How to Host a Website on DigitalOcean Step by Step

DigitalOcean is a popular platform for hosting websites, offering a range of plans to suit different needs. You can choose from a variety of droplet sizes, with prices starting at $5 per month.

To get started, you'll need to create a DigitalOcean account, which is a straightforward process that takes just a few minutes. This will give you access to the DigitalOcean dashboard, where you can manage your account and resources.

First, you'll need to select a data center location for your droplet, which will determine the server's physical location. You can choose from a variety of locations around the world, including the US, Europe, and Asia.

Once you've selected a data center location, you can choose the size of your droplet, which will determine the amount of resources it has available. The smallest droplet size is 512 MB of memory and 1 CPU core.

Setting up your website on DigitalOcean involves several key steps. You'll need to create a DigitalOcean Droplet, which can be done in under five minutes. This is accessible to many people, even those without extensive technical experience.

To create a Droplet, you can follow a tutorial that guides you through the process in real-time. This allows you to pause and work on your own computer as you go along. The tutorial will also cover installing WordPress, which can be done in two minutes.

Once your Droplet is set up, you'll need to create a domain and configure your DNS settings. This involves creating an A record to point your domain to your Droplet's IP address. You'll also need to create a record for the www subdomain, as well as any other subdomains you want to create.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps involved in creating a domain and configuring your DNS settings:

After setting up your domain and configuring your DNS settings, you'll need to upload your website files to your Droplet. You can use the rsync command line tool to do this, or install Cygwin or WSL on your Windows computer to access the tool.

To create a domain or subdomain on DigitalOcean, you'll need to log in to your account and click on the Networking section on the left sidebar.

Type your domain name, such as kagundajm.com, and select the project it will belong to. Then, click the Add Domain button to create it.

After creating the domain, you'll be redirected to the Create new record page, where you can set up A and AAA records.

An A record allows you to point your domain or subdomain to an IPv4 address, while an AAA record points it to an IPv6 address.

To create an A record, type @ under HOSTNAME and select your droplet in the WILL REDIRECT TO dropdown menu.

Click Create Record to complete the task, and then repeat the process to create a record for the www subdomain by typing www under HOSTNAME.

Replace www with your subdomain name if you want to create another one.

Create a folder on your server to host your website files by running the command `sudo mkdir /var/www/kagundajm.com` after SSHing into your server as a user with root access.

This folder will be the home for all your website files, and it's essential to set the correct ownership and permissions to avoid any issues. To do this, run the command `sudo chown -R kagundajm:www-data /var/www/kagundajm.com` to set the non-root user as the owner and the www-data group as the group owner.

The `g+s` flag in the `chmod` command ensures that all new files and subdirectories created within the website folder will inherit the group ID of the folder. This is achieved by running the command `sudo chmod g+s /var/www/kagundajm.com`.

After making these changes, restart the nginx service to apply the updates by running `sudo service nginx restart`. This will ensure that your website is accessible and functioning correctly.

Uploading your website files is a crucial step in setting up your website. You can use any method you're comfortable with to upload your files to the server.

You can use the rsync command line tool, which is not available by default in Windows, but you can enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) or install Cygwin to access it.

To use rsync, open a terminal window and change directory to the location where your website files are located.

The rsync command you'll use is: rsync -azv -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/kagundajm-com-rsa" ./ [email protected]:/var/www/kagundajm.com --delete

Here's a breakdown of the command options:

If you encounter an error like "rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (8 bytes received so far) [sender]rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12)", verify that the destination folder exists and you have write permissions to it.

Creating a DigitalOcean Droplet takes under five minutes, and it's accessible to many people, even those without server management experience.

To use your site, you need to point your domain to the IP address of your DigitalOcean Droplet by creating an A record in your DNS.

This process is instantaneous, and you'll know it's working when you access your website address and see your WordPress website.

You can access your WordPress website from anywhere in the world, and it's a fully functional site that you can manage yourself.

Creating your Digital Ocean Droplet is a straightforward process that can be completed in under five minutes. It takes around two minutes to create the Droplet and install WordPress.

You can pause the tutorial at any point to work on your own computer, making it easier to follow along. This tutorial is designed to be accessible to people of all skill levels, not just industry veterans or server managers.

To create your Droplet, you'll need to follow the tutorial in real-time, which should take about two minutes. This will give you a chance to understand the process and set up your own server.

