Install Ghost

Short article on how to install the blogging platform Ghost on your own server.

Get a VPS

Doesn’t really matter who from but I’ve found that OVH are pretty reliable.
I use a Debian (Jessie) based VPS, if you use anything else YMMV.

Do some basic server configuration

# Disable root login via SSH
vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
	# Change PermitRootLogin to no
service ssh restart
# Disable root password
passwd -dl root
# Update and upgrade installed packages
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
# Set your timezone
dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Create a user

This is the user you would use to administer the server. We can’t login as root anymore so this step is kind of essential.

# Create the user
adduser <your username>
# Add user to sudo group
adduser <your username> sudo
# Set a password
passwd <your username>

From now on login to your VPS using your username, then either:

• Prefix all following commands with ‘sudo’ OR
  
• Run sudo -i to become root and run the commands as is.
  
  

Install some required packages

apt-get install sudo
apt-get install zip
apt-get install apache2
# Make sure to set a strong MySQL root password
# OK - don't need PHP or MySQL for Ghost - but they may come in handy.
apt-get install mysql-server
apt-get install php5 php-pear php5-mysql php5-gd

Do some basic package configuration

# Secure the MySQL environment
mysql_secure_installation
# Enable some Apache modules
# Enable Apache SSL
a2enmod ssl
# Enable rewrite module
a2enmod rewrite
# Enable proxy (if you might host multiple Ghost blogs)
a2enmod proxy
a2enmod proxy_http
# Restart Apache
service apache2 restart

Setup Apache virtual host(s)

I use my VPS to run several websites so always setup virtual hosts to separate out the administration.

# Create a directory for the virtual host
cd /var/www
mkdir vhosts
cd vhosts
mkdir <domain name>

I number my virtual hosts and use that number in various places, e.g. log files.
Reduces length of filenames and saves me some typing.

# Create (or edit) the Apache virtual host configuration
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
vi 999-<your host name>.conf

Example of a virtual host configuration - including the proxy directives which avoid having to specify the port number in the URL.
Note also the use of the Define directive to avoid repeatedly specifying the same information. Means I can start with a template configuration and get a virtual host up and running without any editing mistakes.
Lastly, note the use of the non-standard Ghost port number. This important later on.

<VirtualHost *:80>
        Define VHostId 160
        Define VHostName <your domain name here>
        Define VHostDir /var/www/vhosts/${VHostName}
        Define GhostPort 3160

        ServerAdmin postmaster@localhost

        DocumentRoot ${VHostDir}
        ServerName ${VHostName}

        <Directory ${VHostDir}>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride All
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/${VHostId}-error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/${VHostId}-access.log combined

        ProxyRequests Off
        ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:${GhostPort}/
        ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:${GhostPort}/
        ProxyPreserveHost On
        <Proxy *>
                Order deny,allow
                Allow from 127.0.0.1
        </Proxy>
</VirtualHost>

Install Ghost pre-req’s

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_0.12 | bash -
# This will install node.js and npm
apt-get install nodejs

Install Ghost

cd <vhost dir>
curl -L https://ghost.org/zip/ghost-latest.zip -o ghost.zip
unzip -uo ghost.zip
cp config.example.js config.js
vi config.js
	Change URL and port
	NB: Port must be the same as defined in Proxy section in virtual host configuration file.
npm install --production
npm start --production

Good to go

You should be able to browse to and see the Ghost welcome page.
Just two steps remain …

• Install and configure software to get Ghost running all the time
  
• Setup scripts and cron jobs for Ghost backups