Unleashing Flexibility: Empress's Self-Hosted or Hybrid Server Setup

Guides & Tutorials
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Introduction

Empress offers a feature that allows you to set up Self-Hosted or Hybrid Servers, alongside the default Empress Cloud Servers. This guide will guide you through the process of setting up a Self-Hosted or Hybrid Server, with an emphasis on the user interface and practical applications for your business needs.

What is a Self-Hosted or Hybrid Server?

A Self-Hosted or Hybrid Server is a server that you host on your own infrastructure or combines aspects of both cloud-based and on-premises servers. This means you can manage and control your own server resources while gaining the flexibility and scalability of Empress’s cloud-based services.

Benefits

The major benefit of this feature is the added control and flexibility it provides. You can customize the server to your specific needs, manage access and security settings, and maintain your business continuity strategies.

Please note: Setting up a hybrid server will cost $200 per month per server.

Prerequisites

Before starting the setup process, please ensure that you have the following:

  1. A server with both a Public IP and a Private IP, which must be accessible via the Public IP.
  2. A subdomain of the domain pointed to the IP. This can be done by setting an ‘A’ record in the DNS.
  3. Your server must run on Ubuntu 20.
  4. No other user except root should be present on the server. If there are other users, you need to change their UID and GID from 1000 to 1001 or any other ID.
  5. Ports 80 and 443 must be open.
  6. The SSH user must be root and the SSH Port should be 22.

For smooth operation, we recommend a server with a minimum of 4GB RAM, 50GB Storage, and 2vCPU.

Steps to Set Up a Self-Hosted or Hybrid Server

  1. Navigate to the Servers tab on your Empress dashboard.
  2. Click on New, then select the Self-Hosted Server option from the dropdown menu.
  3. Provide a name for your server and add a subdomain of a URL pointing to the server.
  4. Select your desired Hybrid Server Setup Plan. If you have more complex requirements, please raise a support ticket.
  5. Enter the Public and Private IP of the server for DNS verification. This confirms the domain points to the IP.
  6. Following DNS verification, access verification is required. Add the SSH Public specified on the page to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.
  7. Once verification is done, you can proceed to add an Nginx config for generating an SSL certificate for the domain.
  8. When all verifications are complete, start the Server Setup.
  9. After initiating the setup process, you’ll see a “Pending” state initially. Refresh the page after a minute, and the status will change to “Installing”.
  10. Two scripts will run to set up the Database and the Server. When these complete, the status changes to Active.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up your self-hosted or hybrid server. You can now create new benches and sites with this server.

Please note that new sites from Hybrid Servers will be created in the Bangalore region.

This feature is a valuable tool for business users seeking more control and scalability with their servers. For further assistance, please refer to additional support resources or raise a support ticket via the Empress interface.