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Admin Control Panel Setup Guide (nginx on linux)

This guide will help you set up the Admin Control Panel on a Linux server using NGINX and PHP-FPM.

Important: This setup guide is specifically for NGINX on Linux systems. We only provide support for NGINX configurations and advise against using Windows Server with Apache due to performance limitations.

Prerequisites

  • A Linux server (Ubuntu 20.04 or newer recommended)

  • Root or sudo access to the server

  • Basic command line access (SSH or direct terminal)

Step 1: Update Your System

First, let's make sure your system is up to date. Open your terminal and run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Required Software

Install NGINX, PHP-FPM, and other necessary components:

sudo apt install nginx php8.1-fpm php8.1-mysql php8.1-curl php8.1-gd php8.1-mbstring php8.1-xml php8.1-zip unzip -y

Step 3: Start and Enable Services

Make sure NGINX and PHP-FPM start automatically when your server boots:

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start php8.1-fpm
sudo systemctl enable php8.1-fpm

Step 4: Upload Your Admin Control Panel Files

Upload your Admin Control Panel files to the web directory. You can use SCP, SFTP, or any file transfer method you prefer.

Place all your files in the /var/www/ directory:

# Create the directory if it doesn't exist
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/panel.example.com

# If you're uploading via command line, example:
# sudo cp -ra /path/to/your/admin-panel-files/* /var/www/panel.example.com/

Step 5: Set Correct Permissions

Set the proper ownership and permissions for your files:

# Change ownership to the web server user
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/panel.example.com
# Set file permissions
sudo chmod -R 750 /var/www/panel.example.com

Step 6: Configure NGINX

Create the path: /etc/nginx/nginxconfig.io/security.conf then add the following configuration:

# security headers
add_header X-XSS-Protection          "1; mode=block" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options    "nosniff" always;
add_header Referrer-Policy           "no-referrer-when-downgrade" always;

# Allows admin panel JavaScript libraries to run
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self' http: https: ws: wss: data: blob: 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'; frame-ancestors 'self';" always;

add_header Permissions-Policy        "interest-cohort=()" always;
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;

# . files
location ~ /\.(?!well-known) {
    deny all;
}

Create a new NGINX configuration file for your Admin Control Panel:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/panel.example.com

Add the following configuration (replace panel.example.com with your actual domain):

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name             panel.example.com;
    set                     $base /var/www/panel.example.com;
    root                    $base/;

    # security
    include                 nginxconfig.io/security.conf;

    # logging
    access_log              /var/log/nginx/access.log combined buffer=512k flush=1m;
    error_log               /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;

    # index.php
    index                   index.php;

    # index.php fallback
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~* \.(css|js|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|woff2|woff|ttf|svg|eot)$ {
        root $base;
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
        try_files $uri =404;
    }

    location ~ ^/(.+?)(/.*)?$ {
        try_files $uri $uri.php $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

Step 7: Enable Your Site

Enable your new site configuration and disable the default NGINX site:

# Enable your site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/panel.example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 8: Test and Reload NGINX

Test your NGINX configuration for syntax errors:

sudo nginx -t

If the test passes, reload NGINX to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 9: Access Your Admin Control Panel

You should now be able to access your Admin Control Panel by visiting:

  • http://panel.example.com (or your server's IP address)

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

NGINX won't start:

# Run nginx's built in site config tester and resolve errors.
nginx -t

PHP files downloading instead of executing:

  • Check that PHP-FPM is running: sudo systemctl status php8.1-fpm

  • Verify your NGINX configuration includes the PHP location block

Permission denied errors:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/panel.example.com
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/panel.example.com

Check error logs:

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Next Steps: SSL Setup

For production use, you'll want to secure your Admin Control Panel with SSL. Here are helpful resources:

Support: If you encounter issues during setup, please join our Discord community at https://discord.ivs.dev for assistance.

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