Self-host your application on a VPS

A portable deployment script for containerized applications on VPS servers. This script automates the setup of your application with Nginx reverse proxy, SSL certificates, and container orchestration.

Features

• ✅ Podman & podman-compose: Rootless container orchestration
• ✅ SSL Certificates: Automatic Let's Encrypt SSL setup with auto-renewal
• ✅ Nginx Reverse Proxy: Pre-configured with rate limiting and streaming support
• ✅ Swap Space: Automatic swap configuration for memory management
• ✅ Framework Agnostic: Works with any app that has Dockerfile and compose.yml
• ✅ Environment Management: Easy .env file configuration

Prerequisites

On Your VPS

• Ubuntu/Debian-based system (tested on Ubuntu 20.04+)
• Root or sudo access
• DNS A record pointing your domain to the VPS IP

In Your Application Repository

Your application must include:

• Dockerfile - Container build instructions
• docker-compose.yml or compose.yml - Service orchestration

Example compose.yml structure:

services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"  # Make sure this matches APP_PORT in config
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
    # ... other services like databases

Installation

1. Download the deployment script

   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HMZElidrissi/self-host-vps/main/deploy.sh
   wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HMZElidrissi/self-host-vps/main/config.example.sh
   chmod +x deploy.sh

2. Create your configuration

   cp config.example.sh config.sh
   nano config.sh  # Edit with your settings

3. Run the deployment

   ./deploy.sh

Configuration

Required Settings

Edit config.sh with your application details:

# Your git repository
REPO_URL="https://github.com/HMZElidrissi/super-cool-app"

# Application name (used for directories and configs)
APP_NAME="super-cool-app"

# Your domain name
DOMAIN_NAME="super-cool-app.com"

# Email for SSL certificates
EMAIL="[email protected]"

# Port your app runs on (must match your compose file)
APP_PORT="3000"

Optional Settings

# Swap space size (default: 2G)
SWAP_SIZE="2G"

# Custom application directory (default: ~/$APP_NAME)
APP_DIR="/opt/myapp"

Environment Variables

The ENV_VARS section in config.sh will be written to .env in your application directory:

ENV_VARS="
DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@db:5432/myapp
NODE_ENV=production
API_KEY=your-secret-key
"

Important: Keep sensitive data in config.sh and never commit it to version control!

What the Script Does

1. System Setup

   • Updates system packages
   • Configures swap space
   • Installs Podman and podman-compose

2. Application Deployment

   • Clones/updates your git repository
   • Creates .env file from configuration
   • Builds container images with Podman
   • Starts all services

3. Web Server Configuration

   • Installs and configures Nginx
   • Obtains SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt
   • Sets up reverse proxy with:
     • HTTPS redirect
     • Rate limiting (10 req/sec)
     • WebSocket support
     • Streaming support

4. SSL Auto-Renewal

   • Configures cron job to renew certificates every 12 hours

Post-Deployment

After successful deployment, your application will be available at https://super-cool-app.com

Useful Commands

Navigate to your app directory first:

cd ~/super-cool-app  # or your custom APP_DIR

View logs:

podman-compose logs -f

Restart services:

podman-compose restart

Stop services:

podman-compose down

Rebuild and restart:

podman-compose up -d --build

Update application:

git pull
podman-compose up -d --build

Troubleshooting

Containers not starting

cd ~/super-cool-app
podman-compose logs

SSL certificate issues

• Ensure DNS is properly configured before running script
• Check that port 80 is not blocked by firewall
• Verify email address is valid

Nginx errors

sudo nginx -t  # Test configuration
sudo systemctl status nginx  # Check service status
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log  # View error logs

Port conflicts

• Ensure APP_PORT in config matches your compose.yml
• Check no other service is using the same port:

sudo netstat -tlnp | grep :3000

Security Notes

1. Keep config.sh private - It may contain sensitive information
2. Use strong passwords - For databases and services
3. Review firewall rules - Only expose necessary ports:

   sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
   sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
   sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
   sudo ufw enable

4. Regular updates - Keep your system and containers updated

Customization

Nginx Configuration

The script creates an Nginx config at /etc/nginx/sites-available/$APP_NAME. You can customize it after deployment:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/myapp
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Adding Multiple Apps

You can run the script multiple times with different configurations for multiple applications on the same VPS. Just use different:

• APP_NAME
• DOMAIN_NAME
• APP_PORT