Perfect-server-debian-12-buster-apache-bind-dovecot-ispconfig-3-2

Hi, i've followed the tutorial here:
https://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-debian-12-buster-apache-bind-dovecot-ispconfig-3-2/
and i've had a few small issues, i'm not sure what is connected and what isn't but any pointers in the right direction would be greatfully received.

1. ***Edit /etc/fstab. Mine looks like this:
https://pastebin.com/9gax8ECe
But I got this error....
https://pastebin.com/XZPkQK22

2. ***Install PHP MyAdmin***
I ran apt install phpmyadmin, I did not get any setup screens. My output, however, looks like this:
https://pastebin.com/4gd4x9nW
Is this OK or are any problems forseen please?

3. ****Install PHP MyAdmin***
I ran apt install roundcube roundcube-core roundcube-mysql roundcube-plugins, I did not get any setup screens. My output, however, looks like this:
https://pastebin.com/LhJtErDs
Is this OK or are any problems forseen please?

4. I ran into an issue with the unrar package not having an "install candidate". I read the comments about this and tried what Till said and ran apt install unrar separately, still no joy so I installed unrar-free instead as also suggested in the comments. Are there any issues with doing this please?

5. I was able to log into myipaddress:8080 but it is complaining about a self signed certificate. I thought i'd ask the question here as liberachat has a lot of people who will try and criticise projects such as ispconfig (and many other projects) for no particular reason other than to show off. At best, you get tons of different answers so I thought i'd ask the question here about how best to resolve the issue from the people that know ISPConfig.
I've leased a domain for the purpose of both accessing one website and with the intention of the server being accessible using it.

I'm not sure if I can have my cake and eat it in terms of using it for access to a website and the admin or whether this would be particularly bad security practice given that the How To Forge instructions provide for the installation of Fail2ban and a second firewall anyway? If there is no particular issue, how do I return 8080 to accessing a client website and reassign the port number for ISPConfig please? If it's a bad idea, please let me know and i'll just lease a second domain.

6. I should point out and I also wonder if the following can be changed: I am running a Self Managed VPS with the Debian 12 OS. They give me a whacking long FQDN. I'm not sure if this can be changed without issue or whether it has to be kept the same in order for the VPS to function on the Supplier's network? I'd much rather just be able to go to mydomain.tld:differentport for admin and mydomain.tld with 8080 hitting the website.

7. Joys of DNS - I'm using Gandi for the domain I currently have. I've set up glue records with Gandi for ns1.mydomain.tld and ns2.mydomain.tld and pointed them to my VPS dedicated IP address. I did this about a month ago so DNS propogation should have occurred. I've clearly done something wrong. I've confirmed that the IP address is correct.

A few hours before I created this post, I next logged into ISPConfig as admin, in the DNS Section I have provided the suggested FQDN for the server field (the same as what the VPS company have provided) and the NS as ns1.mydomain.tld. I notice this has set up A and MX records etc. I noticed that I could not also add these in the client area. Does it matter whether i've set these up in the admin or the client area (it's only for me anyway as a bit of a backup file store where I can access web applications).

Next, I've created a customer and created a site. I've set the server as the FQDN that was suggested (same as what the VPS company provided), the domain as mydomain.tld (same as I provided in the admin section) but no joy - in thinking about this, I guess that the propogation only starts once correct information is input into ISPConfig as the only information that Gandi has is two external NS records. I used the wizards both in the DNS information I input into the ISP Config admin account and also the client info in ISP Config.

8. In the client area, I notice that there is an option under the sites area for PHP Fast-CGI and PHP-FPM, upon clicking either, there are no matches found for PHP Version.

Sorry this is a bit long. Thanks for any help in advance!

 

Why not use ISPConfig autoinstaller?
https://www.howtoforge.com/ispconfig-autoinstall-debian-ubuntu/

 

Thanks so much for your super quick responses. I was coming to the end of my day when they came through but I have now gone through them and noted the information about the liklihood that the VM Service provider may have disabled certain screens, about the architecture and about PHP. I have not tackled the PHP side just yet. I've also fixed the typo in FS Tab (would have never spotted that so thanks for this too Til and more widely thanks Taleman).

