How to host Whiteboard on Linode VM Instance - ServerAvatar

Whiteboard is a NodeJS collaborative tool that is lightweight and highly customizable, allowing for easy adaptation to your needs. A whiteboard application is a digital tool that simulates the functionality of a physical whiteboard in a virtual environment. This application allows users to create, edit, and share visual content, such as drawings, notes, and diagrams, in real time. Linode is a dependable hosting option for Whiteboard, providing scalable infrastructure and simple deployment solutions. ServerAvatar makes it easy and user-friendly to deploy the Whiteboard application on the Linode platform.

Create a server in Linode

First of all, Let's create a VM instance in Linode. It provides a lot of different types of VM instances. You can create shared VM instances, Dedicated Instances, Memory-optimized instances, and GPU instances. To host a simple website, You will need a shared VM instance.

If you think your application uses high CPU or RAM, You can go for a Dedicated CPU VM or Memory Optimised VM respectively. Let's get started with the process.

Step 1: Go to Linode VM Instance Creation Form

When you log in to your Linode account, You will see the Create Linode button on the top-right corner of the page. Click on it to go to the Linode creation form.

Step 2: Select the Distribution

The Whiteboard application generally requires Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or a later version for compatibility and support. If you are managing your servers with ServerAvatar, Select Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x64 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS x64. So, it is recommended to select any one of the supported OS.

Step 3: Select the Region

Linode has multiple data centers located in different regions worldwide. It is recommended to choose the region that is closest to your major traffic source to reduce latency and improve the performance of your applications.

Step 4: Select Linode Plan

Linode offers various plans with different configurations of CPU, RAM, and storage. Choose a plan that fits in your budget and meets your application's needs. With ServerAvatar, You can also host multiple applications on a single Linode VM Instance.

Step 5: Set Label and Select Tags

The label is a human-readable name that you can use to identify your instance. Tags are keywords that you can use to categorize and search for your instances. You can also group Linodes by Tags on the dashboard.

Step 6: Set Strong Root Password and Select SSH Key

The root password is the administrator password that you will use to access and manage your VM instance. Make sure to use a strong password that is hard to guess and includes a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

Next, select an SSH key if you want to authenticate with SSH keys. SSH keys are a more secure way to log in to your VM instance than using passwords. If you have an SSH key, you can upload it to your Linode account and use it to log in to your VM instance.

Step 7: Select VLAN (If Required)

A VLAN is a logical network that separates traffic from different virtual machines or physical servers. It can be used to isolate network traffic and improve security.

Step 8: Select Add-ons - Backups and Private IP

Linode provides an easy way to create and store backups for your VM instances. Backups are highly recommended as they can help you with disaster recovery quickly. In the last step, You can enable the Private IP address for your VM instance if required.

Step 9: Click on "Create Linode"

Finally, Click on the Create Linode button at the end of the form to create a Linode VM instance. It usually takes around 2 minutes to create a new Linode instance. Once done, You can connect it with ServerAvatar for ease of site and server configuration management.

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 Whiteboard on Cloud using ServerAvatar

Getting Started With Whiteboard:

Whiteboard is a NodeJS collaborative tool that is lightweight and highly customizable, allowing for easy adaptation to your needs. A whiteboard is a versatile tool used in various settings for brainstorming, planning, teaching, and visual communication. Traditionally, it consists of a smooth, white surface where markers can be used to draw diagrams, write notes, and illustrate ideas. In recent years, digital whiteboards have become increasingly popular, offering similar functionality in a digital format.

Features:

• Shows remote user cursors while drawing
• Undo / Redo function for each user
• Drag+Drop / Copy+Paste Images or PDFs from PC and Browsers
• Resize, Move, Rotate & Draw Images to Canvas or Background
• Write text and sticky notes
• Save Whiteboard to Image and JSON
• Draw angle lines by pressing "Shift" while drawing (with line tool)
• Draw a square by pressing "Shift" while drawing (with the rectangle tool)
• Indicator that shows the smallest screen participating
• Keybindings for ALL the functions
• REST API
• Working on PC, Tablet & Mobile

Install and Setup the Whiteboard application on the Cloud using ServerAvatar:

Step 1: Create a Custom Application

• Access the Applications tab from the server panel to create a new custom application for Whiteboard. Now, create an application, click the Applications tab, then click the Create button on the server panel.

• To create an application and proceed with the installation and deployment of the Whiteboard, you need to fill in the prerequisite of the Whiteboard.
• Enter an application name of your choice. After that input the domain name where you'd like to direct your URL. You can choose between a test domain or a primary domain. If you decide on the test domain, you can use Serveravatar’s test domain. This flexibility ensures you can make the perfect selection for your project.

• Now, you can clone Whiteboard through the available repository in GitHub:
  • Select a method: Git
  • Select a Service Provider: GitHub
  • Select a Repository Type: Public
  • Clone HTTPS URL: https://github.com/cracker0dks/whiteboard.git
  • Branch: master

• Let's take the next step in creating your application. Now, you need to set up deployment scripts. These manually entered commands will run automatically after cloning the repository.
• Installing does not require running any manual scripts or commands in the deployment process. Therefore, you can simply leave this part blank.
  • Deployment Scripts: (Leave it blank)
• To proceed further, click on the Show Advanced Options You'll find this 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 a PHP version 8.1 or a newer version if available.

Step 2: Configure the Application

• To establish a connection, access the SSH credentials from the application panel dashboard. Ensure that the SFTP/SSH Credentials option is enabled, as illustrated in the provided snapshot.

• Execute the below command to log in to the root user on your application in your terminal.

  • SSH Username@Host

• Replace the Username and Host with your value. Enter the SSH Password to log in.

• Navigate to the Public_html directory (by using commands ls and cd) and run the below commands to install frontend packages and to build the assets (js, CSS).
• npm install

• npm run start:prod

• Note: You always need to run the npm run start:prod command in the Public_html directory for using the Whiteboard. Now you can run Whiteboard by surfing http://YOURIP:8080.

• After that you have to create a new configuration file on your web server for setting proxy and to make a whiteboard application work on your domain. Follow the procedure as shown in the image below.

• Go to the Application dashboard.

• Then go to File Manager and open the conf folder.

• After that, open the apache directory.

• The next step is to create a configuration file in the Apache directory.

• Following that you can create a conf filename of your choice, but do not forget to add the .conf extension after the filename.

• Moreover, open your newly created configuration file and add the config shown in this image, and don’t forget to click on save changes.

• The last step is to again run the npm run start:prod command in the Public_html directory, as the whiteboard works on the socket server so it is mandatory to run this command every time you want to use your Whiteboard application.

• Congratulations! You have successfully installed and deployed Whiteboard through ServerAvatar.