Hosting Tutorials

Creating Email Accounts

To create a new email account:

1. Go to "Mail" in the left sidebar
2. Click "Create Email Address"
3. Enter the email name (before @) and password
4. Set the mailbox size (default is 100MB)
5. Click "OK" to create the account

Accessing Webmail

Plesk offers several webmail options:

1. Go to "Mail"
2. Click "Webmail" next to the email account
3. Choose your preferred webmail client (Roundcube recommended)
4. Log in with your email credentials

Setting Up Email Forwarders

To forward emails from one address to another:

1. Go to "Mail"
2. Click "Mail Forwarding"
3. Click "Add Forwarding"
4. Enter the source email and destination address
5. Click "OK" to save

Configuring Spam Protection

Plesk includes SpamAssassin for spam filtering:

1. Go to "Mail"
2. Click "Spam Filter"
3. Enable "Spam Filter"
4. Set your preferred spam score (5 is recommended)
5. Choose whether to delete spam or move to Spam folder
6. Click "OK" to save settings

Configuring Email Clients

Use these settings for email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird:

• Incoming Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com
• IMAP Port: 993 (SSL)
• POP3 Port: 995 (SSL)
• Outgoing Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com
• SMTP Port: 465 (SSL) or 587 (TLS)
• Authentication: Required for both incoming and outgoing

Accessing HestiaCP

To access your HestiaCP control panel:

1. Open your web browser and navigate to: https://your-server-ip:8083
2. Enter your username and password (provided during installation)
3. Click "Log In" to access the dashboard

HestiaCP Interface Overview

The HestiaCP interface is clean and straightforward:

• Dashboard: Overview of server resources and statistics
• Web: Manage domains, DNS, and SSL certificates
• Mail: Email accounts and settings
• Databases: MySQL and PostgreSQL management
• Users: Create and manage user accounts
• Server: Server-wide settings and configuration

Adding Your First Domain

To add a new domain in HestiaCP:

1. Click on "Web" in the top menu
2. Click the "Add Web Domain" button
3. Enter your domain name (e.g., example.com)
4. Choose whether to enable statistics and SSL
5. Click "Add" to create the domain

Uploading Website Files

You can upload files using either the File Manager or FTP:

Using File Manager:

1. Go to "Web" and click on your domain
2. Click "File Manager"
3. Navigate to the public_html folder
4. Click "Upload" and select your files

Using FTP:

1. Use an FTP client with your server credentials
2. Connect to your server
3. Upload files to the public_html directory

Creating FTP Accounts

To create separate FTP accounts:

1. Go to "Web" and click on your domain
2. Click "FTP Accounts"
3. Click "Add FTP Account"
4. Enter username and password
5. Set the path (usually /web/domain.com/public_html)
6. Click "Add" to create the account

Windows Users: Using PuTTY

1. Download and install PuTTY from putty.org
2. Open PuTTY and enter your server's IP address in the "Host Name" field
3. Ensure the port is set to 22 (default SSH port)
4. Click "Open" to start the connection
5. When prompted, enter your username (usually "root")
6. Enter your password when prompted (note: no characters will appear as you type)
7. You're now connected to your VPS!

Mac/Linux Users: Using Terminal

1. Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal on Mac)
2. Type the following command, replacing with your server IP:

ssh root@your-server-ip

3. When prompted, type "yes" to accept the server's fingerprint
4. Enter your password when prompted
5. You're now connected to your VPS!

Using SSH Keys (More Secure)

For better security, use SSH keys instead of passwords:

Generating SSH Keys (Windows):

1. Download and install PuTTYgen from the PuTTY website
2. Open PuTTYgen and click "Generate"
3. Move your mouse randomly to generate randomness
4. Save the private key to a secure location
5. Copy the public key from the text box

Generating SSH Keys (Mac/Linux):

1. Open Terminal and run:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

2. Press Enter to accept the default file location
3. Enter a passphrase (optional but recommended)
4. View your public key with:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Adding Key to Your VPS:

1. Connect to your VPS as shown above
2. Run these commands:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

3. Paste your public key into the file
4. Save the file (Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter in nano)
5. Set permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

6. Disable password authentication (optional but recommended):

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find and change these lines:

PasswordAuthentication no
PermitRootLogin without-password

Restart SSH:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

Basic SSH Commands

Here are some essential commands to get started:

• ls - List directory contents
• cd - Change directory
• pwd - Show current directory
• mkdir - Create a new directory
• rm - Remove files
• cp - Copy files
• mv - Move/rename files
• nano - Simple text editor
• top - View running processes
• exit - End your SSH session

Initial Login and Updates

After connecting via SSH (see previous tutorial), first update your system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

Creating a New User

It's safer to avoid using root. Create a new user:

sudo adduser username

Replace "username" with your desired username. Set a strong password.

Grant sudo privileges:

sudo usermod -aG sudo username

Setting Up Basic Firewall

UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) makes firewall management easy:

sudo apt install ufw
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

Installing Essential Tools

These packages are useful for most servers:

sudo apt install -y \
    git curl wget unzip \
    htop nano tmux \
    fail2ban logwatch

Configuring Timezone

Set your server's timezone:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Follow the prompts to select your region.

Setting Up Automatic Updates

For security, enable automatic updates:

sudo apt install unattended-upgrades
sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades

Select "Yes" when prompted.

Installing a Control Panel

For easier management, install HestiaCP:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hestiacp/hestiacp/release/install/hst-install.sh
sudo bash hst-install.sh

Or Plesk:

sh <(curl https://autoinstall.plesk.com/one-click-installer || wget -O - https://autoinstall.plesk.com/one-click-installer)

Monitoring Resources

Install and use htop to monitor resources:

sudo apt install htop
htop

Key information in htop:

• CPU usage per core
• Memory usage
• Swap usage
• Running processes
• Load average

Securing SSH

Edit the SSH configuration:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Recommended changes:

Port 2222  # Change from default 22
PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
AllowUsers username

Restart SSH after changes:

sudo systemctl restart sshd