VPS Installation Guide

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VPS Installation Guide

System Requirements

  • OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS (recommended)
  • RAM: Minimum 2GB (4GB+ recommended)
  • Storage: Minimum 20GB
  • CPU: 2+ cores recommended
  • Root/Sudo Access: Required

Step 1: Initial Server Setup

1.1 Update System

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

1.2 Set Timezone

sudo timedatectl set-timezone UTC
# Or your preferred timezone: sudo timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Dhaka

1.3 Create Swap (if RAM < 4GB)

sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Step 2: Install Required Software

2.1 Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

2.2 Install PHP 8.2 and Extensions

# Add PHP repository
sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update

# Install PHP 8.2 and required extensions
sudo apt install -y php8.2-fpm php8.2-cli php8.2-common php8.2-curl \
    php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-zip php8.2-gd php8.2-bcmath \
    php8.2-pgsql php8.2-intl php8.2-readline php8.2-opcache

# Enable and start PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl enable php8.2-fpm
sudo systemctl start php8.2-fpm

# Verify PHP installation
php -v

2.3 Install Composer

cd ~
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
composer --version

2.4 Install PostgreSQL 15+

# Add PostgreSQL repository
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt update

# Install PostgreSQL 15
sudo apt install -y postgresql-15 postgresql-contrib-15

# Enable and start PostgreSQL
sudo systemctl enable postgresql
sudo systemctl start postgresql

# Verify installation
sudo -u postgres psql --version

2.5 Install pgvector Extension

# Install pgvector for PostgreSQL 15
sudo apt install -y postgresql-15-pgvector

# Verify installation
dpkg -l | grep pgvector

2.6 Install Additional Dependencies

# Install Git
sudo apt install -y git

# Install Supervisor (for queue workers)
sudo apt install -y supervisor
sudo systemctl enable supervisor
sudo systemctl start supervisor

# Install Tesseract OCR (👉 Tesseract Installation Guide)

sudo apt install -y tesseract-ocr tesseract-ocr-eng

# Install Poppler Utils
sudo apt install -y poppler-utils

# Install unzip and other utilities
sudo apt install -y unzip curl wget

Step 3: Setup PostgreSQL Database

3.1 Secure PostgreSQL

# Set PostgreSQL password
sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER postgres PASSWORD 'YourStrongPasswordHere';"

3.2 Create Database and User

sudo -u postgres psql << EOF
-- Create database
CREATE DATABASE helpnest_ai;

-- Create user
CREATE USER helpnest_user WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'YourSecurePassword123!';

-- Grant privileges
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE helpnest_ai TO helpnest_user;

-- Connect to database
\c helpnest_ai

-- Grant schema privileges
GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO helpnest_user;

-- Enable pgvector extension
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;

-- Verify extension
\dx

-- Exit
\q
EOF

3.3 Configure PostgreSQL for Local Connections

# Edit pg_hba.conf
sudo nano /etc/postgresql/15/main/pg_hba.conf

Add/modify this line:

# TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD
local   all             all                                     md5
host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            md5

Restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Step 4: Setup Application Directory

4.1 Create Web Directory

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/helpnest-ai
cd /var/www/helpnest-ai

4.2 Upload Application Files

Option A: Upload ZIP via SCP

# From your local machine
scp helpnest-ai.zip root@your-server-ip:/var/www/

# On server
cd /var/www
unzip helpnest-ai.zip -d helpnest-ai
rm helpnest-ai.zip

Option B: Download from Remote URL

cd /var/www
wget https://yourdownloadurl.com/helpnest-ai.zip
unzip helpnest-ai.zip -d helpnest-ai
rm helpnest-ai.zip

Step 5: Set Proper Permissions

# Change ownership to www-data (Nginx user)
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/helpnest-ai

# Set directory permissions
sudo find /var/www/helpnest-ai -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

# Set file permissions
sudo find /var/www/helpnest-ai -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

# Create required cache directories
sudo -u www-data mkdir -p bootstrap/cache
sudo -u www-data mkdir -p storage/framework/{cache,sessions,views}

# Set writable permissions for storage and cache
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/storage
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/bootstrap/cache

# Ensure www-data owns writable directories
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/storage
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/bootstrap/cache

After file upload, extraction, and permissions — complete setup via browser.

5.1 Access Installation Wizard

Open your browser
Visit: https://yourdomain.com(or http://your-server-ip if DNS not ready)
The installation wizard should load automatically.

