How to host BookStack 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 BookStack wiki software with ServerAvatar

Step 1. Create a PHP application

On the ServerAvatar server panel, navigate to the Applications tab and click the Create button like the following image.

1. Fill up basic details

In the first step of the application creation, fill in the basic details, including,** Application Name**, select the application type, and type Primary Domain/Test Domain Name.

note that:

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

Click the Next Step to continue.

2. Select an application creation method

BookStack is an open-source project. It can be available on GitHub, so you can directly clone the repository with Serveravatar. In this step-

1. Select the Git method and GitHub as a service provider.
2. Mark on Public repository.
3. Type BookStack project URL from the GitHub BookStack project. you‘ll find it like in the following image.

4. Enter the release branch name in the branch field.
5. And. type the below commands in the deployment script.

cp .env.example .env composer install - -no-dev php artisan key:generate - -force

3. Allocate system user

Allocate a system user for your BookStack application. You can create a new system user or select an existing system user.

Click the Next Step button to continue.

4. Other options

Select a PHP version for your application, and set Custom Webroot as Public in the respective field.

Click the Next Step button.

5. Review your application details

Review your application details and click the Create Application button.

Upon creating an application, the repository can be successfully cloned to your application* Public_html* folder.

Step 2. Create BookStack Database

To create a database for the BookStack application, go to the server panel, navigate to the Database tab, and click the Create button like the following image.

On the next screen, fill up the database details, including -

• Database Name
• Database Username
• Database Password

Click the Create Database to continue.

Step 3. Delete the .env.example file and Update the Database Information and App URL

To delete the .env.example file, go to Application Panel>>File Manager And access the public_html folder. Now click the Show Hidden Files box. The .env.example file can be shown at the top of the files, like the following image.

Now open the .env file and update the details with the database we created in the above step. It includes- DB_DATABASE: Database Name DB_USERNAME: Database Username DB_PASSWORD: Database Password

After that, update the app URL just above the file's database information. Note that if you install SSL on your application, type https:// before your domain name; otherwise, type http:// in the code.

Step 4. Update the Database Schema

It is necessary to keep your database up to date. And for that, log in to your application using an SSH connection. You can see the credentials in the application dashboard like the following image.

Note: make sure the SSH connection toggle is enabled on your application.

Execute the following command in your terminal to log in to your application-

ssh Username@Host Now go to your application path using “cd Application_Name/public_html” and execute the following command.

php artisan migrate - -force After the successful migration of the database, access the URL of your application in the web browser.

Step 5. Login to BookStack

Upon accessing the URL, the login page will appear. You can now log in using the default admin details admin@admin.com and password of password. You can change these details immediately after logging in for the first time.

You’ll see the admin screen like the following image upon logging in.

You can now perform administrative tasks to manage your documentation and knowledge base website.