I realize the question seems odd but before I buy into it I need to understand what it means to run an Apache Server using Digital Ocean’s web server. I can see that I can create a droplet that has Ubuntu or Linux as its backbone and then I can have Apache WebServer installed into that, therefore creating a cloud based Apache Server. Am I right thus far?
Now, say I want to create user accounts on this Apache WebServer. For example, I can do this if I was operating Apache Server myself on my own server, however I do not know if Apache WebServer that I am using from Digital Ocean allows me to do the same things I can do on personal install of Apache. On say my own install of Apache I can create user accounts, like student accounts where students can access their root folder and create new folders and upload their files into these folders. These students would then log into these accounts “somehow” using an application worthy of performing this task and be able to update their own personal folder for my class. Does this make sense in what I am trying to achieve? I’m really not privy to the “lingo” needed here to describe the technology I need very well so hopefully I am explaining well enough using what I intend to do as a means of explanation.
Am I still within the parameters of Digital Ocean’s web service for running a cloud based Apache WebServer?
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Short answer: Yes, you can do that.
Long answer: You’re a bit off with your lingo. First off, DigitalOcean is not a web service, it’s a hosting provider, sometimes called a VPS provider (Virtual Private Server). So you would setup whatever operating system [OS] (Ubuntu, CentOS, FreeBSD, …) and then you could install Apache. You then setup multiple user accounts on the OS, where you allow SSH/SFTP access for each user to their own directory. If you’re already doing this on a server locally, then there’s no difference, since would do exactly the same on your DigitalOcean server.
There are many great articles here on DigitalOcean on how to setup multiple user accounts and connecting them to Apache. Did that answer your question somewhat? It’s a bit broad, but hope you get it.
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