How to host Prestashop on Contabo VM Instance - ServerAvatar

PrestaShop is a robust open-source e-commerce platform designed for businesses to create and manage online stores. With a user-friendly interface, PrestaShop caters to both small businesses and larger enterprises. It offers a different catalog of modules and themes, enabling users to customize their stores to specific needs. Its scalability and regular updates make it a reliable choice for building and growing an online retail presence. When choosing a hosting platform for PrestaShop, opting for Contabo ensures reliability with its scalable infrastructure and straightforward deployment options. ServerAvatar makes the deployment of the PrestaShop 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. 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. The PrestaShop application generally requires Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or a later version for compatibility and support.

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

Auto-install Prestashop with ServerAvatar

Step 1: Create a PHP application

On the server panel, access the Application tab from the sidebar and click the Create button like the image below.

Fill up the details, including the Application Name, Primary Domain name, and other Advanced Settings if required.

Note that:

If you want to host the PrestaShop e-commerce platform 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.

Click the Create Application button.

Step 2: Auto-install PrestaShop with ServerAvatar

Now on the application panel, click the Auto Deploy button from the sidebar.

Click the PrestaShop Auto Install card, as you can see in the above image.

It asks to enter PrestaShop details to deploy an application, which includes-

Database details

• Database Server: Select the server you want to host your database.
• Database Name: Enter the database name.

PHP Settings

• PHP Version: Select the supported PHP version for the Prestashop application

Admin Information

• First Name:Admin's first name
• Last Name: Admin last name
• Email: Admin email address. This email will be used in case you forget your password
• Password: Admin login password

Once you fill in all the details, click the Install Now button.

Step 3: Install SSL Certificates

Go to the application panel. Click the SSL Certificate tab from the sidebar.

You can also Force HTTP to HTTPS to redirect all your traffic to the secure connection.

Access the URL of your application on the browser and log in using admin credentials to use the Prestashop admin panel.

That’s it. Now you can add your products and manage all your products on one dashboard.