Server

Server

Login

Log in to server and use root password (accept new fingerprint)

ssh root@<server-ip>
ssh [email protected]

Use -i flag to allow selection of an ssh private key if you have multiple

Upgrade Server

Update server packages and upgrade system

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Set / Check Hostname

Set machine hostname

hostnamectl set-hostname <host-name>

Alternatively set hostname manually

echo "<host-name>" > /etc/hostname
hostname -F /etc/hostname

Show hostname, FQDN and DNS domain name

hostname
hostname --fqdn
dnsdomainname

Set Hosts

Add server IP entry and hostname for FQDN (fully qualified domain name) to /etc/hosts

<server-ip> <fqdn> <host-name>
12.34.567.890 host.domain.ext yourhostname

Configure FQDN DNS

Set the following DNS records to point to the server IP via DNS admin for the fully qualified domain name

• Point "A" record to server IPv4 address

• Point "AAAA" record to server IPv6 address (if IPv6 enabled)

Set Timezone

Set the timezone

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Check the server time

date

User and SSH Setup

Create Limited User

Create new limited user account and set a password (skip account details with enter)

adduser <user-name>

Add user to sudo group

adduser <user-name> sudo

Exit and log in as new user

exit
ssh <user-name>@<server-ip>

Set up SSH key

Create an RSA SSH key pair if you do not have one (on local machine)

ssh-keygen -b 4096

Make an .ssh directory on the server if one doesn't exist

mkdir -p ~/.ssh && sudo chmod -R 700 ~/.ssh/

Copy public key from local machine authorized_keys file

scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub <user-name>@<server-ip>:~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Set permissions on authorized_keys file on the server

chmod 600 .ssh/authorized_keys

Configure SSH Daemon

Edit the sshd config file

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Modify (or add) the following sshd_config settings

AllowUsers <user-name>
Port <Random port between 1025 and 65536>
PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
AddressFamily inet

Use AddressFamily inet to limit to IPv4 or AddressFamily inet6 for IPv6

Reload ssh daemon config

sudo systemctl restart sshd

Configure Firewall

Set initial default configuration

sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw default deny incoming

Configure http/s and ssh (use custom ssh port or ssh/tcp for default port 22)

sudo ufw allow http/tcp
sudo ufw allow https/tcp
sudo ufw allow <custom-ssh-port>/tcp

Set firewall logging on (logs output to /etc/logs/)

sudo ufw logging on

Check status of firewall rules (add verbose for details about logging)

sudo ufw status
sudo ufw status verbose

View UFW log files

sudo less /var/log/ufw.log

Remove Unused Services

View list of network running services (note package name)

sudo netstat -tulpn

Remove unused service package if not required

sudo apt-get purge <package-name>

Webserver

Apache

Install Apache web server

sudo apt-get install apache2

Configure Apache base settings

sudo nano /etc/apache2/conf-available/security.conf

Set the following configuration settings in security.conf

ServerTokens Prod
ServerSignature Off

Disable auto file listings and HTML based directory navigation

sudo a2dismod autoindex

Disable the default test page (and replace the default html file at /var/www/html with a blank index.html)

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

Disable MPM Event and set MPM to Prefork for PHP (mod_php)

sudo a2dismod mpm_event
sudo a2enmod mpm_prefork

Start and stop the apache server

sudo systemctl start apache2
sudo systemctl stop apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Reload apache configuration and show status

sudo systemctl reload apache2
systemctl status apache2

MySQL Server

Install MySQL Server (add a root user password when prompted)

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

Run MySQL secure installation and follow prompts

mysql_secure_installation

Create a utf8.cnf file to configure MySQL for UTF8

sudo nano /etc/msyql/conf.d/utf8.cnf

Add the following rules to utf8.cnf

[client]
default-character-set=utf8
[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8

Restart MySQL Server

sudo systemctl restart mysql

Log in to MySQL Server

mysql -u root -p

Check character set settings are correct

mysql> show variables like 'char%';

Alternatively check from settings output

mysql> \s

MySQL commands

sudo systemctl stop mysql
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl restart mysql

PHP

Install base PHP and additional PHP features

sudo apt-get install php7.0 libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-mysql php7.0-curl php7.0-gd php7.0-cli php7.0-xml

