Guide

Self-hosted Ghost on Oracle Cloud for free

A full guide for installing, configuring and running Ghost on a Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, for free use in production environments.

Predrag Cvetkovski

26 Oct 2023 — 10 min read

Self-hosted Ghost on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

In search of fly.io alternative, a platform for running full-stack apps, where I self-hosted (within free allowances) a dozen Ghost platforms for different projects, I considered the following low-cost alternatives:

Building a MaaS cloud with raspberry pi or AMD Ryzen 7600-series
Spinning up a free e2-micro instance on Google Cloud
Utilizing ARM Ampere A1 with 24GB memory and 200GB storage on Oracle

However, Metal as a Service was a nonstarter due to the rapid price depreciation of hardware and the need to maintain the server. Google Cloud offered a bit more resources within the free tier than fly.io, just enough to eliminate the “out-of-memory” errors from MySQL, and here you can read how I did it.

In this guide, I will describe how to install Ghost on Oracle on AMD Compute VMs (2.0 GHz AMD EPYC 7551 – Naples with 1GB memory), since the ARM Ampere A1 compute instances were impossible to get due to “out of host capacity” errors during the creation process.

Prerequisites

Oracle Cloud free-tier account to host:
- Server (at least 1GB memory)
- Ubuntu 22.04 (or 16.04, 18.04, 20.04)
- NGINX (minimum of 1.9.5 for SSL)
- Node.js (see supported versions)
- MySQL 8
- Systemd
Domain name pointing to the server's IP
Bulk email delivery service for newsletters

1. Create Oracle Cloud account

1.1. Set up account

Go to https://cloud.oracle.com > Try OCI for free.
Click Start for free > enter Account information > click Verify email.
Enter Cloud Account Name > e.g. 'ghost-free'
Enter Address information > click Continue > enter Payment Verification > click Verify payment > accept terms > click on Sign in Oracle Cloud.
- The payment verification might fail a few times, or throw an error due to Too many requests and you may need to experiment for some time
Don't worry about the payment information, Oracle won't charge you unless you go beyond the always free allowance. For personal assurance consider the next step:
Go to Billing and Cost Management > Budgets > Create budget:
- Name: ghost-free-budget
- Description: oracle ghost free budget alert
- Target Compartment: ghost-free
- Schedule: Monthly
- Budget Amount: 3.00
Budget Alert Rule
- Threshold Metric: Actual Spend
- Threshold Type: Percentage of Budget
- Threshold: 50
- Email Recipients: your-email-address
- Click Create, this project will run on the free tier, nevertheless it is prudent to enable monitoring.

1.2. Spin up a web server

Enter instances and select the top result in the Search bar, under Services:
- Click Create instance
- Name: ghost-free
- Security: toggle on Shielded instance
- Image and shape > expand:
- click Change image: select Ubuntu > check image name Canonical Ubuntu 22.04 Always Free-eligible > click Select image
  - click Change shape: under Shape series select Ampere> check Shape name VM.Standard.A1.Flex Always Free-eligible > Number of OCPUs 4 > Amount of memory (GB) 24 > click Select shape
- Add SSH keys: save the private and public key
- Boot volume > check Specify a custom boot volume size > enter any value from 50GB up to 200GB, the total amount of free boot volume size across all instances on your account
- Check Use in-transit encryption
- Click Create
  - Note: The creation process might fail with the following error: "Out of host capacity", if it happens consider changing the Availability domain under Placement, or reduce the number of OCPUs/memory, alternatively select the VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro Always Free-eligible.
- Click Create
- The creation process might take a few minutes, once the instance is running, copy Public IP

1.3. Configure Virtual Cloud Network

Enter virtual cloud network in the Search bar and select the top result:
- Click on link under name e.g. vcn-12345678-1234
- Click on link under name e.g. subnet-87654321-4321
- Click on link under name e.g. Default Security List for vcn-12345678-1234
- Click Add Ingress Rule
- Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
- Destination Port Range: 80
- Description: Allow HTTP connections
- Click + Another Ingress Rule
- Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
- Destination Port Range: 443
- Description: ssl
- Click + Another Ingress Rule
- Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
- Destination Port Range: 587
- Description: mail server
- Click Add Ingress Rules

