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How to setup and deploy a website on Ubuntu Server 16.04/18.04 and Install Free SSL Certificates

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Before going to set up and deploy a website on any hosting server, you need to register a domain for your website. There is various domain registrar available in the market to register a domain.

For more information, you can visit the below links:

  1. Bluehost
  2. HostGator
  3. GoDaddy
  4. Namecheap

NOTE: To set up and deploy a website on Linux Ubuntu Server, you need to install the following packages: Apache/Nginx

Note: In order to run below commands to set up and deploy a website, you need root access to the server.

Let’s Begin to set up a website “example.com”

Step 1:
First, create example.com.conf file on below location:

    
     /etc/apache2/sites-available

Step 2:
To create/edit the above file, please execute below command:

    
     $ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf
Step 3:
Paste below content in this file: 
    
     <VirtualHost *:80>
        # The ServerName directive sets the request scheme, hostname and port that
        # the server uses to identify itself. This is used when creating
        # redirection URLs. In the context of virtual hosts, the ServerName
        # specifies what hostname must appear in the request's Host: header to
        # match this virtual host. For the default virtual host (this file) this
        # value is not decisive as it is used as a last resort host regardless.
        # However, you must set it for any further virtual host explicitly.

        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com
        ServerName example.com
        ServerAlias www.example.com
        Redirect permanent "/" "https://example.com/"

        <Directory /var/www/example.com>
              AllowOverride All
        </Directory>

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

        # For most configuration files from conf-available/, which are
        # enabled or disabled at a global level, it is possible to
        # include a line for only one particular virtual host. For example the
        # following line enables the CGI configuration for this host only
        # after it has been globally disabled with "a2disconf".
        #Include conf-available/serve-cgi-bin.conf
</VirtualHost>
Step 4:
To active example.com site, please execute below command: 
    
     $ sudo a2ensite example.com.conf
Restart web server: 
    
     $ sudo service apache2 restart

ZeroSSL Free SSL Certificates

NOTE: Please follow the instrucions to generate SSL Certificates on above URL.

From the above URL, you will get following files:
example.com-csr.csr

example.com-crt.crt
example.com-key.key

Now, you need to put following files on below location:
example.com-crt.crt
example.com-key.key

Location:
/etc/ssl/example.com

Step 2:
First, create example.com-ssl.conf file on below location

    
     /etc/apache2/sites-available
Step 3:
To create/edit above file, please execute below command: 
    
     $ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com-ssl.con

Step 4:
Paste below content in this file:

    
     <IfModule mod_ssl.c>
        <VirtualHost _default_:443>
                ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
                ServerName example.com
                ServerAlias www.example.com
                #Redirect permanent "/" "https://example.com/"

                DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com

                # Available loglevels: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
                # error, crit, alert, emerg.
                # It is also possible to configure the loglevel for particular
                # modules, e.g.
                #LogLevel info ssl:warn

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

                # For most configuration files from conf-available/, which are
                # enabled or disabled at a global level, it is possible to
                # include a line for only one particular virtual host. For example the
                # following line enables the CGI configuration for this host only
                # after it has been globally disabled with "a2disconf".
                #Include conf-available/serve-cgi-bin.conf

                #   SSL Engine Switch:
                #   Enable/Disable SSL for this virtual host.
                SSLEngine on

                #   A self-signed (snakeoil) certificate can be created by installing
                #   the ssl-cert package. See
                #   /usr/share/doc/apache2/README.Debian.gz for more info.
                #   If both key and certificate are stored in the same file, only the
                #   SSLCertificateFile directive is needed.
                SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/example.com/example.com-crt.crt
                SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/example.com/example.com-key.key
                
                #SSLOptions +FakeBasicAuth +ExportCertData +StrictRequire
                <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
                    SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
                </FilesMatch>
                <Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
                    SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
                </Directory>
        </VirtualHost>
</IfModule>
Step 5:
To active example.com site, please execute below command: 
    
     $ sudo a2ensite example.com-ssl.conf
Restart web server: 
    
     $ sudo service apache2 restart

Conclusion

This article will help people to set up and deploy a website on Linux machine especially Ubuntu 16.04/18.04 without spending too much time reading many blogs/articles.

If you have suggestions or any question please mention in comment. For more information reach out to EncoreSky.

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