Introduction

All of our servers will start with this install. This base server is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Server.  This setup starts with a Proxmox LXC container instead of installing from an ISO.  I don’t explain much in the howto so if you have a question leave a comment or use Google.

Downloading the Template

Login to your Proxmox server.  Navigate to the storage where you store container templates.  Click the ‘add template’ button and select and download the Ubuntu 18.04 standard template.

Create the Container

Creating an LXC container is easy.  Click the ‘Create CT’ button.  Follow the wizard entering the requested info.

First boot

Boot the container.
The container will boot. Log in. At this point there is only the root user.  So lets create a user with root privileges.  Replace MYUSER with the user name you wish to use.
> sudo useradd -m -U -s /bin/bash -c “Admin User” MYUSER
> sudo passwd MYUSER
> sudo usermod -a -G sudo MYUSER

Logout of the root account and log back in using the new user account you created.

Get everything updated and install a couple of items.
> sudo apt update
> sudo apt dist-upgrade

WARNING: My server isn’t directly connected to the internet. The firewall is disabled to help with installation, configuration and testing easier. My servers sit behind a firewall.  Once everything is working, turn on the firewall and configure it. I wil remind you to secure your server at the end of this howto.

now reboot the server.

The Second Boot – Installing Additional Packages

We need quite a few other packages. In this howto I’m installing packages regardless if they were already installed by another dependency. This guards against package changes that could cause a package to not be installed. Once again log in to your server.

Install the following packages. Multiple lines to make cut and paste easier.
> sudo apt install make screen snmp composer libcurl3 unzip
> sudo apt install apache2 php7.2-fpm libapache2-mod-php7.2 mysql-server mysql-client
> sudo apt install libapache2-mod-fcgid php7.2-opcache php-apcu

Install some extra PHP libraries.
> sudo apt install php7.2-gd php7.2-snmp php7.2-mbstring php7.2-mysql
> sudo apt install php7.2-odbc php7.2-imap
> sudo apt install php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-dba
> sudo apt install php7.2-soap php7.2-zip php7.2-intl php7.2-curl

Configure Apache and PHP

Enable some needed modules.
> sudo a2enmod rewrite actions fcgid alias proxy_fcgi expires headers

Enable Apache.
> sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

Reload apache.
> sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Configuring MySQL

Configure mysql.
> sudo mysql_secure_installation

Installing and Configuring phpMyAdmin

I prefer to phpMyAdmin to manage my MySQL databases.

Now install phpMyAdmin.
> sudo apt install phpmyadmin

Restart Apache.
> sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Getting root’s and other’s mail

You need to get some local system user’s mail. We’ll use postfix’s virtual file to get the emails to the right place.

Add the following to /etc/postfix/virtual

root admin@yourdomain.tld
postmaster admin@yourdomain.tld
abuse admin@yourdomain.tld

Now add the configuration option to main.cf
> sudo postconf -e “virtual_alias_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual”
Just a couple commands to wrap everything up.
> sudo postmap /etc/postfix/virtual
> sudo systemctl enable postfix
> sudo systemctl restart postfix

Final Settings

You may want to enable the linux firewall.  You can also use the Proxmox firewall.
Set your timezone in /etc/php.ini

Conclusion

That’s it for the basic server setup. This is an example of a standard linux server setup. See my other pages for info on configuring servers for virtual webhosting or virtual email hosting.