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Linode

Linode

Linode has been in the VPS game for quite some time and focus on providing lightning-quick SSD equipped Linux servers for developers. There is a quick and easy process to getting a server up and running that involves: picking a pricing plan, picking a Linux distribution, and then choosing a node location that is best suited to your needs.

Note

You can now install Grav directly onto a new Linode Virtual Private Server using their Linode Maketplace app.

After creating an account and navigating to the Linode Manager, you first need to add a Linode. For this test, we will pick the smallest and cheapest option at $10/month for 1 CPU core and 24GB of SSD Disk space. There are plenty of scaling options here all the way up to 20 CPU cores and 2GB of disk space! Also remember to choose an appropriate location from the drop-down:

After the Linode has been created you will need to click the Dashboard link from the options column. This will take you to the page where you can now choose your distribution. From the Dashboard, choose Deploy an Image.

For the sake of compatibility and ease of use, I like to choose a stable distribution of Ubuntu. So Ubuntu 24.04 LTS it is! Leave the rest as defaults and provide a strong password, then click deploy:

The creation of your server should take about 30 seconds, and after that you can click the Boot button to get it up and running:

You can click on the Remote Access tab in the Linode Manager to get relevant information about how to remotely connect to the VPS instance you have just setup. You can can SSH via the command provided in this tab using the password you entered when you created the distribution instance. Public key authentication is recommended, and Linode has good SSH public key authentication documentation that walks you through the steps required.

This guide covers installing Grav on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) VPS with Nginx and PHP 8.3.

Initial Server Setup

First, set up a local /etc/hosts entry to give your server IP a friendly name such as digitalocean.dev. This makes it easier to SSH to your server:

BASH
ssh [email protected]

Update System Packages

After connecting as root, update all installed packages:

BASH
apt update && apt upgrade -y

Install Required Packages

Install Nginx, PHP 8.3, and essential extensions for Grav:

BASH
apt install -y vim zip unzip nginx git \
    php8.3-fpm php8.3-cli php8.3-gd php8.3-curl \
    php8.3-mbstring php8.3-xml php8.3-zip php8.3-intl php8.3-apcu

This installs:

  • Nginx - High-performance web server
  • PHP 8.3-FPM - FastCGI Process Manager for PHP
  • PHP Extensions - Required by Grav for image processing, caching, etc.

Configure PHP-FPM

Edit the PHP configuration for better security:

BASH
vim /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini

Find cgi.fix_pathinfo (use /cgi.fix_pathinfo in vim to search), uncomment it and set to 0:

INI
cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Warning

This setting prevents PHP from executing the closest matching file when the requested file isn't found - a significant security risk if left enabled.

Create a Dedicated User

Create a grav user to run the site (don't run web apps as root):

BASH
adduser grav

Provide a strong password when prompted.

Configure PHP-FPM Pool

Create a dedicated PHP-FPM pool for the grav user:

BASH
cd /etc/php/8.3/fpm/pool.d
mv www.conf www.conf.bak
vim grav.conf

Add the following configuration:

grav.conf
 1[grav]
 2user = grav
 3group = grav
 4
 5listen = /run/php/php8.3-fpm-grav.sock
 6
 7listen.owner = www-data
 8listen.group = www-data
 9
10pm = dynamic
11pm.max_children = 10
12pm.start_servers = 3
13pm.min_spare_servers = 2
14pm.max_spare_servers = 5
15
16chdir = /

Create Web Directory

Switch to the grav user and create the web directory:

BASH
su - grav
mkdir -p ~/www/html

Create a test file to verify the setup:

BASH
echo '<?php phpinfo();' > ~/www/html/info.php
exit

Configure Nginx

Create the Nginx server block:

BASH
vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/grav

Add the following configuration:

grav
 1server {
 2    listen 80;
 3    index index.html index.php;
 4
 5    ## Begin - Server Info
 6    root /home/grav/www/html;
 7    server_name _;
 8    ## End - Server Info
 9
10    ## Begin - Index
11    location / {
12        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
13    }
14    ## End - Index
15
16    ## Begin - Security
17    # deny all direct access for these folders
18    location ~* /(\.git|cache|bin|logs|backup|tests)/.*$ { return 403; }
19    # deny running scripts inside core system folders
20    location ~* /(system|vendor)/.*\.(txt|xml|md|html|yaml|yml|php|pl|py|cgi|twig|sh|bat)$ { return 403; }
21    # deny running scripts inside user folder
22    location ~* /user/.*\.(txt|md|yaml|yml|php|pl|py|cgi|twig|sh|bat)$ { return 403; }
23    # deny access to specific files in the root folder
24    location ~ /(LICENSE\.txt|composer\.lock|composer\.json|nginx\.conf|web\.config|htaccess\.txt|\.htaccess) { return 403; }
25    ## End - Security
26
27    ## Begin - PHP
28    location ~ \.php$ {
29        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm-grav.sock;
30        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
31        fastcgi_index index.php;
32        include fastcgi_params;
33        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root/$fastcgi_script_name;
34    }
35    ## End - PHP
36}

Enable the site and remove the default:

BASH
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/grav /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Test the configuration:

BASH
nginx -t

You should see:

TXT
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Start Services

Restart Nginx and PHP-FPM:

BASH
systemctl restart nginx
systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Verify PHP is working by visiting http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/info.php. You should see the PHP info page with PHP 8.3 and APCu listed.

Caution

Remove the info.php file after testing: rm /home/grav/www/html/info.php

Install Grav

Switch to the grav user and download Grav:

BASH
su - grav
cd ~/www
wget -O grav.zip https://getgrav.org/download/core/grav/latest
unzip grav.zip
rm -rf html
mv grav html

Verify Installation

Visit http://YOUR_SERVER_IP and you should see the Grav is Running! page.

Test CLI Tools

Since you're running as the grav user, CLI tools work out of the box:

BASH
cd ~/www/html
bin/grav clear

Output:

TXT
Clearing cache

Cleared:  cache/twig/*
Cleared:  cache/compiled/*

Touched: /home/grav/www/html/user/config/system.yaml

GPM commands also work:

BASH
bin/gpm index

Optional: Install Admin Plugin

To install the Grav Admin panel:

BASH
bin/gpm install admin

Then visit http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/admin to create your admin account.

Optional: Enable HTTPS with Let's Encrypt

For production sites, enable HTTPS using Certbot:

BASH
apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Certbot will automatically configure Nginx for SSL and set up auto-renewal.

Next Steps