In today's technological landscape, deploying web applications on virtual private servers (VPS) is becoming increasingly popular due to the flexibility and control they offer. Laravel, one of the most popular PHP frameworks for web application development, is an ideal choice for deployment on VPS due to its modularity and extensive features. This article will guide you through the step-by-step process of deploying a Laravel project on a VPS.

Preparing the Environment

Before you begin, ensure that your VPS is prepared. This includes having:

• SSH access to the VPS.
• A web server installed (such as Apache or Nginx).
• PHP installed in a version required by your Laravel project.
• Composer, a dependency manager for PHP.
• MySQL or another compatible database system if your project requires a database.

Step 1: Connecting to the VPS

Firstly, connect to your server using SSH. Open a terminal on your local computer and run the command:

ssh user@your-vps-ip

Replace user with your username on the VPS and your-vps-ip with the IP address of your server.

Step 2: Installing the Web Server

If you haven't already installed a web server, install one. For Nginx, you can use the command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install nginx -y

For Apache, use:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install apache2 -y

Step 3: Configuring the Web Server

After installing the web server, you need to set up a configuration file for your Laravel project. For Nginx, the configuration file might look like this:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;
    root /var/www/your-app/public;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

    index index.php index.HTML index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

    charset utf-8;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Replace your-domain.com with your domain name and /var/www/your-app/public with the path to your Laravel application.

Step 4: Installing Laravel and its Dependencies

Navigate to the directory where you want to have your project:

cd /var/www

Download your Laravel project from the repository or create a new one using Composer:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel your-app

Install the project's dependencies:

cd your-app
composer install

Step 5: Setting up Environment and Database

Create a .env file for configuring your application's environment:

cp .env.example .env

Modify the .env file to set up the database connection and other important environment variables.

Step 6: Running Migrations and Seeders

If your project involves database migrations or seeders, run them:

php artisan migrate
php artisan db:seed

Step 7: Securing the Application

It's crucial to secure your application. This includes setting up a firewall, installing security certificates (e.g., using Let's Encrypt for HTTPS), and configuring security headers on your web server.

 

Deploying a Laravel project on a VPS requires several steps, from setting up the server environment to securing it. Follow the steps outlined above to ensure the successful deployment of your application. Remember to regularly update your server and application to keep them secure and performant.