A Beginner's Guide to Configuring VPS (EC2)

1. Create a User Group and Add Users

Managing users in your EC2 instance starts with setting up user groups.

• Add a group:

sudo addgroup <groupname>

• Add a user:

sudo adduser <username>

• Change the user password:

sudo passwd <username>

• Add user to the group:

sudo adduser <username> <groupname>

2. Enable SSH with User Accounts

SSH access is crucial for managing your EC2 instance.

• Edit the SSH configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

• Change PasswordAuthentication to yes
• Change ChallengeResponseAuthentication to no
• Restart the SSH service:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

3. Set User and Group Permissions for Files/Folders

To set specific permissions for users or groups on files or directories, you need to install ACL.

• Install ACL:

sudo apt install acl

• Set permissions for a user:

setfacl -R -m u:<username>:<permissions> <file/folder>

• Set permissions for a group:

setfacl -R -m g:<groupname>:<permissions> <file/folder>

• Check permissions:

getfacl <file/folder>

4. Install and Configure Nginx

Nginx is one of the most popular web servers for serving websites.

• Install Nginx:

sudo apt install nginx

• Enable the Nginx service:

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'

• Create a custom Nginx server block:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/<your_domain>

Add your server configuration here.

server {
    server_name profile.cuocthien.io.vn;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:2368;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_headers_hash_max_size 512;
        proxy_headers_hash_bucket_size 128;
    }
}

• Link to sites-enabled:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<your_domain> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/<your_domain>

• Restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

5. Set Up SSL with Certbot

To secure your website, use SSL with Certbot.

• Install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

• Configure SSL:

sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

• Double check

cat /etc/nginx/sites-available/<your_domain>

 The result should be:

server {
    server_name profile.cuocthien.io.vn;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:2368;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_headers_hash_max_size 512;
        proxy_headers_hash_bucket_size 128;
    }



    listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/profile.cuocthien.io.vn/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/profile.cuocthien.io.vn/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

}

6. Install PM2 to Manage Node.js Applications

PM2 is a process manager for Node.js apps.

• Install Node.js:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.38.0/install.sh | bash

source ~/.bashrc

nvm install node

• Install PM2:

PM2 - Quick Start

Advanced process manager for production Node.js applications. Load balancer, logs facility, startup script, micro service management, at a glance.

PM2 logo

npm install pm2 -g

7. Install Docker

Docker is essential for containerizing applications.

• Install Docker:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable"

sudo apt install docker-ce

sudo systemctl status docker

• Install Docker Compose:

sudo apt-get install docker-compose

Get started

Get started with Docker

Docker Documentation

Helpful tools

a. Managing Zip and Unzip Files

If you need to work with compressed files, follow these commands:

• Install Unzip:

sudo apt-get install unzip

• Unzip a file:

unzip file.zip -d destination_folder

• Install Zip:

sudo apt-get install zip

• Zip a folder:

zip -r compressed_filename.zip foldername

b. Copying Files Between Local and Remote

Transferring files between your local machine and EC2 instance can be done with scp:

1. Upload from local to remote:

scp -r /path/from/local username@hostname:/path/to/remote

2. Download from remote to local:

scp -r username@hostname:/path/from/remote /path/to/local

3. For custom SSH ports:

scp -r -P xxxx username@hostname:/path/from/remote /path/to/local