How to host Invoice Ninja on Contabo VM Instance - ServerAvatar

Invoice Ninja is a versatile invoicing and billing software designed for freelancers and businesses. It offers a user-friendly interface for creating and sending professional invoices, managing expenses, and tracking payments. Its free tier provides essential functionalities. With features like time tracking, client portals, and detailed financial reports, Invoice Ninja helps users stay organized and efficient. When choosing a hosting platform for Invoice Ninja, opting for Contabo ensures reliability with its scalable infrastructure and straightforward deployment options. ServerAvatar makes the deployment of the Invoice Ninja application on the Contabo platform an easy step-by-step process.

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. The minimum requirements for hosting Invoice Ninja are 2GB or more of RAM for better performance. Also, 1GB of disk space is suggested for initial setup and additional space for data. The exact amount will depend on your usage and data storage needs.

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. We recommend using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x64 or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS x64. Ubuntu is known for its ease of configuration and management. If you are using ServerAvatar to manage your cloud VPS, these operating systems are recommended.

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 Invoice Ninja on Cloud Using ServerAvatar

Step 1: Create Database

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

Enter the credentials and click on the Create Database button.

Step 2: Change PHP-CLI Version

Deploying InvoiceNinja on the server requires PHP-CLI Version 8.1 or above at the server level. To configure the PHP-CLI version, follow the Snapshot.

Step 3: Create a PHP Application

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

Fill up the required information, including the Application Name, Domain Name, and Advanced Options for more PHP settings.

Proceed 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
Clone HTTPS URL: https://github.com/invoiceninja/invoiceninja.git
Branch: v5-stable
Deployment script:

git checkout v5-stable;
cp .env.example .env;
composer i -o --no-dev
php artisan key:generate

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; the custom webroot should be Public as in the given Snapshot.

Custom Webroot: Public

Then, click on the Create Application button.

Step 4: Connect Database

Go to the File Manager tab from the sidebar of the application. And access the public_html folder

Now check the Show Hidden Files box to access the .env file to change to the original database credentials.

Change the following configuration to establish a connection with the database.

DB_DATABASE= Database_Name
DB_USERNAME= Database_Username
DB_PASSWORD=Database_Password

To access database credentials, go to the Database tab from the sidebar of the server panel and click the database that we created in the first step.

That's all, open your application URL in the web browser to access the Invoice Ninja setup page.

Tip: ServerAvatar provides a one-click solution for installing an SSL certificate on your domain. To install SSL, go to the application panel and click the SSL Certificate button to install automatic SSL in your application domain.