SSL on the server’s main domain with DirectAdmin
If an Admin wishes to add an SSL certificate on the main server’s domain, they must do it manually. To do this, the Admin must obtain the certificate and key (explained in just a moment). After these have been acquired, the Admin will have to edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file and scroll to the very bottom. You should see 2 virtual host directives. With the one that says <VirtualHost :443> you must modify the SSL tags.
Set:
SSLCertificateFile [full path to certificate]
SSLCertificateKeyFile [full path to key]
and if provided with a CA certificate file ADD the following line
SSLCACertificateFile [full path to CA certificate]
You have a few options when it comes to obtaining the key and certificate. First you can create you own self signed certificate. You can do this by typing the following:
openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -keyout key.temp -out certificate
openssl rsa -in key.temp -out key.real
The second line is to remove the password from the key so that apache won’t hang on bootup waiting for the key password. Those commands will create a self signed certificate (remove the key.temp file after you’re done) but if you want to use an authority to sign your certificate (removes the annoying popup), you’ll need to create a certificate request:
openssl genrsa 1024 > key.real
openssl req -new -key key.real -out certificate.request
and you send the certificate.request file to to certificate authority to be signed. They will send you a signed certificate which you will install using the apache tags noted above (and you can delete the certificate.request file, it’s not needed).
Source and Credit - http://www.directadmin.com
DirectAdmin simple partition structure
/boot 40 meg
swap 2 x memory
/tmp 1 Gig. Highly recommended to mount /tmp with noexec,nosuid in /etc/fstab
/ 6-10 Gig
/var 8-20 gig. Emails, logs and databases stored here on Redhat/CentOS/Fedora
/usr 5-12 gig. Just DA data, source code, frontpage.
/home rest of drive. Roughly 80% for user data. Mount with nosuid in /etc/fstab if possible.
You may modify these as needed.
Note, if you plan on installing dovecot, all email data is stored under /home and not /var, so adjust as needed. Also FreeBSD and Debian store mysql databases in /home/mysql/.
Please have Basic development/compiling tools such as gcc, g++, and perl.
VPS/VDS installs
After the install, add:
for example:
Other systems where the IP is not the base IP on the device, you’d need to simply set the correct number:
or other systems with the IP on a different device, it might be:
type: /sbin/ifconfig to see which device your IP is in, to /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf.
Replace devicename with the FULL devicename reported by ifconfig.
If your VDS/VPS system emulates eth0, then you may skip this step.
Source: DirectAdmin.com
Adding reverse IP Lookup in DirectAdmin
Any modern verion of DA will be able to do this through the interface.
Go to: Admin Level -> DNS Administration
Scroll to the bottom to the “Add Zone” section.
Enter your information normally:
domain name: server.hostname.com
ip: 1.2.3.4
ns1: ns1.hostname.com
ns2: ns2.hostname.com
where server.hostname.com is the hostname of your server. The IP is your server IP (license IP)
and ns1/ns2 can be any NS your server uses.
Click the “Create Reverse IP Lookup” checkbox, then click “Add”.
Reference link: http://directadmin.com
FreeBSD Installation notes for DirectAdmin
If logging in as a user other than admin or root (using su to gain root access)
You have to add “AllowUsers username” to /etc/ssh/sshd_config before you can log out from root or you’ll lose root on the server forever, and you’ll have to format.
Hint: Use “fetch” instead of “wget” on FreeBSD systems to download the install file.
