Point Your Domain and Host HTML Files

How to Point Domain and Host HTML Website on Remote Server or VPS

Empower your website to reach the world! This comprehensive guide walks you through the steps of pointing your domain name to your remote server/VPS and hosting your HTML website files.

Prerequisites:

• A registered domain name.
• A remote server/VPS with an Apache web server, PHP (optional), and SSH access.
• Basic understanding of command line usage and file management.
• Access to your domain provider’s control panel.

• Login to Your Domain Provider Website
• Navigate to Manage DNS
• Add Following Records:

• On Local Windows Machine Make Your Project Folder a Zip File using any of the software e.g. winzip
• Open Command Prompt
• Copy Zip File from Local Windows Machine to Linux Remote Server

Syntax:- scp -P Port_number Source_File_Path Destination_Path
Example:- scp -P 22 osmsProject.zip root@216.32.44.12:/var/www

• Copied Successfully
• To Access Remote Server via SSH

Syntax:- ssh -p PORT USERNAME@HOSTIP
Example:- ssh -p 22 root@216.32.44.12

Note:- Run Below Commands on Your Remote Server Linux Machine or VPS, Not on Your Local Windows Machine

• Go to the Destination Path Where you copied the zip file

Syntax:- cd Destination_Path
Example:- cd /var/www

• Run ls command to verify that the zip file is present

ls

• Unzip the Copied Zip File

Syntax:- unzip zip_file_name
Example:- unzip osmsProject.zip

• Verify that all required softwares are installed

apache2 -v
mysql
php -v

• Verify Apache2 is Active and Running

service apache2 status

• Verify Web Server Ports are Open and Allowed through Firewall

ufw status verbose

• Create Virtual Host File

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf

• Add Following Code in Virtual Host File

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName www.example.com
    ServerAdmin contact@example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/project_folder_name
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

• Enable Virtual Host

cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/
a2ensite your_domain.conf

• You can Disable Default Virtual Host

cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/
a2dissite 000-default.conf

• Restart Apache2

service apache2 restart