How to get from Fresh install of LEMP server with MariaDB to up-and-running Drupal install with EV SSL?

Hello,

I’ll try to cover all of the services that you’ve mentioned. Let’s dive in:

1. DigitalOcean Droplet Creation:

• Log into your DigitalOcean account and initialize a new droplet.
• Opt for Ubuntu as your OS, and choose a plan that meets your resource requirements.

2. Initial Server Configuration:

• Connect to your droplet through SSH using the Terminal on your Mac once it’s active.

• Update the system with these commands:

  sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
  

• Create a non-root user with sudo access:

  adduser your_username
  usermod -aG sudo your_username
  

• Logout as root, and login as the new user:

  su - your_username
  

3. Installing the LEMP Stack:

• Nginx: sudo apt install nginx

• MariaDB: sudo apt install mariadb-server then sudo mysql_secure_installation

• PHP and needed modules:

  sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-intl php-mbstring php-xml php-xmlrpc php-zip
  

4. Nginx Configuration for Drupal:

• Construct an Nginx server block: sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain
• Insert the provided configuration, altering “your_domain” as needed.
• Activate the block and restart Nginx with these commands:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

5. SSL Certificate Management:

• Install Certbot: sudo apt install certbot
• Get an EV SSL certificate: sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d your_domain -d www.your_domain
• To activate HSTS, modify your Nginx file and include the HSTS header, then save and restart Nginx:

sudo nginx -t 
sudo systemctl restart nginx

6. Drupal Installation:

• Download Drupal, extract files, and move to your site’s directory.
• Set appropriate permissions: sudo chown -R www-data: /var/www/your_domain/
• Set up Drupal in MariaDB:

sudo mysql -u root -p

• Then run the following queries:

CREATE DATABASE drupaldb;
CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL ON drupaldb.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

• Complete the Drupal installation by navigating to your domain in a browser.

7. Extra Performance Tools: For further enhancement, consider implementing Redis for caching, Varnish for HTTP acceleration, and enabling gzip compression in Nginx. Each tool may need individual configuration and can be applied depending on your precise needs.

Best,

Bobby