Latest News And Updates - Rad Web Hosting Blog

This article provides a guide detailing how to deploy Forem on Rocky Linux VPS. What is Forem? Forem is a robust, open-source platform for building communities like DEV.to. Deploying it on Rocky Linux involves setting up dependencies like PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, and configuring Rails with a production-ready environment. ✅ Tested on Rocky Linux 8/9 (x86_64) 💡 Recommended VPS Specs: 2+ vCPU, 4GB+ RAM, 40GB+ disk, Rocky Linux 8 or Rocky Linux 9 How to Deploy Forem on Rocky Linux VPS To deploy Forem on Rocky Linux VPS, follow the steps below: Update and Prepare System Login as root via SSH and run the following commands: sudo dnf update -y sudo dnf install -y epel-release nano sudo dnf install -y gcc make zlib-devel openssl-devel libyaml-devel readline-devel python36 python3-pip python3-setuptools sudo dnf groupinstall -y "Development Tools" Install Ruby git clone https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv echo 'export PATH"$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc source ~/.bashrc git clone https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build rbenv install 3.2.2 rbenv global 3.2.2 gem install bundler gem install rails Install Required Dependencies Install core libraries and tools: sudo dnf install -y curl git wget nodejs gcc-c++ patch \ readline readline-devel zlib zlib-devel \ libyaml-devel libffi-devel openssl-devel make \ bzip2 autoconf automake libtool bison sqlite-devel \ ImageMagick ImageMagick-devel libxslt libxslt-devel libxml2 libxml2-devel Install Docker and Docker Compose # Install Docker sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo sudo dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io # Enable and start Docker sudo systemctl enable --now docker # Add user to docker group sudo usermod -aG docker $USER 🚪 Log out and back in for group change to take effect. Install Docker Compose: sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.24.1/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose Clone the Forem Repository git clone https://github.com/forem/selfhost.git cd selfhost Switch to stable branch: git checkout main Configure Docker Environment Create a .env file: ./setup Edit the .env file to suit your setup: nano .env Update important variables: RAILS_ENVproduction APP_DOMAINyourdomain.com SECRET_KEY_BASEgenerate_this_soon Generate SECRET_KEY_BASE docker run --rm forem/rails bin/rake secret Copy the output and paste it into .env as SECRET_KEY_BASE. Launch Forem Using Docker Compose docker-compose up -d This will set up: Rails app PostgreSQL Redis Sidekiq Elasticsearch Fastly stub 📝 Check logs with: docker-compose logs -f Setup Database and Assets Run the following to create and seed the database: docker-compose run --rm web bin/rails db:setup docker-compose run --rm web bin/rails assets:precompile Configure NGINX Reverse Proxy Install NGINX: sudo dnf install -y nginx sudo systemctl enable --now nginx Configure SSL (optional but recommended with Certbot): sudo dnf install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com Configure /etc/nginx/conf.d/forem.conf: server { listen 80; server_name yourdomain.com; location / { proxy_pass http://localhost:3000; proxy_set_header Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_http_version 1.1; } } Reload NGINX: sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx Secure the Server Enable FirewallD sudo dnf install -y firewalld sudo systemctl enable --now firewalld sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-servicehttp sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-servicehttps sudo firewall-cmd --reload Access Your Forem Visit: http://yourdomain.com You should see the Forem homepage. The first user you register becomes the admin. Troubleshooting Tips Symptom Possible Fix App not loading Check docker-compose logs web DB connection error Ensure db service is running and accessible Missing assets Run bin/rails assets:precompile Certbot fails Ensure DNS is pointed correctly and port 80/443 open ✅ Conclusion You now know how to deploy Forem on Rocky Linux VPS using Docker and NGINX. You now have a powerful open-source community platform ready to go!

Rad Web Hosting Blog

Recent Posts

Nothing Found

My Feed at https://radwebhosting.com

Services

Categories

Recent Posts

Save on VPS Hosting!

We’re Social!

Rad Web Hosting Blog