Raspberry Pi Web-Server (http and https)

Description

Information for setting up a secure (https) webserver using a raspberry pi, nginx, certbot and a DNS provider. Based on a tutoiral from Luke Smith; however, in this version, a Raspberry Pi was used to host the site instead of a cloud service provider such as Amazon. Other good resources include this video from Fireship, which talks about the deployment of a website on a Raspberry Pi.

Proxy Server (nginx)

Reverse proxy server (TCP/UDP)
Documentation: nginx
Tutorial: PiMyLifeUp

Installation

sudo apt-get remove apache2 # Ensure apache2 in not installed
sudo apt-get install nginx # Install

Setup

Copy the default nginx configuration to a new configuration:

cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_site_name # Replace your_site_name

Edit the newly created file (/etc/nginx/sites-available/your_site_name) to display the following

server {
	listen 80;
	listen [::]:80 ;

	root /var/www/*website_file_dir*;

	index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
	
	server_name *your_website_address*;

	location / {
		if ($request_uri ~ ^/(.*)\.html) {
			return 302 /$1;
		}
		try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/ =404;
	}

The code in the location scope allow html files to be indexed without a .html extension in the websites URL.

Put newley created configuration into enabled sites directory:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_site_name /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Make directory that holds website files (index.html etc.):

mkdir /var/www/your_site_name
cd /var/www/your_site_name
touch index.html # Create and edit mainpage as needed

nginx Commands

sudo systemctl start nginx # Start server
sudo systemctl status nginx # Server status
sudo systemctl stop nginx # Stop server
sudo systemctl restart nginx # Reboot server
sudo killall nginx # Stop all processes

HTTPS Certificate (certbot)

Gives your website a certificate of security that browsers can recognise and thus wont show that the site is insecure.

Installation

sudo apt-get install certbo python-certbot-nginx

Setup

sudo certbot --nginx

Follow the following commands:

Enter email
Agree to terms of service
Don't share email
Select https addresses
Redirect http to https

Note that certbot certificates expire every six months. To renew:

sudo certbot renew # Renew certificate

Port Forwarding

You need to setup port forwarding on your router in order for users outside your local network to access your site.

ip route # Find router address

Type the router address into a browser, navigate to port forwarding and add:

Protocol: TCP
WAN port: 80
LAN port: 80
Destination IP address: local_ip_address

You may also need to set (port 80 for http and 443 for https):

Protocol: TCP
WAN port: 443
LAN port: 443
Destination IP address: local_ip_address

Other Useful Commands

hostname -I # Get local IP address
curl icanhazip.com # Get public IPv6 address
curl ipv4.icanhazip.com # Get public IPv4 address

notes