If you are looking for a clean and modern web hosting panel but you don’t simply have the funds to pay for one, Sentora is your answer. Sentora is an open source web hosting panel that is designed to simplify your web hosting experience.
Prerequisites
- A AKLWEB Host VPS (768MB should work fine).
- One of the following supported OS: CentOS 6 & 7, Ubuntu 12.04 & 14.04
- Registered domain name.
- Public IP for your server.
- 5-10 minutes of your time.
None of the following installed:
- MySQL
- Apache
- PHP
- Bind
- phpMyAdmin
- RoundCube
- Dovecot
- Postfix
- proFTPd
The following ports opened:
- 20 & 21 : FTP
- 25 (TCP) : SMTP
- 53 (TCP & UDP) : DNS
- 80 (TCP & UDP) : HTTP
- 110 : POP3
- 143 : IMAP
- Optional: 443 (HTTPS) and 3306 (MySQL)
Note: Your server OS should be freshly installed. Nothing else should be installed or it may mess with the installation process. This includes other management panels, web services, databases, mail servers, etc. If you have any of these installed, either uninstall them or reload the operating system to a fresh state.
Installation Process:
Once you are ready to start, you will want to log into your DNS management panel where you manage your domain name and the host records. Create a sub-domain that points to your server’s IP address. The sub-domain will be used to access your panel later on. It could be panel.domainname.com or web.domainname.com, whatever you prefer.
Step 1:
Once you have this done, log into the server you would like to install the panel on. We’ll be installing the latest stable version of the panel today. Start by typing the following command:
bash <(curl -L -Ss http://sentora.org/install)
This will download and start the installation process for you. A script will run and you’ll need to answer the questions asked. It’ll look something like this:
############################################################
# Welcome to the Official Sentora Installer 1.0.1 #
############################################################
Checking that minimal requirements are ok
Detected : CentOs 6 x86_64
Ok.
DB server will be mySQL
-- Installing wget and dns utils required to manage inputs
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Setting up Update Process
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: repos.mia.quadranet.com
* epel: epel.mirror.constant.com
* extras: mirror.ash.fastserv.com
* updates: mirror.ash.fastserv.com
No Packages marked for Update
Package 32:bind-utils-9.8.2-0.30.rc1.el6_6.1.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Package wget-1.12-5.el6_6.1.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Preparing to select timezone, please wait a few seconds...
Package tzdata-2015a-1.el6.noarch already installed and latest version
Please identify a location so that time zone rules can be set correctly.
Please select a continent or ocean.
1) Africa
2) Americas
3) Antarctica
4) Arctic Ocean
5) Asia
6) Atlantic Ocean
7) Australia
8) Europe
9) Indian Ocean
10) Pacific Ocean
11) none - I want to specify the time zone using the Posix TZ format.
#?
Enter the number that is appropriate to your country. If you live in the Americas, you will type in 2 and hit enter. In this case, we will use Americas as an example. Thus, we will type in the number 2 and hit enter.
Step 2:
Find the country you live in and type in the corresponding number. In our case, we will choose the United States, which is number 49. Type this in and hit enter to move forward.
Please select a country.
1) Anguilla 28) Haiti
2) Antigua & Barbuda 29) Honduras
3) Argentina 30) Jamaica
4) Aruba 31) Martinique
5) Bahamas 32) Mexico
6) Barbados 33) Montserrat
7) Belize 34) Nicaragua
8) Bolivia 35) Panama
9) Brazil 36) Paraguay
10) Canada 37) Peru
11) Caribbean Netherlands 38) Puerto Rico
12) Cayman Islands 39) St Barthelemy
13) Chile 40) St Kitts & Nevis
14) Colombia 41) St Lucia
15) Costa Rica 42) St Maarten (Dutch part)
16) Cuba 43) St Martin (French part)
17) Curacao 44) St Pierre & Miquelon
18) Dominica 45) St Vincent
19) Dominican Republic 46) Suriname
20) Ecuador 47) Trinidad & Tobago
21) El Salvador 48) Turks & Caicos Is
22) French Guiana 49) United States
23) Greenland 50) Uruguay
24) Grenada 51) Venezuela
25) Guadeloupe 52) Virgin Islands (UK)
26) Guatemala 53) Virgin Islands (US)
27) Guyana
#?
Step 3:
Now you will be asked what timezone you are in. Similar to the previous steps, type in the number of your time zone. Multiple options are given in each timezone, so be careful to choose the correct one. Google can be your friend in this case.
Please select one of the following time zone regions.
1) Eastern Time
2) Eastern Time - Michigan - most locations
3) Eastern Time - Kentucky - Louisville area
4) Eastern Time - Kentucky - Wayne County
5) Eastern Time - Indiana - most locations
6) Eastern Time - Indiana - Daviess, Dubois, Knox & Martin Counties
7) Eastern Time - Indiana - Pulaski County
8) Eastern Time - Indiana - Crawford County
9) Eastern Time - Indiana - Pike County
10) Eastern Time - Indiana - Switzerland County
11) Central Time
12) Central Time - Indiana - Perry County
13) Central Time - Indiana - Starke County
14) Central Time - Michigan - Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron & Menominee Counties
15) Central Time - North Dakota - Oliver County
16) Central Time - North Dakota - Morton County (except Mandan area)
17) Central Time - North Dakota - Mercer County
18) Mountain Time
19) Mountain Time - south Idaho & east Oregon
20) Mountain Standard Time - Arizona (except Navajo)
21) Pacific Time
22) Pacific Standard Time - Annette Island, Alaska
23) Alaska Time
24) Alaska Time - Alaska panhandle
25) Alaska Time - southeast Alaska panhandle
26) Alaska Time - Alaska panhandle neck
27) Alaska Time - west Alaska
28) Aleutian Islands
29) Hawaii
#?
After choosing your timezone, the system will ask to confirm the information you provided. Enter 1 if the information is correct, enter 2 if you need to change something. Once confirmed, we can move on to the next step.
Step 4:
Enter the sub-domain you assigned earlier. By default, the system will input the server’s hostname. Erase this and type in the sub-domain address you assigned earlier, unless the hostname is the same as your sub-domain.
Enter the sub-domain you want to access Sentora panel: <//Sub-domain here//>
Step 5:
Confirm the public IP for the server. It should already have your IP address listed. Hit enter if it is correct. Otherwise, erase it and type in the correct IP address and hit enter.
Enter (or confirm) the public IP for this server: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Note: if you have not assigned a sub-domain to your IP address, you will see a warning message after hitting enter. You can safely ignore this if you plan on assigning a sub-domain later. Simply enter
yto continue ornto change the domain/IP orqto quit the entire installation process.
Step 6:
You are pretty much done now! From this point on, you will see your system installing necessary packages in order for your panel to operate successfully. Let this run for a few minutes.
It will also install MySQL for you, so you will want to keep note of the usernames and passwords it assigns you. Never fear, the script will generate a file that has the passwords for you. It should be stored in /root/passwords.txt.
Also note that at the end of the installation process (in the Congratulations summary), it will tell you your Sentora username and password. Keep note of this!
Step 7:
Once you have kept note of the important information, it will ask to reboot your server to complete the installation. Enter y to allow the reboot process.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Sentora as your new web management panel. You may access it by entering the sub-domain address (or IP address) into your browser and log in.