I have got into quite a bit of a mess with the DNS side of things. I have read Till's recommendation too. From this, I have read that a VPS would need two separate VMs in order to have two external Nameservers to satisfy domain leasing requirements (it's a .tech TLD).
That said, I have now gone down the route of changing my FQDN for my Virtual Machine to webbackups.mydomain.tech. I've elected to use outsourced Nameservers in Gandi's control panel and set glue records of ns1.mydomain.tech pointing to the VPS IP address. I presume that I am dead in the water with one VPS rather than two.

I don't see any particular reason for outsourcing the nameservers really - I was just hoping to not have to remember the IP of the machine when I ssh'd in and also when I go to the ISP Config Control panel. Other than that, I simply need to be able to visit a website URL to be able to view websites that I want to put there and, I was hoping to be able to visit the ISP Config control panel from the same weblink and just pop a port number on the end. Is this bad practice anyway? Also, how would I go about returning Port 80 to visiting websites rather than the ISP Config Control panel and assign a different port number to ISP Config please?

Before I over-complicate this post with my current mess of a DNS setup, I thought i'd ask what you'd recommend is the most sane way forward? Is running the DNS from ISPConfig not the most sensible option under the circumstances detailed? Is there any way around needing two different machines for ns1 and ns2 provision?

Thanks again.

 

You can do that on your workstation, add the hostname and IP to /etc/hosts on Linux, on windows there is a hosts file too, location depends on Windows version.
https://www.faqforge.com/windows/how-to-access-a-namebased-website-without-a-dns-record/

It is that way with default ISPConfig install, or am I not understanding what you ask? ISPConfig panel is at port 8080, or maybe you chose other port number when installing? It can be changed in the ispconfig.vhost file in /etc/apache2/sites.available/ .

Like I wrote, change in ispconfig.vhost file.

If you can get by with /etc/hosts file, running name server is overkill.

Some users on this forum seem to use only one name server, they assing ns1 and ns2 names to the same IP-number. The registrar of names may require two working name servers, I'm not sure this trick fools them.
If you decide to run your own name service (which may well be unneeded in your case), you can set up your main ISPConfig host to run also name service, and get another small host to run ns2. Set up secondary zones on that ns2 host. So you would need two hosts altogether. Or maybe you have a friend who runs name server already, ask to add you hostname there. There is even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_DNS , maybe a provider is available in your area?
How are you reading documentation? You ask a lot and long questions, surely at least some of that is explained in ISPConfig documentation, general Linux documentation and resources on the Internet.

 

Hi Taleman,
Thanks for this - yes, I hadn't thought of doing it through /etc/hosts. I think that's the sanest way forward.

Will:

1. Having changed my FQDN for my Virtual Machine to webbackups.mydomain.tech and also copied this into
/etc/hostname
/etc/hosts
/etc/postfix/main.cf
/etc/mailname
ispconfig-panel
ISPConfig Panel - system -> Server Services
ISPConfig Panel - system -> Server Config

cause any problems moving forward in terms of going back to having the TLD Registrar manage the Name Servers in house please?

I presume I basically can't use one TLD both for accessing the admin panel and for accessing websites.

Thanks.

 

This seems to be a slow morning for me. I do not understand what you are asking there.

Why do you presume that? If you use a word, look it up first: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-level_domain
If your domain is foobar.tld, and you give FQDN server.foobar.tld to your ISPConfig host, you can access panel with server.foobar.tld:8080 and have website http:// foobar.tld.

 

Thanks for answer Taleman and Till,

Taleman: "Why do you presume that? If you use a word, [sic] look it up first: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-level_domain"

Your comment regarding looking up what the TLD acronym is was rather patronising though Taleman. I have been nothing but polite. Since this is a public forum, I am forced to address it.

Perhaps you'd be as courteous as to reconsider this as it was offensive. I know what a TLD is. I wasn't arrogant enough to make the assumption that simply because subdomains can exist under a top level domain and anything from the TLD downwards can be utilised by the domain leasor, that this would technically work within ISPConfig (if it didn't, i'm sure it would be with good reason).

For all I knew, there may be restrictions within ISPConfig itself or even reasons why it would not be best practice. Summing up on your comment, you shouldn't mistake humility for stupidity or indeed belittle people as it tends to reflect more on you than the person asking. I'd like to think that you were not spoken to like that earlier in your career (as you learnt yourself), some people read better from academic texts and some don't and we are humans behind these screens - not computers.