How to host Flarum on Hostinger VPS - ServerAvatar

Flarum is an open-source forum software designed to serve communities of all sizes, providing essential functionalities for discussions, user interaction, and customization. When selecting a hosting provider for Flarum, Hostinger stands out as a leading cloud infrastructure provider known for its simplicity, scalability, and user-friendly approach. ServerAvatar simplifies the deployment of Flarum on Hostinger VPS (Virtual Private Servers) through an intuitive interface, automating complex setup procedures, and allowing users with minimal technical knowledge to efficiently configure and manage their server environments.

Create a VPS in Hostinger

Getting started with Hostinger:

Discover how simple it is to create an account and set up a cloud VPS on Hostinger, one of the top hosting providers. Follow our step-by-step guide to swiftly establish your account to deploy a server and complete its initial setup.

What Is Hostinger?

Hostinger is a popular web hosting company known for its affordable hosting solutions and user-friendly interface, offering services like domain registration, website hosting, and cloud hosting to help individuals and businesses manage their online presence effectively.

Step 1: Create an account

• Log in to your Hostinger account. If you don’t have an account, create an account on Hostinger.
• After login, Click on the VPS option as shown in the image below.

Step 2: Select the plan

• Next, you will see various plans offering different specifications for hosting your VPS. Select the plan that best fits your requirements.
• Generally, the Flarum application requires 1GB or more of RAM for better performance and 1GB or more of disk space based on your data, backups, and additional files. The exact amount will depend on your usage and data storage needs.

Step 3: Complete your Payment

• Now, you have to proceed to complete the payment for your VPS plan.

Step 4: Start with Setup

• Once the payment is complete, you will be redirected to the page to begin setting up your VPS. Click on the Start Now option to proceed.

Step 5: Select Location

• Next, you have to select the location for your server. Hostinger provides various locations for setting up your VPS.
• The general rule is to select the region that is closest to your audience. It means that for the majority of your audience, Your sites will load faster due to lower latency.

Step 6: Select an Operating System

• In this step, you need to select your server operating system. We recommend selecting Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x64 or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS x64. If you are using ServerAvatar to manage your servers, these operating systems are required.

Step 7: Adding Additional Feature (Optional)

• The next option is to install an additional feature to your VPS. You can enable the malware scanner by selecting the provided checkbox. This step is optional; if you want to add it, select the checkbox and click on Continue.

Step 8: Login Method

• Next, you need to set a Root Password for your VPS and provide a Hostname. Additionally, you can add an SSH Key, which is optional. Once you have completed these steps, click on Continue.

Step 9: Finalise Details

• In the last step of this process, you need to verify the VPS information. Click on the Finish Setup option to complete the setup process.

• After clicking the Finish Setup button, You can see the Initiating Setup process as displayed in the image below.

Step 10: VPS Management and SSH Key Access

• Once the setup is complete, you will find the option to Manage VPS, allowing you to manage your VPS from its Custom Dashboard. Additionally, you will have the SSH Access option, which enables server access via Terminal.

• Congratulations! You have successfully created your Hostinger VPS, 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 Flarum on Cloud using ServerAvatar

Step1: Create Flarum Database

The Flarum installation process requires database Credentials. So, to create a MySQL database for Flarum, 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.

Successfully Created a Database.

Steps 2: Create a PHP Application

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

Now fill up the required details in the application form, as seen in the image below.

Note that:

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

Now, choose the method and service provider: Git and GitHub (follow as per the snapshot).

Continue the process by entering the necessary information as provided below:
Repository Type: Public
Clone HTTPS URL: https://github.com/flarum/flarum.git
Branch: master
Deployment script:

composer install

Proceed by clicking the "Next Step".

You can either create a new System User or select an existing one.

Next, choose PHP version 7.3 or above. For the custom Webroot should be public shown in the provided snapshot, as we're specifically seeking "index.php" or "index.html" within the custom setup.

Custom Webroot: public

Proceed to the next steps and ensure your details and requirements are accurately entered.

After confirming, click on "Create Application" to initiate the application creation process.

Step 3: Install and setup Flarum

Now access the site URL from the Application panel to install and set up Flarum.

We have already created a database for Flarum 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.

1. Enter the following database credential we have already created in ServerAvatar:
   Forum Title: Any Name
   MySQL Host: localhost
   MySQL Database: Database name
   MySQL Username: Username of database
   MySQL Password: Database password
   Table Prefix: Change the database table prefix as you want

2. To create administrator enter the following details:
   Admin Username: any username
   Admin Email: any email
   Password: your password
   Confirm Password: Confirm your Password

NOTE: Please remember the credentials you entered above for logging into Flarum. Click Install Flarum.

You will directly logged in to Flarum or Login as admin with an admin username and password on the next page to access the admin panel.

Successfully install and setup Flarum on the server through the ServerAvatar.