby, I generally count my time spent as learning. In the end, if my wife sees a yearly bill for $48.00 versus a bill for $98.00, life is good!
I'd start with a control panel in the production vps and use a leb to fiddle. If margins allow hire a sysadmin
...until she sees the $15.49/mo bill from HMB...
>
Actually, no. I purchased one of their specials: VPS Resource Pool ("Olympic") 4GB RAM, 5 IPs, 200GB disk, 5TB bandwidth for up to VPS's for $48.00 yearly recurring. At only $4.00 per month, I couldn't pass it up.
If you want to host you sites there, then, don't go with the command line until you are sure you know how to handle it. Buy a very small / ridiculously cheap vps to learn well command line and in your main vps, install a control panel. It will save you time and solve you problems that maybe will arise. When you are sure you know how to handle terminal, then, use it for production.
Vestacp is a good choice. It is very simple with basic functions, you can give client's access to your customers/friends and secure ftp access to their handle web sites.
I would propose to install a better free panel that is, in fact, a front page from self installed components (apache or nginx, mysql or mariadb, whatever php flavor you want, dovecot etc.). This is ISPconfig. You install manually all the elements, but don't be afraid of that thought. There are incredible tutorials even a complete n00bie can use: ispconfig.org/documentation/
The only thing with ISPconfig is that the panel itself, even if it has a very clean and well structured interface, has tons of functions. It is very easy to just setup a website there, but, if you know very little about handling a web server, maybe you will get lost when you try to trim anything.
As of overhead, a control panel would be an issue if your vps was 128/256MB ram in a small vcpu core. When we talk about a 4GB ram vps (and from a company whos their vps are very strong), then, there is almost no difference in installing a control panel and just use the console.
Also, a panel like ispconfig or vestacp in a debian os will be less hungry than centos os with centminmod (even when we talk for minimal differences and load).