Hosting a CMS on a VPS can be quite challenging, particularly if you're not familiar with complex setups. There are numerous aspects to consider, many of which may be unfamiliar to you at the outset. It feels like an experimental journey, but I enjoyed the process and, in the end, I succeeded! Congratulations to myself, yahoo!

Things You Should Know at the Beginning

  • Basic Server Knowledge(I bought VPS from Vultr)

  • Linux commands

  • Docker Compose

  • Open Source CMS Solution(I used Halo, Backend: Java, Spring Boot; Frontend: Thymeleaf, TS, Vite, etc. )

  • IDE(I used VSCode)

  • Domain(I bought from NameCheap)

  • CND(I used Cloudflare DNS and CDN)

  • Open Source Linux Panel(I used 1Panel)

Challenges You Will Meet During Your Deployment

Coding

Using a headless CMS offers a substantial backend solution that typically doesn't require extensive setup, which is a significant advantage. However, developing the frontend becomes a crucial and challenging step. The Halo community, for instance, boasts numerous contributors who have developed a variety of frontend templates. Despite these resources, I found myself needing to debug issues and customize specific features to meet my unique requirements. Before this project, my understanding of web technologies like JavaScript and CSS was theoretical—I knew what they were for but had never actually worked with them. Through this redevelopment process, I gained practical experience not only with these basic tools but also with more advanced and standardized solutions like TypeScript, Vite, and SCSS. These tools offer enhanced security and functionality, greatly enriching my development skills.

Local Test

Docker is an excellent tool for containerizing projects and simplifying deployment. However, it does come with its own set of challenges. One of the primary concerns during development is managing data flow into and out of containers effectively. In a production environment, particularly for frontend components that are updated frequently as part of iterative development, maintaining data consistency becomes crucial. Furthermore, issues often arise in production systems that cannot be easily replicated in development environments. This discrepancy can lead to unexpected behavior in production that developers may not have anticipated or observed during the testing phase.

Server Deployment

Deploying applications on a server as opposed to a local system presents a significantly different set of challenges. Configuration on a server needs meticulous adjustment, such as mapping server ports to container ports and website ports to server ports. Additionally, setting up the firewall and managing database services are critical tasks that can complicate deployment.

Using a Linux server panel, like 1Panel, is highly recommended to help manage and monitor these configurations. However, even with such tools at your disposal, managing a server is not straightforward. Beyond the regular configurations, security becomes a paramount concern. Tools like Fail2Ban are essential as they help mitigate continuous brute force attacks by banning IPs that exhibit malicious behavior. This layered approach to server management and security ensures not only the functionality but also the resilience of your deployed applications.

Reverse Proxy

Setting up a reverse proxy is indeed crucial if you're hosting multiple websites on a single server, particularly because all the domains for these websites will point to the same server IP address. A reverse proxy acts as an intermediary that directs incoming traffic to the correct backend server and then to the container based on the request's domain or other headers.

For example, when a user accesses one of the domains, the traffic first reaches the reverse proxy. The proxy then determines which server port is associated with that domain and forwards the request accordingly. From the server port, the request is then routed to the specific container port where the actual website is hosted.

This system not only facilitates efficient traffic management and load balancing but also enhances security by abstracting the backend server details from the outside world. Tools like Nginx or Apache can be configured to serve as effective reverse proxies. Implementing a reverse proxy will definitely be a wise decision to manage the complexity and enhance the performance of hosting multiple sites on a single server.

SSL

Utilizing SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is essential when deploying Cloudflare's DNS services, not only to secure your site but also to maximize the benefits offered by Cloudflare. By setting up DNS with Cloudflare, you can access their SSL/TLS (Transport Layer Security) options, enhancing site security and functionality.

Cloudflare offers several SSL certificate types, including the Universal SSL certificate, provided for free to all users of their service. This certificate renews automatically every 90 days, maintaining robust security without requiring manual oversight. Notably, Cloudflare allows for unusually long validity periods for certificates; by default, they can be set to expire after fifteen years. If this extended duration does not meet your security strategy or compliance needs, Cloudflare provides the option to select a shorter validity period for your SSL certificate through their configuration settings.

Implementing an SSL certificate ensures that the data transmitted between your server and Cloudflare is encrypted, crucial for protecting data integrity and securing user transactions. Recognized by browsers, this encryption also aids in building trust with your visitors. Furthermore, SSL enhances your SEO rankings and content delivery reliability, as search engines and users tend to favor secure websites.

Tricky Issues You May Encounter After the Website Goes Live

After spending nearly an entire day troubleshooting why updates to resources like JavaScript, CSS, and images weren't reflecting on the server, I made a series of investigative steps to identify the root cause.

Initially, I noticed in the Chrome console development tool that the file URLs included a version query parameter (`?v=1.0.0`) that I hadn't added. This was my first clue that something was managing these files differently than I expected.

To confirm whether the issue was with my local setup or something server-related, I tested the updates locally and saw that changes were instantly reflected, which indicated that the local environment was fine.

Suspecting a synchronization issue, I first thought there might be a problem with how data was being handled on the server-side containers, but this direction didn't lead to any solution.

I then considered caching issues, particularly with Nginx, since a web server often uses caching to improve performance. After checking the community discussions, I realized that I hadn't even enabled caching in my Nginx reverse proxy setup, which ruled out this possibility.

Finally, it dawned on me that I was overlooking Cloudflare's role in this scenario. Cloudflare caches static content across its network to speed up content delivery globally. The solution was surprisingly simple yet easy to miss: I needed to clear the Cloudflare cache. Once I did that, all updates were correctly showing up as expected.

Summary

Hosting a CMS on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) can be quite an adventure, especially if you’re not already a whiz with complex setups. The process was full of learning curves. I tackled everything from the initial coding and local testing—where Docker shone despite its complexities—to managing live server deployments. This meant diving into network configurations, using Cloudflare for DNS and CDN, and getting domains sorted with NameCheap. Security was paramount, leading me to set up SSL through Cloudflare and configure a reverse proxy to manage traffic efficiently. The trickiest part? Realizing that updates weren't reflecting due to Cloudflare's caching, not my server settings—a simple yet critical oversight.

In all, it was a challenging but enjoyable experience, packed with problem-solving and eureka moments, like discovering the need to clear Cloudflare's cache to see my updates take effect. It was both a technical deep dive and a practical lesson in web management.