Guides tagged “linux”

Step-by-step MdmHost guides about linux, sorted A-Z.

280 guides · page 3 of 14

Create an SFTP-only user limited to one folder
Give someone file access over SFTP without a shell, locked inside one folder. Configure internal-sftp with a Match block, set the chroot ownership right and test with WinSCP.
AdvancedLinux server5 min read
Create files and folders in Linux (touch, mkdir, echo)
Create empty files, folders and nested folder trees on a Linux server with touch and mkdir -p, and write text into files with echo, redirection and heredocs.
BeginnerLinux server4 min read
Create system users for apps and services
Run each app on your Linux VPS under its own system account with no password and no shell, so a bug or breach in one app cannot take over the whole server.
IntermediateLinux server4 min read
Customise the login message (MOTD) on Ubuntu and Debian
Change the message you see when you log in over SSH. Edit /etc/motd, trim or add update-motd.d scripts, switch off Ubuntu news and show disk and load at a glance.
IntermediateLinux server5 min read
Delete a user and their files on Linux
Remove a Linux user account cleanly. Stop their processes, back up what matters, delete the account with userdel or deluser and find any files they left behind.
BeginnerLinux server5 min read
Delete files and folders in Linux safely (rm, rmdir)
Delete files and folders on a Linux server with rm and rmdir, understand why rm -rf and wildcards are dangerous, and remove files with awkward names such as spaces or leading dashes.
BeginnerLinux server5 min read
Delete files older than X days automatically
Clean up old backups, logs and temp files on a schedule. Find files older than a set number of days, test with a dry run, delete them and automate it with cron, a systemd timer or tmpfiles.d.
IntermediateLinux server4 min read
Deploy a Node.js app with PM2 behind Nginx
Install a Node.js LTS release, keep your app running with PM2 across crashes and reboots, and serve it through Nginx with HTTPS.
IntermediateLinux server3 min read
Deploy a Python app with Gunicorn, systemd and Nginx
Set up a virtual environment, run your Flask or Django app with Gunicorn as a systemd service, and serve it through Nginx with HTTPS.
IntermediateLinux server2 min read
Deploy a Self-Hosted App with Docker Compose from Scratch
Write a compose.yaml, keep your secrets in.env, start the stack with docker compose up -d, then verify it and update it later without losing data.
BeginnerLinux server7 min read
Deploy from GitHub Actions to your VPS over SSH
Create a dedicated deploy user, store its SSH key as a GitHub secret and run a workflow that ships your code to the VPS on every push.
IntermediateLinux server6 min read
DirectAdmin: Manage Email Accounts and DNS Records Effectively
Learn how to manage email accounts, set up forwarders, and edit DNS zone records within your DirectAdmin VPS environment.
BeginnerLinux server6 min read
Disable root login and password authentication over SSH
Stop brute-force attempts by switching off root and password logins with a small SSH drop-in file, then verify the change from a second session.
IntermediateLinux server3 min read
Disable Weak SSH Ciphers and MAC Algorithms on a Linux VPS
Edit sshd_config to allow only modern ciphers, MACs and key exchange algorithms, then verify the negotiation and keep a fallback session open.
AdvancedLinux server6 min read
Docker basics: containers, images and registries explained
A plain-English introduction to Docker for VPS owners. Learn what images, containers, tags and registries are, how docker run differs from Compose, and when containers suit a small server.
BeginnerLinux server5 min read
Docker Compose depends_on and healthchecks: get startup order right
Use depends_on with condition: service_healthy so your app waits until the database accepts connections, and learn how to tune healthcheck timing without slowing every start.
IntermediateLinux server7 min read
Docker Compose file explained: services, volumes, networks and ports
A line-by-line walk through docker-compose.yml: what services, volumes, networks, ports and depends_on do, with a working example stack you can run on a Linux VPS.
BeginnerLinux server7 min read
Docker Compose override files: separate dev and production configs
Keep one base Compose file and layer per-environment settings with a dev override file and a production file, merged with -f or COMPOSE_FILE.
IntermediateLinux server6 min read
Docker networks: bridge, host and custom networks explained
How Docker networking works on a VPS. Covers the default bridge, user-defined networks with built-in DNS, host mode, connecting containers across Compose projects and inspecting networks.
IntermediateLinux server5 min read
Docker persistent storage for non-root users on a Linux VPS
Set up Docker persistent storage so container data survives deletion, and fix ownership so a non-root user inside the container can read and write it.
IntermediateLinux server6 min read

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