VPS Setup: Create A Virtual Host

This is a subpost of the larger post Updated Comprehensive VPS Setup Documentation.

 

Once you have your FQDN forwarded to the VPS, create a directory for it with;

mkdir /var/www/[fqdn]/

Now we make a new virtualhost conf file with this command. Again, substitute your fqdn;

cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/[fqdn].conf

Then edit the file with nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/[fqdn].conf

It needs to contain the following;

	ServerName [fqdn]

	ServerAdmin your_email@website.com
	DocumentRoot /var/www/[fqdn]/

	ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
	CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

Activate the new virtualhost with a2ensite [fqdn] and if you haven’t already done this, deactivate the default virtualhost with a2dissite 000-default.conf

Restart apache with service apache2 restart so the changes take effect.

 

Automated Backups

If you want to setup automated backups, create a new directory for the backups;

mkdir /var/backups/[fqdn]

 

Add the following line to /etc/crontab in order to facilitate automatic daily backups;
0 22 * * * root tar -cf /var/backups/[fqdn]/www-backup-$( date +'\%Y-\%m-\%d_\%H-\%M-\%S' ).gz /var/www/[fqdn]

 

Or if you would prefer weekly updates every Sunday night, use this instead;

0 0 * * 0 root tar -cf /var/backups/[fqdn]/www-backup-$( date +'\%Y-\%m-\%d_\%H-\%M-\%S' ).gz /var/www/[fqdn]