Setting up a web server in Debian

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This guide assumes the following:

  1. You have installed Virtualbox
  2. You know how to create a Debian virtual machine

If you do have not installed Virtualbox, or do not know how to create a virtual machine, follow steps 1, 2 and 3 of Lab 2. This guide starts from the point of creating a Debian 13 Web Server Virtual Machine.

Requirements

  • Hypervisor: VirtualBox
  • Host OS: Windows 11/10 or MacOS (Intel/Apple Silicon)
  • Guest OS: Debian 13 (NO GUI)
  • Server Application: Apache
  • Other:
    • SSH - For remote management of the server virtual machine

Host Machine System Requirements

  • CPU: Quad core CPU or higher
  • RAM: 8GB or More
  • Free Storage: 60GB or more

Guest Machine System Requirements

  • CPU: 1 Core
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • Free Storage: 20 GB

Step 1: Create a virtual machine

Step 2: Create a Debian Virtual Machine

Files to download:

  • Download the Debian ISO. Which Debian ISO Should You Download?
Your Computer Type CPU Type ISO File to Download Download Link
Windows 11/10 Intel or AMD (x86_64) debian-13.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso Download -> Click the black Download button
macOS (Intel) Intel (x86_64) debian-13.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso Download -> Click the black Download button
macOS (Apple Silicon) ARM (arm64) debian-13.0.0-arm64-netinst.iso Direct Link
  1. Create a virtual machine where Debian will be installed that meets the following specifications:
    1. RAM: 1GB
    2. CPU: 1
    3. Storage: 20GB
  2. Follow the steps in this presentation as a general guide and adjust the settings accordingly.

Step 3: Install Debian

  1. Turn on the virtual machine and install Debian.
    1. Follow the steps in this presentation:

Step 4: Update

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 5: Configure the server

  1. Check that Apache is enabled and running. Use the following command:
    1. systemctl status apache2
  2. Check that SSH is enabled and running. Use the following command:
    1. systemctl status ssh
  3. Install UFW. Use the following command:
    1. sudo apt install ufw
  4. Enable UFW. Use the following command:
    1. sudo ufw enable
  5. Configure UFW to allow http(s) and ssh traffic
    1. sudo ufw allow 'WWW Full'
    2. sudo ufw allow 'Apache'

Step 6: Check if the web server is working

At this point you should be able to see the default apache index.html site.

  1. Get the IP address of your virtual machine: hostname -I
  2. Open a web browser in your host machine and type the IP address in the URL bar.

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Step 6: Remote Access to the server

  1. In your host OS, you will need to open a terminal application and use the SSH command.
  2. Here is the general formula of the ssh command:

ssh syntax

From this point on, we can manage the server from our Host OS

Step 7: Adding content to our web server

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade sudo apt install ufw sudo ufw app list sudo ufw allow ‘WWW Full’ sudo ufw allow ‘OpenSSH’ sudo ufw enable sudo chown -R rap:www-data /var/www/html sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/html

Upload files to the web server