Laravel is a popular open-source PHP framework designed to enhance the development process by providing a robust set of tools and features. It simplifies building applications with its syntax and modular structure. Laravel provides extensive solutions for routing, authentication, and data management, enabling developers to create customized applications with ease. When selecting a hosting solution for Laravel, AWS Lightsail stands out as a reliable option with scalable infrastructure and simple deployment solutions. ServerAvatar makes the deployment of the Laravel application on the AWS Lightsail platform straightforward through a simplified 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. 1GB of RAM should be sufficient for a simple application or development environment and a minimum of 1GB to 5GB of disk storage covers the Laravel application itself, basic logs, and minimal database usage.
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.
Connect a server using a direct method
- Login/Register to ServerAvatar account, click the Create button from the right side of the screen, and select Server from the dropdown.
- Select Direct Method in the serve connecting method section.
- Type the Server Name as per your choice.
- Select a Tech Stack as per your need. You can either select Apache, Nginx, OpenLiteSpeed or Node Stack.
- Select a Database: MySQL, MariaDB or MongoDB.
- Enable the toggle if you want to install the latest LTS version of node.js on your server.
- Select a Management plan and click the Connect Now button.
- You’ll see the command on your screen. Login to your server using an ssh connection and execute that command as a root user.
- The server connection process will be started on your ServerAvatar account after executing the command.
Connect a server using integration
- Login/Register to your ServerAvatar account, navigate to the Integration tab from the sidebar of the panel, and access Cloud Platform from the dropdown.
- Now Select a cloud platform you want to link with ServerAvatar.
- The popup form will appear on your screen. Enter details to link your cloud provider account. The integration method is different based on the cloud provider you select.
- You can integrate five different cloud provider platforms with ServerAvatar, which is-
Check the above link of cloud platforms to know more about integrating cloud platforms with ServeAvatar.
Connect a server using commands
Step 1. Login to your server using root user
Once you create a server as per your requirements, connect to your server using an ssh connection and execute the below three commands as a root user in your server console area.
wget https://srvr.so/install
chmod +x install
./install
Step 2. Select a web server
It will ask you which web server you would like to install on your server: Apache, Nginx, OpenLiteSpeed or Node Stack. Type anyone that you would like to install on your server and hit the enter button.
Step 3. Claim your server
Completing the process will give you a link to claim your server.
Open the link on your browser to access the ServerAvatar server panel.
Install and Setup Laravel on Cloud using ServerAvatar
Getting Started With Laravel:
Laravel is a PHP-based Framework that helps you build your application with elegant syntax and provides a variety of features. Laravel provides an amazing developer experience. There are lots of features and tools that are given by Laravel’s environment so that developers can use them to create something new. Laravel is based on MVC (Model, View, Controller) architecture. Laravel is the best choice for small or large projects and full-stack web applications.
Key Features:
- Open Source: Laravel is open-source, so you have the flexibility to build applications according to your needs.
- Extensible: Laravel offers the capability to enhance your web application through a wide range of features and tools.
- Developer-Friendly: Laravel provides an expressive framework with elegant syntax and a scalable environment, and it speeds up your development while maintaining ease of use.
- Secure: Laravel provides various Authentication processes and middleware to enhance the security of your web application.
Let's begin by creating the application.
Step 1: Create a GitHub application
Start by creating a GitHub Application using ServerAvatar. Go to the Applications tab on the server panel and click on the Create button as shown in the image below.
On the following screen, fill in the Application details, including:
- Application Name: enter your Application Name.
- Select Domain: Select between a Test Domain or a Primary Domain as per your requirements.
- Enter Domain: Enter your Application Domain.
- Method: Select Git as your application method.
- Service Provider: Select GitHub as service provider for cloning the repository.
- Repository Type: Public
- Clone HTTPS URL: https://github.com/laravel/laravel.git
-
Branch:
master
-
Deployment Script:
composer update
(to update the composer after cloning)
Now, your Application is ready. You can see your Application in the Dashboard.
Step 2: Create a Database
To create a Database that stores your confidential data, Go to the Dashboard and click on the Databases option. Enter Your Database name and just hit on the “Create a Database” button as shown in the image below.
After successfully creating a Database, you can see your Database in the Databases Dashboard.
Step 3: SSH Setup and env Configuration
- First, go to the Application Dashboard and enable SFTP/SSH Credentials as shown in the below image.
- After, enabling SFTP/SSH, you can log in to your server. Open a terminal and use the following command:
sudo ssh {username}@{ip}
- Replace
{username}
with your actual Username and{ip}
with your server's IP address. You will be prompted to enter your password. After successful authentication, you will have remote access to your server. - Navigate to your Application Path by running the following command:
cd LaravelApplication/public_html/
- Next, you need to copy the .env.example file to the .env file.
-
Command for Copy:
cp .env.example .env
Step 4: Generate App Key
- Next, you need to generate an APP_KEY in your .env file. To generate the key, execute the following command.
-
Command:
php artisan key:generate
Step 5: Configure .env file
- Navigate to the Application Panel access the FIle Manager option and open the public_html folder. Then, click on the Show Hidden Files option.
- Open the .env file by clicking on it.
- As shown in the image below, change the APP_URL from
http://localhost
toyour-application-domain
in the .env file. - Edit and update your application's database details.
- To find your database credentials, navigate to the Databases section in the server panel and click on the manage users icon next to the database you have set up for your application.
- You can see your Database credentials as shown in the image below.
Step 6: Migrate Database Tables
- Now, you have to migrate your Database tables. execute the following command.
-
Command:
php artisan migrate
Step 7: Update Custom Webroot
- To run your application on a server, you must set your Custom Webroot to public. To update this setting, navigate to the Settings option in the sidebar of your application.
- Add public in the Custom Webroot Section and click on Update Custom Webroot as shown in the below image.
Step 8: Access Laravel
- Now, to access Laravel, open your web browser and enter your site's domain.
-
Example:
http://lara.satesting1.click
-
For instance:
http://your-application-domain
-
Example:
Conclusion :
- Deploying your PHP Laravel application with ServerAvatar simplifies the entire process, ensuring a smooth and efficient setup. Each step is straightforward and well-guided, from creating the application and database to configuring server settings and migrating database tables.
- Laravel's robust features, combined with ServerAvatar’s user-friendly interface, make it an excellent choice for developers looking to deploy applications quickly and securely.
- Following the detailed steps outlined in this guide, you can confidently launch your Laravel application and take advantage of the powerful tools and environment both Laravel and ServerAvatar provide.