Scalable self-hosting with virtual machines

An example of how you can host your own Wordpress sites, or any other web

applications, with a minimum of fuss or clashes between sites

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About the presenterChris has been in the tech industry for more than 20 years. He has been both the in-house and outsourced IT guy for over 50 local small businesses and started his own consultancy in April of 2015. He understands the difficulties facing a growing small business and can offer a measured perspective, founded on a solid base of experience.

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Self-hosting introWhy would you do this?

ControlTestingCostLearningFun

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Static IP address/business accountA normal residential service can change IP addressYou can add a static IP address to some home

accountsYour ISP might only offer it for

business accounts, and mayrequire an ABN(I strongly recommend getting

an ABN anyway)Nothing else should change

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Configuring domains/subdomainsYou’ll need one or more of your own domainsUse your domain host’s

tools to add an A recordto your static IP address

You can then create asmany subdomains as youwant as C records (aliases)to your A record

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VM host environment (Part 1)All you need is a spare old computer you can leave

on all the timeCPU barely matters, RAM is most usefulESXi & Linux-based QEMU solutions are free, just

download and installIf you have a Windows Server, you can use Hyper-VIf you have a desktop PC, you can use Vmware

Player

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VM host environment (Part 2)My recommendation is

CentOS (www.centos.org)Grab a DVD ISO image and

burn to a DVD.Boot from disc and follow the

wizard.THIS WILL TOTALLY ERASE

EVERYTHING ON THECOMPUTER. Just so we’re clear.

Congratulations, you’re a Linuxuser. There’s probably a Meetupgroup for that.

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Pre-built Wordpress VMYou don’t have to build your own virtual machinesI use Bitnami & Turnkey

Linux for my VMsYou can download a

pre-built environmentthat’s a workingWordpress install, or

You can download aLAMP VM and installWordpress yourself.

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Getting it booting & live (Part 1)Your VM host environment will

have an option to import anexisting file

When setting up your VM, makesure the virtual network adapteris bridged, not NATed

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Getting it booting & live (Part 2)In your DHCP server,

create a reservation.For most homes, the

router is the DHCP server.For most businesses, the

main server is the DHCPserver.

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Getting it booting & live (Part 3)In your router, set up port forwarding.The IP address matches the reservation.

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Quick ReviewComputer on all the timeStatic IP addressDomain with one or more

records pointed at static IPaddress

VM host environment oncomputer

Pre-build VM on hostDHCP reservation for VMPort forwarding on router

pointed at reserved IP

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Now let’s make it scalableIn our set up so far, all the domain records

point to the same server.What if you want different servers for

different domains?The solution is a “Reverse Proxy”.

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Nginx VMPronounced “engine x”Download and install a

pre-built VMSet up a reservationPoint the port 80 port

forwarding to this server

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Nginx configuration (Part 1)Configure hosts file

Each line has the private IPaddress of the server and itsname as known by theoutside world.

This fixes some weirdredirection issues.

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Nginx configuration (Part 2)Configure default enabled sites

For each domain/servername, pass incomingrequests to the matchingname you’ve set up inthe hosts file.

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Done

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That seemed complicated…Yes, you could do most of this with a single

server, a single LAMP install, no virtual stuff and a lot of configuring.

BUT, changing it is hard.Scaling it up is hardAnd you’re stuck with one platform

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I mean, really complicated…With this solution you can have any number of

physical and virtual servers.You can add and reassign resources much more easily.Servers do not have to be LAMP/WordPress installs.Servers can be any OS

For example; you can build a testing environment for your plug-ins that has a dozen or more different OS, stack and version combinations.

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Do you really do this?Yes.

Details on the next slide.

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Router (10.1.1.1)203.59.72.34

ESXi10.1.1.34Windows Server10.1.1.202Linuxsvr01 (email relay)10.1.1.110Windows 10 test env.10.1.1.123

CentOS 1iwantmy.xyz (Telescope)10.1.1.17

Bamboo Invoices10.1.1.111

Disposals/Classifieds10.1.1.135

Helpdesk job tracking10.1.1.128

Podcast Slack invites10.1.1.126

ERP / Bookkeeping10.1.1.130

RSS server10.1.1.124

Technicalconsultingperth.com10.1.1.122

Nginx reverse proxy10.1.1.113

CentOS 2 10.1.1.104

Prebiotic.diet10.1.1.132

Dev/Test ERP system10.1.1.127

eBooksa.ga10.1.1.133

Satelliteup.link10.1.1.136

Munchausenbypro.xyz10.1.1.140

Technicalconsulting.in10.1.1.107Technicalconsulting.in/ternationalTechnicalconsulting.in/PerthTechnicalconsulting.in/AustraliaTechnicalconsulting.in/theUK

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Questions?