How to host Akaunting on Vultr Server - ServerAvatar

Create a Cloud Instance in Vultr

To create a server in Vultr, follow the below given steps. If you want to learn How to use Vultr to manage your infrastructure in Vultr, You can refer our Vultr cloud guide.

Step 1: Go to Instance Creation Page

Vultr provides lots of different types of cloud instances. From the server creation page, you can create lots of different types of cloud instances, like Regular VMs, Dedicated, Bare Metal, Cloud GPUs and some managed services.

To access the server creation page, log in to your Vultr account and click on the Deploy New Server option from the + button given on the dashboard.

Step 2: Choose Server

You can create 4 different types of cloud instances. They are Optimised cloud compute, Cloud compute, Cloud GPU and Bare Metal. Select the one that fits your requirements.

Step 3: Choose Server Type

Based on your selection of the server in the second step, You will have to select a specific type of server. If you have selected Optimised cloud compute instance, You will see options like the following image.

Step 4: Select Server Location

Location is very important option. Make sure to select a server location closest to your major traffic source demographically. You can select locations in 5 different continents.

Step 5: Select Server Image

In simple terms, Server image is an operating system running on the server. So here, You have to select an OS for your server.

If you are managing your servers with ServerAvatar, Select Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 22.04.

Step 6: Select Server Size

Here, Select a server size according to your requirements. If you are just getting started with the project, You can start small and then upgrade according to the future requirements.

Step 7: Add Auto Backups and Additional Features

We recommend you to enable auto backups for important websites or apps. If you are creating a temporary server, You can skip the auto backups.

In additional features, You can enable DDOS Protection if needed. Enable other options according to your requirements.

Do not enable "No Public IPv4 Address" option. It will result in a server without IPv4, which is not possible to connect with ServerAvatar.

Step 8: Select an SSH Key

If you use SSH key to authenticate with the server, Select an SSH key in this section. If you haven't uploaded your key yet, You can do it by clicking on the Add New option.

SSH key is not mandatory. If you do not use SSH keys, Ignore this option. You can still connect with server using password.

Step 9: Firewall Group

If you are using Vultr firewall, You can select the firewall group from here.

If you do not have 43210 port enabled in your firewall group, you need to configure it to connect a server with ServerAvatar.

Step 10: Server Hostname and Label

You have to choose the hostname and the label for the server in this step. You can set the same hostname and label. They are used for identification purpose only.

Step 11: Deploy Now!

Finally, click on the Deploy Now button to create a server. It might take a minute or two to fully boot up your server. Once it is ready, You will see it in the Products section in Vultr.

Initial Server Configuration

The Initial server configuration includes installation and configuration of various packages required to host your website. Usually, You have to write commands and modify configuration files. Luckily, With ServerAvatar, Your full server configuration and optimisation can be automated.

Here are the three ways to automatically configure your server with ServerAvatar.

wget https://srvr.so/install
chmod +x install
./install

Install and Setup akaunting on cloud using ServerAvatar

Step 1. Create Database

Access the Database tab on the ServerAvatar server panel to create a MySQL Database.

Enter the credentials including Database name, Username, and Password and click on the Create Database button.

Step 2. Create a php application

Access the Applications tab from the server panel to create a new PHP application.

Click the Create button and fill up the required information, including the Application Name, Domain Name, and Advanced Options for more PHP settings.

Note that:

If you want to host Akaunting on your domain, then make sure to point your domain to the current IP address of your server, and for that:

1. Log in to your domain provider site, where you buy your domain. Click here for more info about your domain name.
2. Access DNS Manager to edit your DNS records(contact the support team if you don’t find them)
3. Change the IP address of A Record of your website to the current server’s IP address. To host Akaunting on your subdomain, for example, Akaunting.yourdomain.com, create a new application with the subdomain as your primary domain and follow the same procedure. For accessing Akaunting on the subdomain, you need to add your subdomain on A Record that points to the current IP address of your server. To point to an IPV6 address, you would need to use an AAAA record.

Proceeds to next by clicking on the Next step.

Now select method and service provider Git and GitHub, respectively (follow according to Snapshot).

Enter the required information as given below:
Repository Type: Public.
Deployment Key: generate new key by clicking on the Generate Key link.
Clone HTTPS URL: https://github.com/akaunting/akaunting.git
Branch: master
Deployment script:

composer install;
php artisan install --db-name="akaunting" --db-username="root" --db-password="pass" --admin-email="admin@company.com" --admin-password="123456";
composer dump-autoload;
php artisan sample-data:seed;

Enter db-name, db-username, db-password according to the database we have created you check your database credential in databases. Admin email and admin password is your login credential when it is deployed on server so you can set it any but remember it.

Move further by clicking on the Next Step.

Create a System User or choose a system user from an existing One.

Then choose PHP version 8.1 or above and leave Custom Webroot field as it is.

After filling up all the details. click the Next Step button.

Step 3. Install and Run npm

Access SSH credentials from the dashboard of the application panel.

Make sure that in your server, Node js is installed. If it is not, then go to the Server Panel > Settings. Click on install Node js.

Login using the SSH credentials using below command. Make sure to Replace the Username and Host with your actual credentials.

npm install;
npm run dev;

Now, the Akaunting software is successfully installed. You can go to the user interface by visiting the URL of your domain.

Tip:- It will run on HTTP, but to run it on HTTPs ServerAvatar provides a one-click solution to switch to HTTPs for that, go to the SSL Certificate in the application panel and click on force HTTP to HTTPs.