How to host Bagisto on Contabo VM Instance - ServerAvatar

Bagisto is an open-source e-commerce platform, designed to simplify the creation and management of online stores. Its flexible and scalable nature makes it suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises looking to establish or enhance their online presence. Hosting Bagisto on Contabo provides a dependable and scalable solution. Contabo provides a wide range of instance types and configurations to match various performances with flexible deployment options. ServerAvatar simplifies the process by providing a clear, step-by-step guide to setting up your Bagisto application on Contabo VPS.

Create VM Instance in Contabo

What Is Contabo?

Contabo is a web hosting company that provides a variety of internet hosting services. Founded in Germany in 2003, Contabo offers services such as:

1. VPS Hosting: Virtual Private Servers with scalable resources for various needs, from small projects to larger applications.
2. Dedicated Servers: Physical servers dedicated to a single user, offering high performance and control.
3. Web Hosting: Shared hosting solutions for websites, which include storage, bandwidth, and various management tools.
4. Object Storage: Scalable storage solutions for managing large amounts of data.
5. Domain Registration: Services for registering and managing domain names.

Contabo is known for its competitive pricing, high-performance hardware, and customer service, making it a popular choice for both individual users and businesses looking for reliable hosting solutions.

To set up a server in Contabo, begin by logging into your Contabo account. Once logged in, proceed with the following steps.

Step 1: Create an account on Contabo

Login to your Contabo account, select "VPS" from the dropdown menu, and then click on "Cloud VPS".

Step 2: Select your Cloud VPS plan

Contabo offers a variety of Cloud VPS options. Here, you should select the plan that best meets your requirements as shown in the below image.

Step 3: Select Region

• First, you need to select the term length (in months) according to your requirements.
• Next, you will need to select the location for your VPS. Contabo offers multiple options for selecting the location.
• It's recommended to select the region closest to your audience. This ensures that your sites load faster for the majority of your audience due to reduced latency.

Step 4: Select your Storage Type

Contabo provides different types of storage space, including both complimentary and paid options. Here, you should select the storage type based on your specific requirements. As shown in the image below.

Step 5: Select an Image or an OS

In this step, you need to select the Operating System for your cloud VPS. The Bagisto application generally requires Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or a later version for compatibility and support. ServerAvatar supports both Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x64 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS x64. Therefore, choose one of these supported operating systems.

Step 6: Setting a Password

Here, it's recommended to create a strong password for your root user, as it holds all privileges on the Linux OS.

Step 7: Select Object Storage

Now, you need to select object storage space for backing up your VPS. You will find several options ranging from 250 GB to 1 TB. If you do not require object storage you can select the None option from the dropdown.

Step 8: Select Network

• In the Network section, you will find three options, You should select these according to your specific requirements:
  • Private Network
  • Bandwidth
  • IPv4

Step 9: Selecting Additional Options

• Backup Space: This option allows you to add additional storage space dedicated specifically for backups of your VPS data.
• Server Management: Contabo offers server management services where they handle the day-to-day operations of your VPS.
• Monitoring: This option provides monitoring services for your VPS. It includes monitoring server uptime, resource usage (CPU, RAM, disk), and network connectivity.
• SSL: SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are crucial for securing communication between your website and its visitors.

After completing all the necessary steps, click on the "Next" button to proceed to the payment method where you can finalize your details.

Step 10: Finalize Details

In this step, you can review all your selections for your Cloud VPS, finalize your details, and proceed with the payment. In a few minutes, your Cloud VPS will be ready. Now, we need to perform the initial configuration to host PHP-based frameworks and software.

Initial Server Configuration

The Initial server configuration includes the 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 optimization 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 Bagisto on Cloud using ServerAvatar

Step1: Create Bagisto Database

The Bagisto installation process requires database Credentials. So, to create a MySQL database for Bagisto, Access the Database tab on the ServerAvatar server panel to create a Database.

To create a Database, Enter the details, such as the Database Name, in the database creation form like the image below.

Step 2: Create a PHP Application

Access the Applications tab from the server panel to create a new PHP application for Bagisto. Now, create an application, click on the Applications tab, then click the Create button on the server panel.

To create an application and proceed with the installation and deployment of Bagisto. You need to fill in the prerequisite for Bagisto.

Enter an application name of your choice. Afterward, input the domain name where you'd like to direct your URL. You have the choice between a test domain or a primary domain. If you decide on the test domain, you can use ".serveravatar" as a test domain extension. This flexibility ensures you can make the perfect selection for your project.

Note that:

If you want to host Bagisto 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 Bagisto on your subdomain, for example, Bagisto.yourdomain.com, create a new application with the subdomain as your primary domain and follow the same procedure. For accessing Opencart 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.

Now, you will clone Bagisto through the available repository in GitHub. so:
Select a method: Git
Select a Service Provider: GitHub
Select a Repository Type: Public
Clone HTTPS URL: https://github.com/bagisto/bagisto.git
Branch: master

Let's take the next step in creating your application. Now, you need to set up deployment scripts. These are the manually entered commands that will run automatically after the clone repository.

Installing Bagisto does not require running any manual scripts or commands in the deployment process. Therefore, you can simply leave this part blank.

Deployment Scripts: (Leave it blank)

To proceed further, select the checkbox labeled "Show Advanced Options" You'll find this checkbox right below the deployment scripts section.

The next step is to create a system user for your application. You have the option to either select an existing user or create a new one dedicated to this application.

Now, let's select the PHP version. Choose PHP version 7.4 or a newer version if available. Regarding the custom webroot for Bagisto, it should be set to "public" as illustrated in the provided snapshot. We are specifically looking for either an "index.php" or "index.html" file within this custom setup.

Select PHP Version: PHP version 7.4 or higher
Custom Webroot: public

With all these settings in place, go ahead and click on the "Create Application" button to complete the procedure.

Congratulations! You've successfully created your application.

Step 3: Config Database with Application

In this step, we're connecting the database we created in Step 1 with the application from Step 2. To configure the database, we need to edit the environment (env) file.

To edit the env file, you can access the public_html directory from your file manager or navigate through the directory path. Once you're there, make sure to select the checkbox for showing hidden files.

Now, within this directory, you'll find a file named ".env.example". To rename it, follow the procedure shown in the snapshot. Simply rename ".env.example" to ".env" This step is crucial for configuring the database properly.

After renaming the file to ".env," proceed to open it. Inside, you'll need to enter the database credentials that were created in Step 1.To establish a connection between the database and the application, enter the database credential we have already made. You can access all your database credentials, like database name, username, and password, by accessing the database tab from the server panel.

Enter the following database credential we have already created in ServerAvatar:
Database Name: Database name Username: Username of database
Password: Database password

Don't forget to save the changes you've made to the ".env" file.

To establish a connection, access the SSH credentials from the application panel dashboard. Ensure that the SFTP/SSH Credentials option is enabled, as illustrated in the provided snapshot.

Execute the below command to log in to the root user on your application in your terminal.

SSH Username@Host

Replace Username and Host with your value. Enter the SSH Password to log in.

Go to the Public_html directory ( by using command ls and cd )and run the below commands.

Composer install;
php artisan bagisto:install;

Once you've executed all of these commands, you will have successfully configured both the database and the application.

You can access it by visiting the http://yourdomain.com/admin in your web browser.

To log in to Bagisto, use the following credentials:
Email: admin@example.com Password: admin123

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and deployed Bagisto through ServerAvatar.