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How to run self-hosted link-in-bio tool with linkstack on almalinux vps
Run your own self-hosted link-in-bio tool with linkstack on almalinux vps!

This article provides a guide for how to run self-hosted Link-in-Bio tool with LinkStack on AlmaLinux VPS.

Table of Contents

🛠️ How to Run Self-Hosted Link-in-Bio Tool with LinkStack on AlmaLinux VPS

This guide walks you through installing and running LinkStack, a free and open-source alternative to Linktree, on an AlmaLinux VPS.

What is LinkStack?

Linkstack - self-hosted open-source linktree alternative

🔗 LinkStack is a self-hosted, open-source link sharing platform that allows users to create a personalized landing page containing a list of links—commonly used for social media bios, portfolios, or contact hubs. It’s akin to platforms like Linktree, but with the flexibility of being hosted on your own server and customized to your needs.

🔍 Key Features of LinkStack:

  • Self-Hosting: Deploy it on your own server (e.g., Apache or Nginx with PHP support).
  • Customization: Modify the look and feel to match your branding.
  • No Limits: Unlike many freemium SaaS alternatives, you control everything—no paywalls.
  • Responsive UI: Mobile-friendly and adaptable for various screen sizes.
  • Analytics: Basic tracking of link clicks (depending on the version/fork).

🛠️ Technical Requirements:

💡 Typical Use Case:

Imagine you’re a developer, artist, or influencer—you’d use LinkStack to create a page like:

yourdomain.com/links

Where you’d list:

  • Instagram
  • GitHub
  • Resume PDF
  • Portfolio Website
  • Contact Email

All neatly organized on one page.

🧾 Prerequisites

Before we start, make sure you have:

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How to Run Self-Hosted Link-in-Bio Tool with LinkStack on Your AlmaLinux VPS

To Run self-hosted Link-in-Bio tool with LinkStack on AlmaLinux VPS, follow the steps provided below:

  1. Connect to Your VPS

    Open your terminal and connect to the VPS via SSH.

    ssh your_user@your_server_ip

    Update your system:

    sudo dnf update -y

  2. Install Required Packages

    Install Apache, PHP, and MariaDB (LAMP stack).

    dnf install -y https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm dnf -y install https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm dnf -y install yum-utils dnf module reset php -y dnf module install php:remi-8.2 -y dnf update -y sudo dnf install -y httpd mariadb-server php php-mysqlnd php-zip php-bcmath php-pdo php-json php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-cli unzip git

    Start and enable Apache:

    sudo systemctl start httpd sudo systemctl enable httpd

    Start and enable MariaDB:

    sudo systemctl start mariadb sudo systemctl enable mariadb

  3. Secure the Database Server

    Run the MariaDB secure installation script:

    sudo mysql_secure_installation
    • Press Enter for current root password (leave blank).
    • Set a root password.
    • Answer Y to all prompts (remove anonymous users, disallow root remote login, remove test DB, reload privileges).

  4. Create LinkStack Database and User

    Log into MariaDB:

    sudo mysql -u root -p

    Inside the MySQL prompt:

    CREATE DATABASE linkstack; CREATE USER 'linkuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_secure_password'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON linkstack.* TO 'linkuser'@'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;

    Replace your_secure_password with something secure.

  5. Download and Set Up LinkStack

    Change to the Apache web directory:

    cd /var/www/html

    Remove the default index page (optional):

    sudo rm -f index.html

    Clone the LinkStack repo:

    sudo git clone https://github.com/LinkStackOrg/LinkStack.git

    Move into the LinkStack directory:

    cd LinkStack

    Set correct permissions:

    sudo chown -R apache:apache /var/www/html/LinkStack sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/LinkStack

  6. Configure Apache for LinkStack

    Create a new Apache config file:

    sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/linkstack.conf

    Paste this configuration (replace yourdomain.com):

    <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@yourdomain.com DocumentRoot /var/www/html/LinkStack ServerName yourdomain.com ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com <Directory /var/www/html/LinkStack> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory> ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/linkstack_error.log CustomLog /var/log/httpd/linkstack_access.log combined </VirtualHost>

    Save and exit (Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X).

    Restart Apache:

    sudo systemctl restart httpd

  7. Enable .htaccess Support

    Edit Apache main config file:

    sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

    Find this block:

    <Directory "/var/www"> AllowOverride None

    Change it to:

    <Directory "/var/www"> AllowOverride All

    Save and exit. Then restart Apache:

    sudo systemctl restart httpd

  8. Set Up LinkStack Environment

    Rename the example environment file:

    cp .env.example .env

    Edit the .env file:

    nano .env

    Update the DB settings:

    DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT=3306 DB_DATABASE=linkstack DB_USERNAME=linkuser DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password

    Save and exit.