5.2 License Verification

Enter your Envato Username
Enter your Purchase Code(from CodeCanyon → license.txt)
Click Verify & Next

5.3 Server Requirements Check

System checks:
PHP 8.2+
Extensions (bcmath, pdo_pgsql, gd, etc.)
PostgreSQL + pgvector

All green ✅ → Click Next
Any red ❌ → Fix missing items (see Step 2 & 3), then retry

5.4 Folder Permissions Check

Verifies write access:
core/storage/
core/bootstrap/cache/

All must be green ✅
If red: Run:bashsudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/storage
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/bootstrap/cache
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/storage /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/bootstrap/cache
Click Next

5.5 Database Configuration

Enter details from Step 3:
Database Host: localhost
Database Port: 5432
Database Name: helpnest_ai
Database User: helpnest_user
Database Password: YourSecurePassword123!

Click Install Now

Installer will:
Import schema
Set up admin

5.6 Installation Complete

Wait for "Installation Complete!" message
Click:
Visit Site → https://yourdomain.com

Step 6: Configure Nginx

6.1 Create Nginx Server Block

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/helpnest-ai

Add this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    
    root /var/www/helpnest-ai/public;
    index index.php index.html;
    
    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
    
    # Max upload size
    client_max_body_size 100M;
    
    # Logging
    access_log /var/log/nginx/helpnest-ai-access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/helpnest-ai-error.log;
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
    
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
        
        # Increase timeout for AI processing
        fastcgi_read_timeout 300;
        fastcgi_buffer_size 16k;
        fastcgi_buffers 4 16k;
    }
    
    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
    
    # Cache static assets
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$ {
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }
}

6.2 Enable Site Configuration

# Create symlink
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/helpnest-ai /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Remove default site (optional)
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

# Test Nginx configuration
sudo nginx -t

# Reload Nginx
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 7: Setup SSL with Let’s Encrypt

7.1 Install Certbot

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

7.2 Obtain SSL Certificate

# Make sure DNS is pointed to your server first
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Follow prompts:

  • Enter email address
  • Agree to terms
  • Choose to redirect HTTP to HTTPS (recommended)

7.3 Auto-Renewal Setup (already configured)

# Test renewal
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Step 8: Setup Queue Workers with Supervisor

8.1 Create Supervisor Configuration

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/helpnest-worker.conf

Add this content:

[program:helpnest-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=/usr/bin/php /var/www/helpnest-ai/artisan queue:work --queue=ai_chat_processing,default --sleep=3 --tries=3 --max-time=3600
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stopasgroup=true
killasgroup=true
user=www-data
numprocs=2
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/www/helpnest-ai/storage/logs/worker.log
stopwaitsecs=3600

8.2 Start Supervisor

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start helpnest-worker:*

# Check status
sudo supervisorctl status

Step 9: Setup Cron Jobs

# Edit crontab for www-data user
sudo crontab -e -u www-data

Add these lines:

# Restart queue workers daily at 4 AM
0 4 * * * cd /var/www/helpnest-ai && php artisan queue:restart >> /dev/null 2>&1

Step 10: Post-Installation Verification

10.1 Test Website

  1. Visit: https://yourdomain.com
  2. Verify SSL certificate is active (padlock icon)
  3. Test user registration and login

10.2 Test Admin Panel

  1. Visit: https://yourdomain.com/admin
  2. Login with default credentials
  3. Configure Tesseract path: /usr/bin/tesseract
  4. Test AI chatbot functionality

10.3 Verify Queue Processing

# Check if workers are running
sudo supervisorctl status

# Monitor queue in real-time
sudo -u www-data php artisan queue:monitor

Troubleshooting

Issue: 502 Bad Gateway

# Check PHP-FPM status
sudo systemctl status php8.2-fpm

# Check Nginx error logs
sudo tail -50 /var/log/nginx/helpnest-ai-error.log

# Restart services
sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm nginx

Issue: Permission Errors

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/helpnest-ai
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/storage
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/helpnest-ai/core/bootstrap/cache

Issue: Database Connection Failed

# Test PostgreSQL connection
sudo -u postgres psql -d helpnest_ai -U helpnest_user -W

# Check PostgreSQL status
sudo systemctl status postgresql

# Verify .env database credentials

Issue: Queue Jobs Not Processing

# Check supervisor status
sudo supervisorctl status

# Restart workers
sudo supervisorctl restart helpnest-worker:*

# Check worker logs
tail -f /var/www/helpnest-ai/storage/logs/worker.log

Installation Complete! 🎉

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