HypnoHub - How to host a site

Zyii

10/31/13 04:44AM

Okay so I checked today, and instead of the domain leading to the domain101 page, it leads to having a 404 error so I think I have it connected now?

I don't know how to tell if it is or not. Also what do I do once set up?

Stem_Cell

10/31/13 06:42AM

Zyii said:
Okay so I checked today, and instead of the domain leading to the domain101 page, it leads to having a 404 error so I think I have it connected now?

Probably, but we can be sure. There's a command-line program called "ping" built-in to every OS. It sends packets to an address to see if it responds.

First we should see if the IP by itself responds to ping (it should). So check what was the IPv4 IP of your RamNode VPS, open a console/command prompt (on Windows, run "cmd"), and type:

ping 123.123.123.123

where 123.123.123.123 should be substituted by your IPv4.

<<3.bp.blogspot.com/-vT3f1n...JJEgM/s1600/04+-+ping.jpg|Here's how it looks when the IP responds>>. If it doesn't, it could look <<0.tqn.com/d/compnetworkin...-ping-unresponsive_ip.png|like this>>.

Hopefully that should work. Now, it should also work if you use the domain name instead of the IP. So do it again, but instead of the IP, use your domain name, like

ping omg-ponies-everywhere.net

If all goes well next step is seeing if PHP's installed or install it, and drop whatever forum software you were used to before, so it'll feel like home.

Zyii

10/31/13 03:31PM

Bluh, I got request timeouts... I guess I need to check the server since the domains are pointing correctly to the nameservers.

slayerduck

10/31/13 04:57PM

You might wanna go nginx/php-fpm/mysql instead of the apache one, its so much faster its not even funny.

i'm a sys admin available for hire, only 85$/hour! :)

Stem_Cell

10/31/13 07:32PM

Zyii said:
Bluh, I got request timeouts... I guess I need to check the server since the domains are pointing correctly to the nameservers.

I'll assume you mean that you can ping the IP but not the domain name.
Weird, I wonder where it's pointing at, then. Maybe you should check that:

* On your domain registrar, you have chosen to use custom nameservers (in case it offers "default" ones, or whatever) and set those to be the ones RamNode has given you when you signed up for the free DNS hosting. It is likely they are similar to "ns1.ramnode.com", etc. but check. It's likely on an e-mail.
* On RamNode's free DNS hosting, you have configured the domain to point to the IP of your VPS. Note that this is different from just the name you've set when you rented the hosting (that was just an identifier).

To further clear up the second point:

* Log into the RamNode DNS cPanel.
* Find an "Advanced DNS Editor" and change the default "A Record" to match your domain name with the IPv4 associated with your VPS.

slayerduck said:
You might wanna go nginx/php-fpm/mysql instead of the apache one, its so much faster its not even funny.

I use nginx personally, but I think Apache is such a "default install" that it's easier not to think about it (for example it guarantees he won't have to think why some .htaccess file doesn't work).

slayerduck said:
i'm a sys admin available for hire, only 85$/hour! :)

And you're probably worth it, I'm only intermediary-level with these things :P

Zyii

10/31/13 11:40PM

No I meant it doesn't even pick up on the IP <<puu.sh/553AC.png|at all>> either.

But to say what I do have so far; I have the domain pointing to the NameSevers, and in the CPanel, I edited the A Record to have it set to the IPv4 Address too; though there are other IPv4 addresses still there, and I'm assuming I need to change those too since they should be located in the same server. Right?

Stem_Cell

11/01/13 05:34AM

Zyii said:
No I meant it doesn't even pick up on the IP <<puu.sh/553AC.png|at all>> either.

That shouldn't happen :P

Go to your <<clientarea.ramnode.com/clientarea.php?action=products|client area>>, and check that it says "active" for your VPS, click details, check that it says "online" under Virtual Server Control, and just for good measure reboot it and try again anyway even if it is.

Also, there's a list of IPs there, make sure that the one you're using is the first one listed there.

