Help! I am so out of my element

April 10, 2015 1.7k views
DigitalOcean FAQ
mross11
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mross11

Let me start off by saying I have no idea what I am doing. I've never used digital ocean before and all the other times I've created websites, the host, server and all of that have already been created for me.

That being said, I really need to know how to get set up for a site. Right now I have a site with a different host and server and I need to update the site so I want to house this new site on a temp site with a simple ip so I can update and make changes to the site without disturbing the current site. Once the site is done, I want to be able to transfer everything over to the new site.

If someone can walk me through the process of setting everything up I would greatly appreciate it. I've read through the tutorials and some of the other forum questions and it just isn't working for me.

I need to get this up and running as soon as I can, so if someone could help me out as soon as they can I would be very, very happy :)

Thank you!

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2 Answers
ryanpq MOD April 10, 2015

Hey! I am going to assume that this is a static site (HTML/CSS/Javascript). If there is a database involved there will be some extra steps.

1.) For most sites you'd be best starting be launching a droplet using the LAMP image in the Applications tab. This provides a server configured with the Apache web server, PHP, and MySQL. To do this, click on create droplet in the control panel, give your droplet a name, select a plan and location for your droplet, and instead of picking a default OS image click on the Applications tab and find the option "LAMP on 14.04" and create your droplet.

2.) Once the creation is complete you should have an email which will include your login credentials. You will need to log in at least once via ssh or the console in the control panel to replace your temporary password with one you create. You can use PuTTY on Windows to make an ssh connection or you can use the web console in the control panel.

To use the console, click on your droplet in the control panel, then on "Access" and click the blue console access button.

If you use the console, be aware that copy/paste are not supported so you will have to type in your password manually. You will be prompted for your username "root" and then the temporary password that was emailed to you. You will then be asked to enter that temporary password again, followed by entering a new password twice.

3.) Now that you have replaced your temporary password you can make an SFTP connection to your droplet with your new password.

When you connect to your droplet in Filezilla you will start out in the directory /root but you'll have full access to your disk. First you will want to change up a directory to the main directory on the drive by clicking on the top item in filezilla "..". Then you can navigate to /var/www/html

There will be an index.html file in this directory (the default one that shows the server is working) which you can replace with your own content.

You will then be able to access your site by navigating to your droplet's IP address in a browser.

How To Log Into Your Droplet with PuTTY (for windows users)
by Etel Sverdlov
PuTTY is an open-source SSH and Telnet client for Windows. It allows you to securely connect to remote servers from a local Windows computer. This tutorial will cover how to connect to your Droplet from your local Windows computer using PuTTY.
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mross11 April 10, 2015

Thanks a ton! You are a lifesaver. If I'm building the site in wordpress and using a theme are there any special steps I need to take so everything connects properly?

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