Create php log directory

sudo mkdir /var/log/php
sudo chown www-data /var/log/php

Configure php.ini for logging

sudo nano /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini

Add or update the error log file rule location

error_log = /var/log/php/error.log

Restart/reload Apache for changes to apply

sudo systemctl restart apache2
sudo systemctl reload apache2

Mail

Install Postfix to allow PHP to send email

sudo apt-get install libsasl2-modules postfix

Set up using the following values

Mail type configuration: Internet Site
Host Name: <mail-hostname>

Postfix settings file (confirm host name is set correctly)

/etc/postfix/main.cf

Configure mail to send/receive only from the local host (main.cf)

inet_interfaces = loopback-only

Restart postfix after making configuration changes

sudo systemctl restart postfix

Postfix commands (status | start | stop | reload | restart)

sudo systemctl <command> postfix

Send a test email using sendmail via command line (finish command with .)

sendmail [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Test mail
This is a test email
.

Send a test email one line command (add -v to generate debug information /var/mail/<user>)

echo "Subject: Test email" | sendmail [email protected]

Git

Install and configure git

sudo apt-get install git

Web site setup

Manage sites with git

Create bare repo on server

git init --bare <path>/<repo>

Add remote bare repo as an origin for local repo and push

git remote add origin ssh://<server>/<path>/<repo>
git push origin master

Clone repo to www directory on server

sudo git clone <path>/<repo> /var/www/<site>

Set folder and file permissions

Allow Apache write permission for folders used by upload scripts (eg. CMS uploads)

sudo chmod 775 <folder>
sudo chgrp www-data <folder>

Configure and enable sites

Web server site directories

/var/www/<site>

Create and edit virtual host configuration file

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/<site>.conf

Enable/Disable site configuration

sudo a2ensite <site>.conf
sudo a2dissite <site>.conf

Reload Apache to apply changes

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Add Subdomains

• Using DNS Manager add a new A/AAAA record for the domain

• Add a virtual hosts entry for your subdomain in the Apache site conf

• Reload Apache configuration (DNS propagation for new entries will depend on TTL)

Database Setup

Import/Export Database

Export database data from existing DB

mysqldump -u root -p <database> > <file.sql>

Import database data into new DB

mysqladmin -u root -p create <database>
mysql -u root -p <database> < <file.sql>

Configure Database

Log in to MySQL Server

mysql -u root -p

List the databases

show databases;

Create general user

CREATE USER <user>@localhost IDENTIFIED BY '<password>';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Grant general privileges

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON <database>.* TO <user>@localhost;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Get list of users

SELECT User FROM mysql.user;

Show permission for user

SHOW GRANTS FOR <user>@localhost;

General database commands

use <database>;
show tables;
select * from <table>;

Crontab Setup

List (-l), edit (-e) and remove (-r) crontab entries

crontab -l
crontab -e
crontab -r

Edit crontab for a different user

sudo -u <user> crontab -e

Server Reboot Management

Display which services are currently running, and which are listed to start on boot

sudo service --status-all

Domain management and DNS configuration

Set name servers

Set domain name server entries for host via domain registrar admin

Add email SPF rules

Add A record for SPF rule to allow scripts to send email from server via google

Google sending only

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

Google and domain allowed to send

v=spf1 a include:_spf.google.com ~all

Configure Reverse DNS

Set reverse DNS via host DNS manager to use server configured fully qualified domain name (FQDN)

Additional debugging and logs

Admin Mail

Local user mail messages

cat /var/mail/<user>

Empty system mail file for user using >

> /var/mail/<user>

DNS Status

Check DNS status and update time remaining ("Answer" section shows time remaining in seconds)

dig <domain>

Check DNS status for a specific domain name server

dig @<dns-server> <domain>

Logs

View PHP and Apache error log output

tail -f /var/log/php/error.log
sudo tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log

Browse other log files

cd /var/log/

Empty log files using >

> /var/log/<log-file>

Apache

View server status web summary

curl localhost/server-status

Test mod default gzip (fetch with and without gzip header to compare) on a uncompressed js or css file

wget --header="Accept-Encoding: gzip" http://<domain>/<file>