Simple VPS provisionning with basic LAMP server via OVH Manager and OVH Public Cloud. We will go through the whole process: creating the instance, configuring it, connecting via SSH to install Apache and then finally testing the connection.

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Pre-requisites

  • OVH account with Manager Access
  • Basic Linux knowledge (SSH, vim, apt)
  • Motivation ๐Ÿ˜ƒ
  • Estimated time of completion: 10 min

Add your SSH Key in the OVH Manager

Refer to https://docs.ovh.com/gb/en/public-cloud/create-ssh-keys/ to create one. Have your public+private key saved somewhere as TXT format, no matter the extension.

In your OVH Manager, go to โ€˜Cloud > Create new Project > Fill info > SSH Keys > Add > Add your public SSH Keyโ€™.

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Create the VPS instance!

Infrastructure > Actions > Add a server:

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  • Select your closest geographic area, i.e. London UK 1
  • Select Debian 9
  • Select the cheapest, S1-2, which stands for Server 1 vCore CPU + 2BG RAM + 10 Go HDD
  • The SSH Key should be pre-selected
  • Leave Advanced options as is
  • Click Launch Now

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Wait 2-5 minutes and a popup should appear with the server IP and the linux root username. In my case it was ssh debian@54.38.40.76. To open this window again click on โ€˜Login Informationsโ€™.

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Letโ€™s connect and run a quick enumeration:

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Server is up and running, great!!

Install Apache and create a HTML test page

$ sudo apt update # refresh all repo
$ sudo apt install apache2 # install apache
$ cd # make sure we are in our home folder
$ mkdir public_html && cd public_html # create public_html, per Apache convention
$ touch index.html && echo "Hello world from OVH Cloud Iaas!" > index.html # create basic html file
$ sudo chgrp www-data ~/public_html # edit permission to have www-data as group owner
$ sudo a2enmod userdir # enable apache module "userdir"
$ sudo service apache2 restart # restart apache

See https://wiki.debian.org/LaMp for details

And thatโ€™s it! Open http://54.38.40.76/~debian/ in a browser:

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Advanced configuration with OpenStack Dashboard: Horizon

Open the advanced dashboard through the tab OpenStack. Create a user and start Horizon:

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It will open in a new tab:

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Browse to your instances, and find an overview, the server log and an open stack console:

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Add alert with usage threshold (I ainโ€™t paying more than 1โ‚ฌ per month!!)

Project Management > Usage > Estimate of my next invoice > Create alert:

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Going further

  • Install full LAMP with PHP and MySQL
  • Install Plesk for server management made easy (hostnames, HTTPs, one-click wordpress, cron via UI, usersโ€ฆ)
  • Install and connect 100Go Storage disk to host nextcloud data