Stem_Cell

11/01/13 05:55AM

Actually, <<i.imgur.com/JoW1hsC.png|what the fuck?>>

It works! :)

Zyii

11/01/13 06:24AM

Stem_Cell said:
Actually, <<i.imgur.com/JoW1hsC.png|what the fuck?>>

It works! :)

OMG it does!! <<25.media.tumblr.com/3d435...3ahaf1sg36y7o2_r1_250.gif|Yay!>>

Now to figure out how to dump that software into the server...

Stem_Cell

11/01/13 07:09AM

Well yes, now comes the part where we put stuff in the server. Thankfully now all the steps will be much nicier because hey, there's a server out there and it's yours, with domain name and all :)

You can think of it as if it was a physical computer that's far away. Since it's Linux, accessing it is pretty convenient.

For this end, there's something called SSH (Secure Shell). It lets you access a computer remotely, and groups several facilities such as file transfers (you can use FTP software like FTPZilla), a console (command-line interface), and it's even possible to run GUI programs remotely (but it's not quite the kind of thing that anybody would do with a server).

You should install something like PuTTY (or any other SSH software) to use the command line on the remote machine, and something like FTPZilla (or any other FTP client with SSH support) to transfer files via drag-&-drop through Windows.

Then you should figure out what's the password for root on your VPS (may have been sent as an e-mail or something), and use that with PuTTY to see if you can establish a connection (you can connect to your server by name or by IP now).

I think it's pretty straightforward to use these softwares but here's a couple of guides:
analog24.net/pcosci/misc/puttytutorial.pdf
psychologyit.rutgers.edu/helpdocs/filezilla.html

Zyii

11/01/13 08:11PM

Stem_Cell said:
Well yes, now comes the part where we put stuff in the server. Thankfully now all the steps will be much nicier because hey, there's a server out there and it's yours, with domain name and all :)

You can think of it as if it was a physical computer that's far away. Since it's Linux, accessing it is pretty convenient.

For this end, there's something called SSH (Secure Shell). It lets you access a computer remotely, and groups several facilities such as file transfers (you can use FTP software like FTPZilla), a console (command-line interface), and it's even possible to run GUI programs remotely (but it's not quite the kind of thing that anybody would do with a server).

You should install something like PuTTY (or any other SSH software) to use the command line on the remote machine, and something like FTPZilla (or any other FTP client with SSH support) to transfer files via drag-&-drop through Windows.

Then you should figure out what's the password for root on your VPS (may have been sent as an e-mail or something), and use that with PuTTY to see if you can establish a connection (you can connect to your server by name or by IP now).

I think it's pretty straightforward to use these softwares but here's a couple of guides:
analog24.net/pcosci/misc/puttytutorial.pdf
psychologyit.rutgers.edu/helpdocs/filezilla.html

I was able to do this part without messing up I think! Everything says its connected properly! <3

Now I need to look for the software and drag it in right? Or is there another step I need to do before that? I'm kinda excited cause I think I'm starting to understand this stuff finally! Or at least I think I am;;

Vanndril

11/02/13 01:01AM

Just popping in to say props to you two for sticking with this despite the fact that another loli-okay roleplay forum popped up.

The hypnofetish community will soon have a roleplay forum of its own (assuming you intend to make it MC-focused)! How exciting!

Stem_Cell

11/02/13 11:11PM

Yes, we're getting to it! I think the server already serves PHP. If it doesn't serve PHP we can install PHP. We can also install Node, Ruby, Python, whatever you want can be installed, so if some forum software you want to try uses something other than PHP, that's also not a problem :)

To see if it serves PHP you can create a text file with PHP extension (like test.php), put some PHP on it and see if it runs. For example, this code inside a text file with PHP extension will ouptut PHP information when you visit it in a browser:

<?php phpinfo();

On your server there's a document root somewhere. I believe for you it'll be /var/www. You can put a php file there and see what happens.

Zyii

11/11/13 02:34AM

Its been a terrible past week, and I can reaffirm my dislike for my current job.

Gonna try to repace myself with this because I've had little to no time at all that I could dedicate myself to the server work. //zooms//

Zyii

11/11/13 03:09AM

Alright so I made the file and I uploaded it to the server in the /var/www directory, but the site still looks the same to me. How can I double check that its working or not? Unless the fact that nothing happened means that the PHP isn't installed?

There is a root folder by itself though, but it doesn't have an index.html file in it.