How to Run 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.

🛠️ 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 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-under your control and customized to your specific project 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:

• A web server (Apache, Nginx, etc.)
• PHP 7.4+
• MySQL/MariaDB database
• Optionally, tools like Composer for dependency management

💡 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:

• A VPS running  on AlmaLinux 8 or AlmaLinux 9
• A non-root user with sudo privileges (See Guide: How to Create Sudo User in RHEL)
• A fully-qualified domain name (Cheap domain registration👉Register a Domain)
• Basic knowledge of SSH and Linux terminal

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.

    

12. 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 ✅

Conclusion

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