You can access the default Nginx landing page to confirm that the software is running properly by visiting your server's domain name or public IP address in your web browser. This is a great way to ensure that everything is working as expected.

By following this tutorial, you'll be able to create a Digital Ocean Droplet and install WordPress in no time. Just be sure to point your domain to the IP address of your Droplet via an A record.

To point your domain to the Droplet, you'll need to create an A record in your DNS settings. This record will direct your domain to the IP address of your DigitalOcean Droplet.

You can do this by copying the IP address of your Droplet and creating a new A record in your DNS settings. This will take you to the Create new record page, where you'll need to specify the root URL and the IP address of your Droplet.

To complete the task, you'll also need to add another record for the www subdomain. This involves creating a new record with the hostname set to @, and selecting your Droplet as the IP that the record will redirect to.

If you have another subdomain you want to create, simply repeat the process, replacing www with your subdomain name.

To deploy a static website to the cloud, you'll need to create a folder on your server to host the website files. Create a folder to host the website files by running the command `sudo mkdir /var/www/kagundajm.com`.

This folder should be owned by the non-root user and the www-data group. To achieve this, run the command `sudo chown -R kagundajm:www-data /var/www/kagundajm.com` and `sudo chmod g+s /var/www/kagundajm.com`.

You'll also need to configure Nginx to serve files from this directory. Create a directory in `/srv/www` for your domain name, such as `/srv/www/abc.me`.

Update the `root` directive in `/etc/nginx/sites-available/default` to point to this new directory. For example, change `root /var/www;` to `root /srv/www/abc.me;`.

DigitalOcean takes web hosting security seriously, investing in features that let you focus on your business. Their core products are built with security in mind.

You can have confidence in your web hosting security with DigitalOcean's robust security features. They offer a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Cloud Firewalls, Load Balancers, and DNS for secure networking.

DigitalOcean takes web hosting security seriously, investing in features that let you focus on growing your business. We've built our core products with security in mind.

Our Secure Networking features give you control over your Virtual Private Cloud, Cloud Firewalls, Load Balancers, and DNS. This means you can customize your network settings to suit your needs.

Installing SSL certificates is a crucial step in securing your website. With Certbot installed, you can run a command to install SSL certificates for your domain.

To confirm Certbot is installed, run the command certbot --version. If you see a version number, you're good to go! If not, you'll need to install Certbot using the provided commands.

DigitalOcean is a great choice for a cheap quality host, especially if you're on a tight budget. It costs only five dollars per month.

The total blocking time is zero milliseconds, which is impressive for any host. Our time to first byte is 2.28 milliseconds, and our connection time is 95 milliseconds, which is pretty good for a five dollar host.

Optimizing the setup can lead to even better time to first byte results. However, for five dollars a month, and with a setup that takes under five minutes, DigitalOcean is a great solution.

You can try DigitalOcean for free with $100 credits, which allows you to mess around without spending any money. This is a great way to follow tutorials like this one without any financial commitment.

When you're hosting a website on DigitalOcean, you'll want to consider your networking and storage options. DigitalOcean offers a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) that lets you create a secure and isolated network for your resources.

You can also take advantage of Cloud Firewalls to control incoming and outgoing traffic to your resources, and Load Balancers to distribute traffic across multiple instances for improved performance and reliability. This is especially useful for high-traffic websites or applications.

DigitalOcean's DNS service provides a reliable way to manage your domain's DNS settings, ensuring that your website is accessible to visitors worldwide.

DigitalOcean's Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a secure way to manage your network resources.

Our VPC allows you to create a private network within the cloud, giving you full control over your network settings and security.

You can use Cloud Firewalls to block unwanted traffic and protect your resources from external threats.

Load Balancers help distribute traffic evenly across multiple servers, ensuring your website remains accessible even during high traffic periods.

DigitalOcean's DNS service provides a reliable and scalable way to manage your domain names and route traffic to your servers.

Having confidence in your web hosting security is essential, and DigitalOcean takes it seriously by investing in security features that give you peace of mind.

Object Storage is a game-changer for data management. Our S3-compatible object storage product, Spaces, has built-in identity verification, ensuring that only authorized users can access your data.

This means you can store your files with confidence, knowing they're secure.

Data encryption is also enabled by default, protecting your data from unauthorized access. This is especially important for sensitive information like financial records or personal identifiable information.

Spaces is designed to be highly secure, with security as a default setting.