I had to set up the server (Ubuntu 11.04) for running couple of Rails apps and thought I could share the notes I've written while doing that. Any feedback and improvements are welcome.
apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade
# set timezone
dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
# RVM
bash < <(curl -s https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/install/rvm)
# update /etc/bash.bashrc
# -y to answer YES for questions
aptitude -y install build-essential bison openssl libreadline6 libreadline6-dev curl git-core zlib1g zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libyaml-dev libsqlite3-0 libsqlite3-dev sqlite3 libxml2-dev libxslt-dev autoconf libc6-dev ncurses-dev
rvm install 1.9.2; rvm use 1.9.2 --default
# while ruby is being installed prepare nginx
cd /usr/src
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.0.0.tar.gz
tar -xf nginx-1.0.0.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.0.0
# Use one place for installation
rm -r /opt/ && ln -fs /usr/local /opt
gem update --system ; gem update
gem install bundler
#install imagemagic
apt-get -y install imagemagick
# proceed with passenger
apt-get -y install libcurl4-openssl-dev
gem install passenger
passenger-install-nginx-module
# additional otions:
# --prefix=/opt/nginx
# --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_sub_module
# add nginx autostart script: http://wiki.nginx.org/Nginx-init-ubuntu
# verify the correct paths
cd /opt && \
wget -O init-deb.sh http://library.linode.com/assets/602-init-deb.sh && \
mv /opt/init-deb.sh /etc/init.d/nginx && \
chmod +x /etc/init.d/nginx && \
/usr/sbin/update-rc.d -f nginx defaults
# add to /opt/nginx/conf/nginx.conf
include /home/*/apps/*/current/nginx.conf;
/etc/init.d/nginx restart
# copy ssh keys (from local computer)
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh root@my.server.com "mkdir ~/.ssh ; cat - >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"
# change default ssh port from 22 to something to get rid of nasty attacks
vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config # change the port number
service ssh reload
#install firewall?? No need for now as only openning 80,443 ports
# apt-get install ufw
That should be enough for you to start using the server. In the future post I plan to describe my setup to make deploying new applications easier.