  9. Install Composer and Dependencies

    Install Composer:

    php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');" php composer-setup.php sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

    Now install PHP dependencies:

    composer install --no-dev

  10. Set App Key and Run Migrations

    Generate app key:

    php artisan key:generate

    Run database migrations:

    php artisan migrate --force

    Set permissions again:

    sudo chown -R apache:apache . sudo chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

  11. Access LinkStack Web Interface

    Now visit your server IP or domain in a browser:

    http://yourdomain.com

    You’ll see the LinkStack welcome screen. Create an admin user and start building your bio page.

    Visit linkstack in browser

  12. Set Up HTTPS with Certbot

    Install Certbot:

    sudo dnf install -y epel-release sudo dnf install -y certbot python3-certbot-apache

    Run Certbot:

    sudo certbot --apache

    Follow prompts to install SSL and set up auto-renewal.

  13. Set Up Cron for Laravel

    Add a cron job to run Laravel’s scheduler:

    sudo crontab -e

    Add this line:

    * * * * * cd /var/www/html/LinkStack && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

    Save and exit.

🎉 Done!

You now have a self-hosted, customizable Link-in-Bio tool running on AlmaLinux with LinkStack.

📌 Tips

  • Backup .env and database regularly.
  • Check logs: storage/logs/laravel.log
  • Customize themes and settings in the admin panel.

Next, we need to encrypt LinkStack’s web server with SSL encryption! (Can’t have your Links page scaring people away with browser warning! ⛔😱)

🔐 Step-by-Step: Install SSL with Certbot on AlmaLinux + Apache

This will give your LinkStack site a free HTTPS certificate from Let’s Encrypt and keep it automatically renewed.

  1. Install EPEL Repository and Certbot

    sudo dnf install -y epel-release

    Then install Certbot and the Apache plugin:

    sudo dnf install -y certbot python3-certbot-apache

  2. Request the SSL Certificate

    Make sure your Apache virtual host is correctly configured for your domain (ServerName and ServerAlias match the DNS records).

    Then run:

    sudo certbot --apache

    You’ll be prompted to:

    • Enter your email
    • Agree to the terms
    • Choose whether to redirect HTTP to HTTPS (select option 2 for redirect)

    Certbot will automatically configure Apache for HTTPS and reload it.

  3. Confirm HTTPS is WorkingOpen your browser and go to:

    https://yourdomain.com

    You should see the secure padlock 🔒 and your LinkStack site loading over HTTPS.

  4. Enable Automatic Renewal

    Certbot already installs a systemd timer to auto-renew your certificates.

    To verify:

    sudo systemctl list-timers | grep certbot

    You should see something like:

    NEXT LEFT LAST PASSED UNIT ACTIVATES 2025-04-21 03:22:00 UTC 11h left 2025-04-20 03:22:00 UTC 1h ago certbot.timer certbot.service

    This means it checks twice a day and renews if necessary.

  5. Test Renewal

    Always good to test manually:

    sudo certbot renew --dry-run

    If you see “Congratulations, all renewals succeeded,” you’re good to go.

🎉 That’s It — SSL is Live and Auto-Renewing

Your LinkStack site is now:

  • ✅ Secure with HTTPS
  • 🔁 Set up for auto-renewal
  • 🔧 Fully configured via Certbot and Apache

And, finally, we will apply some minor redirection to synchronize the www subdomain to non-www. This ensures a more consistent experience for humans and robots, alike.

Let’s get started:

🔁 Step-by-Step: Redirect www to Non-www with Apache + SSL

Edit Apache Config

Open your LinkStack Apache config:

sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/linkstack.conf

Replace whatever’s there with the following clean structure:

# Redirect www to non-www
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.yourdomain.com
Redirect permanent / http://yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>
# Main non-www config for HTTP
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/LinkStack
<Directory /var/www/html/LinkStack>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
# Redirect HTTPS www to non-www
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName www.yourdomain.com
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
Redirect permanent / https://yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>
# Main non-www config for HTTPS
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/LinkStack
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
<Directory /var/www/html/LinkStack>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

⚠ Replace yourdomain.com everywhere with your actual domain name.

Reload Apache

sudo systemctl restart httpd

Test the Redirect

Open your browser and go to:

https://www.yourdomain.com

It should redirect you to:

https://yourdomain.com

Done ✅

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Conclusion

You now know how to run self-hosted Link-in-Bio tool with LinkStack on AlmaLinux VPS.

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