How to host Kanboard on AWS Lightsail VM Instance - ServerAvatar

Kanboard is an open-source application designed to streamline project management tasks for teams. It uses Kanban principles to help users visualize tasks, track progress, and manage workflows through a drag-and-drop interface. With features like task prioritization, work-in-progress limits, and customizable boards, Kanboard supports teams in improving productivity and collaboration. When choosing a hosting platform for Kanboard, opting for AWS Lightsail ensures reliability with its scalable infrastructure and straightforward deployment options. ServerAvatar makes the deployment of the Kanboard application on the AWS Lightsail platform an easy step-by-step process.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail

To create a server in AWS Lightsail, First log in to the AWS Lightsail console. Once you are there, Follow the steps given below.

Step 1: Go to the Instance Creation Form

To access the instance creation form, Go to the AWS Lightsail dashboard and click on the orange button with the Create Instance text. See the following image for reference.

Step 2: Select the Location of your Instance

First of all, You have to select the location for your instance. It is always better to select a location closest to your major traffic source. It will decrease the latency for the majority of your website visitors.

If you want to change the location of your server, You can simply update the current region in your AWS account.

Step 3: Select the OS for your Instance

After selecting the location, Select the operating system for your instance. In this case, First, click on OS Only and then select Ubuntu 20.04 as an operating system just like the following image.

Step 4: Select SSH Key and Launch Script (Optional/Advanced)

This is an optional step. Here you can set the Launch script and the main SSH key for your server. If you don't understand the launch script and SSH keys, Just ignore this step.

Step 5: Select the Plan

In this step, select the size of your VM instance. AWS Lightsail provides lots of different options when it comes to plans and pricing. To host Kanboard, 1GB or more of RAM is required for better performance, and minimal storage is required, but ensure you have enough space for data and backups.

The plan and pricing selection completely depend on the requirements of your site(s). So, select the plan based on the complexity and traffic of your sites.

Step 6: Verify and Create the Instance

Finally, Enter the name of your instance, and the number of instances you want to create and assign the tags accordingly for identification. Once done, click on the Create Instance button to start the instance creation process.

It might take a few minutes to deploy the instance. Once done, follow the below-given step to update the firewall rules for the VM instance.

Step 7: Update Firewall Rules

ServerAvatar requires 43210 port open. In total, You need to keep the following ports open on the instance.

• 22 (SSH): To access your server via SSH.
• 80 (HTTP): To access your sites on HTTP.
• 443 (HTTPS): To access your sites on HTTPS.
• 43210 (ServerAvatar): To allow communication between ServerAvatar and your instance.

To update the firewall rules for a specific instance, Go to the AWS Lightsail dashboard and click on the name of the instance you want to update. Then go to the Networking section and add the missing firewall rules. After updating the firewall rules, the networking section of your Instance should look like the following image.

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 Kanboard on cloud using ServerAvatar

Step1: Create Kanboard Database

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

Congratulations! You've successfully created your database.

Step 2: Create a PHP Application

Access the Applications tab from the server panel to create a new PHP application for Kanboard. 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 Kanboard. You need to feel the prerequisite for Kanboard.

Please select 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 Kanboard 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 Kanboard on your subdomain, for example, Kanboard.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 Kanboard 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/kanboard/kanboard.git
Branch: main

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 you've cloned the repository.

Installing Kanboard requires running manual scripts or commands in the deployment process.

Deployment Scripts:

cp config.default.php config.php

To proceed further, select 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 8.1 or a newer version if available. Regarding the custom webroot for Kanboard, it should be blank(do not write) 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: (leave it blank)

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 config.php file.

To edit the config file, you can access the public_html directory from your file manager or navigate through the directory path.

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 driver, database name, username, hostname, and password, by accessing the database tab from the server panel.

Enter the following database credential we have already created in ServerAvatar:
DB_DRIVER: MySQL
DB_USERNAME: Username of database
DB_PASSWORD: Database password
DB_HOSTNAME: localhost
DB_NAME: Database name

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

The next step is, to update your directory permission.

Congratulations! Successfully deployed Kanboard on the server through the ServerAvatar.

You can access it by visiting your domain name in your web browser.

Step 4: Access Kanboard Web UI

Now, access the site URL from the Application panel to log into Kanboard.

To login, use following credentials:
Username: admin
Password: admin

You successfully logged into Kanboard. You should get to a dashboard like below.

Reset admin password

To reset your admin login credentials follow the given path: Admin > Users Management > admin > Change password.

Input current and new passwords for admin users.

Congratulations! Successfully install and setup Kanboard on the server through the ServerAvatar.

Check Kanboard documentation for more information related to installation and functionalities.

Thank you for choosing ServerAvatar! We warmly welcome you to our vibrant community of ServerAvatar.