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public:computers:vps_tips_tricks

This is an old revision of the document!


05 : Computers

VPS Notes

GM4SLV.ORG.UK VPS : New VPS created 6 March 2025
  • Wiki backed-up and moved from yaddnet.org to new gm4slv.org.uk VPS
  • SSL Certificate replaced to enable HTTPS
GM4SLV.ORG.UK VPS : CANCELLED AND DELETED 9th October 2024
  • Wiki functionality easily provided by yaddnet.org VPS
  • wiki pages & data transferred to yaddnet.org
  • Fasthosts deleted VPS following telephone confirmation
    • deletion/cancellation not possible via Control Panel
    • telephone call-back needed to confirm

Old information below is for historical information

OS      : Debian 10 (Buster)
RAM     : 0.5GB
Network : 400MB 
SSD     : 10GB

IP Address : 213.171.209.127
Hostname   : gm4slv.org.uk
Open Ports : ssh, http, https

Domain Name  : gm4slv.org.uk
Renewal date : 3/4/2024

Access via FastHosts

Installing SSL for HTTPS

Create Certificates

First : obtain SSL Certificates

Configure APACHE

Second : configure Apache to use HTTPS

Confirm proper security

20/04/23 Renew SSL Certificate

  • new Signed and CA (intermediate) certificates obtained and installed in /usr/local/ssl

Hardware Upgrade 20/4/23

  • Original configuration VPS XS : 500MB RAM and 10GB SSD @ £1 per month (plus VAT)
  • Upgrade to VPS S : 1GB RAM and 20GB SSD @ £3 per month (plus VAT)
  • VPS rebooted for upgrade
  • RAM seems to have increased to 1GB but reported 'df -h' still shows 7.5GB total for / and 1.9GB for Swap. This is only 10GB.
  • Perhaps more time is needed for VM to catch up and expand the Virtual Hard Drive?
  • Gotcha…. the Virtual Drive was increased to 20GB, but not the partition or the filesystem… the only way to get a full 20GB was to “rebuild” the VPS….
  • took a backup of the dokuwiki files (rsync mirrored them to shack PC). Hit “Rebuild” and built a new VPS. Applied for replacement SSL keys (had to make a new CSR/KEY first)…
  • Used rsync to send back the dokuwiki files (from the shack PC mirror)
  • set up Apache2 to use the new SSL certificates…
  • VPS is now rebuilt and all wiki files restored & Apache2 uses HTTPS.

Debian Upgrade 15/2/24

  • Upgraded from Buster (10) → Bullseye (11)
  • Upgraded Dokuwiki (this needed PHP7.4 from Buster, which is why the Debian upgrade was necessary) to the newest version (Release 2024-02-06a “Kaos”)
  • Upgraded from Bullseye (11) → Bookwork (12) - might as well get to STABLE

Debian Upgrade 16/2/24

  • Upgraded to Trixie (testing)
gm4slv@gm4slv:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux trixie/sid
Release:        n/a
Codename:       trixie
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
 
 
#deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
#deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
 
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  • Dokuwiki still working correctly with latest versions of Apache and PHP
gm4slv@gm4slv:~$ php --version
PHP 8.2.12 (cli) (built: Jan  8 2024 06:21:20) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.12, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.2.12, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

2024 gm4slv.org.uk domain renewed

  • 03/04/24 Domain Name auto-renewed for 2 years until April 2026
  • 04/04/24 SSL Certificate auto-renewed for 1 year until May 2025

04/04/24 : Install Renewed SSL Certificate

  • SSL Certificates Auto Renewed by Fasthosts
  • download new certificates from Fasthosts control panel:
    • New “Certificate” downloaded and renamed “signed.crt”
    • New “Intermediate Certificate” downloaded and renamed “ca.pem”
  • copied both → VPS $HOME dir via SCP
  • On VPS →
    • copied current /usr/local/ssl/ca.pemca_old.pem
    • copied current /usr/local/ssl/signed.crtsigned_old.crt
    • copied new ca.pem from $HOME to /usr/local/ssl/ca.pem
    • copied new signed.crt from $HOME to /usr/local/ssl/signed.crt
    • restarted apache sudo service apache2 restart
  • check new valid certificate now in use in web browser
    • Validity Issued on & Expires on dates now show new certificate is in use

New VPS : March 2025

  • New VPS 1 obtained at Fasthosts
Type:Virtual Machine
Size:vps 1 2 60
Cpu:1 vCore
RAM:2 GB
Disk:60 GB NVMe SSD
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
Release:        24.04
Codename:       noble
  • Installed PHP and Apache2
  • configured SSL per previous method SSL Install on VPS
  • changed SSH port from 22, changed VPS firewall to suit new SSH port
  • Ubunto OS update and upgrade and dist-upgrade

Security

  • previous installations used .htaccess to prevent access to conf/lib/bin etc.
  • this time I decided not to use .htaccess but to follow the alternative instructions in https://www.dokuwiki.org/security to use LocationMatch

Location Match method

add to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl.conf

<LocationMatch "/(data|conf|bin|inc|vendor)/">
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
    Satisfy All
</LocationMatch>

sudo service apache2 restart

htaccess method

add to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl.conf

         <Directory /var/www/html>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride None
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>

sudo service apache2 restart

John Pumford-Green Wed May 4 09:03:28 2022

Page Updated : 06/03/25 13:03 GMT

public/computers/vps_tips_tricks.1741266185.txt.gz · Last modified: 06/03/25 13:03 GMT by john