How to setup new Ubuntu web server

This manual provide information about how to setup Ubuntu server to work as web server. I personally use Python language to bild my applications with Django framework. But you can find useful informaton for your use case, for example - you learn how to setup Postfix to send emails from your server to real users.

NOTE. You can use a script fabfile.py that allows you to run command fab init_server to install all required packages on your new Ubuntu server. This script is under development.

Prepare server to work

On local Linux/Mac:

• generate ssh key (if you don't have one): ssh-keygen -t rsa
• copy key to use on server cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
• connect to server via ssh ssh username@ip-address

On server (Ubuntu):

• add your SSH key to your server .ssh/known_hosts (that you copied before)
• disconnect from server and try connect again ssh username@ip-address (should not ask for password)
• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
• sudo apt-get install python-pip python-dev nginx git memcached
• sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev - to work with images. See other formats

Install database

Postgres

sudo apt-get install postgresql postgresql-contrib libpq-dev

# create database for your website
sudo su - postgres
psql

# > CREATE DATABASE `myproject` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8;
# > CREATE USER myprojectuser WITH PASSWORD 'password';
# > GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE myproject TO myprojectuser;
# > \q

# return to original user
exit

MySQL

sudo apt-get install mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev
sudo mysql_install_db && sudo mysql_secure_installation

# create database for your website
mysql -u root -p

# > CREATE DATABASE `myproject` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8;
# > CREATE USER myprojectuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
# > GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myproject.* TO myprojectuser@localhost;
# > FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
# > \q

# fix problem with timezone like this "Database returned an invalid value in QuerySet.dates()"
mysql_tzinfo_to_sql /usr/share/zoneinfo | mysql -u root -p mysql

You can restore your database from dump if you migrate data from old server.

Use virtualenv

This allow you to work with multiple projects on a single server. You can install different versions of django or other python packages on the same server. For example, project1 can work on django 1.6 and project2 can work on django 1.8.

Install python virtualenv:

sudo pip install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper
nano ~/.bashrc

# add this line to end of file:
# source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
# save and close file (Ctrl + X then Y)

# apply changes to use autocomplitions
source ~/.bashrc

Create new virtual environment for your website: mkvirtualenv projectname. To switch virtualenv to your project - type workon projectname.

To create virtual environment with python3 support you need to specify path to specific version of python.

# get path to python3 and use it below
$ which python3
/usr/local/bin/python3
$ mkvirtualenv -p /usr/local/bin/python3 projectname

# or this shortcut
mkvirtualenv projectname --python=$(which python3)

Clone git repo

# setup SSH key and add this server public key to github/bitbucket
ssh-keygen -t rsa
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

# clone your project to your user directory
git clone git@github.com:username/projectname.git
cd ~/projectname
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install gunicorn

Prepare Django project to work (optional)

Edit 'local_settings.py' of your django project:

• add database settings in DATABASES section
• STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static/")
• be sure that your settings.py include local_settings.py

Make migrations:

chmod +x manage.py

# you don't need to run these commands if you restored database from dump
./manage.py makemigrations
./manage.py migrate
./manage.py createsuperuser
./manage.py collectstatic

Test django project in work. Run ./manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000 and open your website http://ip-address:8000

Setup gunicorn and nginx

Run website to be served via gunicorn:

cd ~/myproject
gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 myproject.wsgi:application

Visit your website http://ip-address:8000 to test it in work. After this press Ctrl + X to exit from gunicorn session. Then run deactivate to exit from project virtualenv.

Edit file sudo nano /etc/init/gunicorn.conf and paste this content ()replace projectname and user to correct values):

description "Gunicorn application server handling projectname"

start on runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]

respawn
setuid user
setgid www-data
chdir /home/user/projectname

exec /home/user/.virtualenvs/projectname/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:/home/user/projectname/projectname.sock projectname.wsgi:application

Start gunicorn sudo service gunicorn start.

Configure Nginx to Proxy Pass to Gunicorn

Paste content to this file sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/projectname:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name server_domain_or_IP;
    # limit on upload file (up to 10 MB)
    client_max_body_size 10M;

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location /static/ {
        root /home/user/projectname;
    }

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/user/projectname/projectname.sock;
    }
}

Next steps:

• save this file
• enable this new website with command: sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/projectname /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
• test that nginx configured without errors: sudo nginx -t
• restart nginx: sudo service nginx restart
• visit your website

Read:

• How To Set Up Django with Postgres, Nginx, and Gunicorn on Ubuntu 14.04
• How To Add and Delete Users on an Ubuntu 14.04 VPS

Send email with POSTFIX

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install postfix

Use your real hostname, for example: mywebsite.com

Edit lines (use your hostname): sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf

myhostname = mywebsite.com
virtual_alias_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual
# Uncomment these lines:
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases

Add mapping for emails that you want to redirect: sudo nano /etc/postfix/virtual

info@mywebsite.com    admin office
order@mywebsite.com   admin office sales
support@mywebsite.com admin

And add appropriate "aliases" for recipient addresses: sudo nano /etc/aliases

# See man 5 aliases for format
postmaster:    root
admin:         admin@gmail.com
sales:         sales@gmail.com
office:        office@gmail.com

Compile emails database AND restart postfix:

# Build the /etc/aliases.db
sudo newaliases
# Restart the postfix service to have all changes applied
sudo postmap /etc/postfix/virtual
sudo service postfix reload
sudo service postfix restart

Read: How To Install and Setup Postfix on Ubuntu 14.04