How to host Cachet on InterServer VPS - ServerAvatar

Cachet is an open-source platform designed for organizations to efficiently create status pages. It is perfect for businesses and organizations of all sizes. It includes essential tools for maintaining and communicating service statuses and ensuring accessibility for administrators and users. InterServer serves as a reliable hosting choice for Cachet, offering scalable infrastructure and straightforward deployment options. ServerAvatar facilitates a user-friendly experience for deploying the Cachet application on the InterServer platform.

Create a VPS in InterServer

Getting started with InterServer:

InterServer's Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting leads their array of hosting solutions, providing businesses and developers a sturdy platform to drive their online endeavors with dependable flexibility. InterServer's VPS hosting leverages cutting-edge technology and infrastructure housed in state-of-the-art data centers. This ensures optimal performance and uptime, crucial for demanding applications and websites. With Interserver's VPS plans, users benefit from dedicated resources including CPU cores, RAM, and storage, providing a scalable environment capable of handling varying levels of traffic and resource requirements.

Interserver's VPS hosting stands out for its cost-effectiveness while maintaining high performance and a rich feature set. Their range of VPS plans caters to diverse needs, accommodating startups, small businesses, and large enterprises with tailored solutions. Whether you're launching a new project, migrating an existing site, or seeking to upgrade to a more robust hosting solution, Interserver's VPS hosting offers the performance, scalability, and support needed to succeed in today's digital landscape.

Let’s get started with creating the virtual private server in Interserver, for that follow the steps given below.

Step 1: Accessing Your InterServer Account

• First, log in to InterServer account. If you are new to InterServer, click on the Sign Up to register with InterServer. Refer to the below image.

Step 2: Create VPS in InterServer

• After you log in to your InterServer account, the Dashboard of InterServer will appear. You can see various sections like Domains, Web Hosting, Licenses, Storage, and Dedicated Servers. However, you have to click on the Order Now button in the VPS section to create a fresh VPS.

Step 3: Configuring the VPS in InterServer

• First you need to choose the Platform for your VPS. It should be a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM).
• Now you have to select the location of your VPS. Make sure to select a server location closest to your major traffic source demographically.
• Then you have to select the Slices. It is the number of cores on your server, which you can select according to your requirements.
• Moreover, you have to choose image i.e. an operating system running on the server. So here you have to select an OS for your server along with its versions. The Cachet application generally requires Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or a later version to ensure optimal compatibility and support. If you are managing your servers with ServerAvatar, Select Ubuntu 20.04 x64 bit or Ubuntu 22.04 x64 bit.
• In addition to this you have to set the root password for your VPS of your own choice. After filling up all the necessary details for your VPS Click on the Continue button.

Step 4: Review your VPS details

• Here you have to verify the details of your virtual machine, select the agreed terms checkbox, and click on the Place Order button to create VPS.

Step 5: Make a payment for your VPS

• The final step is to make a payment for your VPS, so for that, you have to Add Billing Address and verify your order of VPS. There are various modes of payment available to make a payment for your VPS. Select the mode as per your convenience.

• Congratulations! You have successfully created your instance in InterServer which is now ready to connect with ServerAvatar.

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 Cachet status page system with ServerAvatar

Step 1: Create a PHP application

To create an application, go to the ServerAvatar server panel, navigate to the Applications tab, and click the Create button like the following image.

1. Fill in basic detail

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

Note that:

If you want to host Joomla CMS 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 hosting provider site, where you buy your domain. You can check your domain information with one click.
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.

Note that:

For accessing Cachet 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 the application creation method

Here you can fill in the required details. It includes-

1. Select the Git method and GitHub as a service provider so we can deploy an application from Git public repository.
2. Mark on Public Repository.
3. Type/Paste the GitHub project URL. You’ll find the link on GitHub in the image below.

4. Type the Branch of the GitHub project.

5. Type the below commands in the deployment script.

php7.3 /usr/bin/composer install cp .env.example .env php7.3 artisan key:generate

Note that:

Note that: Cachet supports PHP7.1 To 7.3, we need to specify the version in the command in the deployments script.

3. Allocate system user

System users manage the resources of the application. You can create a new application user or give permission to the existing user.

Click the Next Step to continue.

4. Other Options

In this step, select PHP version 7.3. Cachet supports PHP 7.1 - 7.3. Type Public in the Custom Webroot field.

5. Review your application details

Review your application details. Click the Create Application button.

Step 2: Create a Cachet database

On the server panel, navigate to the Databases tab from the sidebar and click the Create button to create a MySQL database.

Fill in database details, including-

• Database Name
• Database Username
• Database Password

Step 3: Delete the .env.example file and update the database information

To delete the .env.example file, go to the application panel>>file manager and access the public_html folder. Now check the Show Hidden Files. The .env.example file is at the top of the multiple hidden files. Please select the file and delete it like the following image.

Now open the .env file and change the database details we created in the second step. It includes-

DB_DATABASE: Database Name DB_USERNAME: Database Username DB_PASSWORD: Database Password

Don’t forget to save the file(CTRL+s) after making appropriate changes.

Step 4: Install SSL

To install SSL for your application. Go to your application panel and click the SSL Certificate from the sidebar.

You can install Automatic SSL or a Custom installation method to secure your site with an SSL certificate. It is recommended to install automatic SSL for your application.

Step 5: Install and Set up Cachet

1. Environment set up

Access your domain/subdomain on the browser to install and set up Cachet. The setup screen will look like the following image.

Fill in the required details in the above image and click the Next button.

2. Status Page Setup

On the next page, you’ll need to set up the status page. Here you can fill up the details, including your Website Name, Website Domain, Timezone, and Language.

Click the Next button to continue.

3. Administrator Account

Fill up admin details, including** Admin Username**, Email, and Password.

Once you enter all the details, click the Complete Setup button. The message will display like the following image. Click the Go To Dashboard button to continue.

Notice: you may see the error “An error occurs, and this resource cannot be displayed.”

If it occurs, log in to your application using an SSH connection. You can see the credentials in the application panel in the following image.

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.

Php7.3 artisan migrate:refresh

After that, go to your setup page and click the Complete Setup button. It will configure cachet successfully.

Once you access the dashboard, you’ll create and manage components and incidents, including updating incidents with additional information and marking them as resolved when the issue is fixed.

That’s it. Your CacheT instance should be live and you can start working on your status pages. We hope this tutorial was helpful to you. You can also refer to other deployment tutorials given below.