2. Get domain name and set up Mailgun

2.1. Register a domain name

Go to https://www.namecheap.com > buy a domain. For example, ghostfree.com. Replace ghostfree.com below with your own domain name.
Click Manage > Advanced DNS:
Then Add new record:
Type: A
Host: @
IP address: paste Public IP address from Oracle > IP Address
Click > Save all changes
Toggle on DNSSEC

2.2 Set up email delivery system

Go to https://www.mailgun.com > Get started for free > enter Payment information > select Foundation Trial
Click Dashboard > go to your Profile > Plan & Billing > click ⚙️ icon> Unsubscribe switching to Flex plan (free, if you send less than 1,000 emails/month), more details at: https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048661093-How-does-PAYG-billing-work-
Go to Sending > Domains > click Add new domain:
- Domain name: mg.ghostfree.com
- Click Add domain
- DNS records > copy SPF, DKIM, MX and CNAME records
- Go to Namecheap > paste/create new records for Mailgun
- Go back to Mailgun > Verify DNS records
Go to Sending > Domain Settings > SMTP credentials > copy login email postmaster@mg.ghostfree.com > click Reset Password > save credentials in your password manager.
Go to your Profile > API security > Mailgun API keys > click go to your Add new key > copy key and store in your password manager.

3. Install Ghost on Ubuntu

3.1. Set up VM instance

Install SSH client > download PuTTY https://www.putty.org or MobaXTerm https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net:
Open MobaXTerm > Sessions > SSH > enter:
Remote host: Public IP from Oracle
Specify username: ubuntu
Advanced SSH settings: check Use private key > open private key SSH file downloaded during the instance creation
Click OK
Set a password for the root user:
```
sudo passwd
```
Switch to root user and authenticate:
```
su
```
Update Linux:
```
apt update && apt -y upgrade
```
To allow any updated services to restart, go back to Oracle Cloud, Stop and Start the instance, then SSH again.

Open ports on webserver:

# HTTP:80
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
# HTTPS:443
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
# MAIL:587
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 587 -j ACCEPT
# Save settings
sudo netfilter-persistent save

Make a new user called service_account and grant it sudo:

adduser service_account && usermod -aG sudo service_account

Set a password for service_account. Leave default user information fields for service_account. Confirm with Y.
Switch to service_account:
```
su - service_account
```

3.2. Install Ghost dependencies

Install Nginx and open the firewall:

sudo apt install -y nginx && sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

Install NodeJS:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg
NODE_MAJOR=20
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_MAJOR.x nodistro main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nodejs -y
sudo npm install -g npm@latest

Install MySQL:
```
sudo apt install -y mysql-server
```
Clean up:
```
sudo apt -y autoremove
```
Stop the snapd process to save on RAM:
```
sudo systemctl stop snapd.service
```

Start MySQL in modified mode:

sudo systemctl set-environment MYSQLD_OPTS="--skip-networking --skip-grant-tables"
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo mysql -u root

This will load the MySQL command line. Enter:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
USE mysql;
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' identified BY 'yourpasswordhere';
QUIT;

replacing yourpasswordhere with your chosen MySQL root password.

Restart MySQL and switch to production mode. Run:

sudo systemctl unset-environment MYSQLD_OPTS
sudo systemctl revert mysql
sudo killall -u mysql
sudo systemctl restart mysql.service
sudo mysql_secure_installation

then configure as follows:
- Install validate password component? — N
- Remove anonymous users? — Y
- Disallow root login remotely? — N
- Remove test database and its privileges? — Y
- Reload privilege tables? — Y
Access MySQL:
```
sudo mysql -u root
```

This will load the MySQL command line. Enter:

CREATE USER 'user_site'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpasswordhere';
CREATE DATABASE site_prod;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON site_prod.* TO 'user_site'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
QUIT;

replacing yourpasswordhere with your chosen MySQL root password.
Turn off MySQL’s performance schema to reduce memory usage:
```
sudo nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf
```
then add the following lines at the bottom of the file:
```
[mysqld]
performance_schema=0
```
then Ctrl-X > Y > Enter to save and quit.

Restart MySQL and log in:

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart
sudo mysql -u root -p

Then in the MySQL command line, run:

show variables like 'performance_schema';

Verify that the performance_schema variable is indeed OFF, then
```
quit;
```

3.3. Set up Ghost

Install Ghost CLI:
```
sudo npm install ghost-cli@latest -g
```

Make a new directory called ghost, set its permissions, then navigate to it:

sudo mkdir /var/www/ghost
sudo chown service_account:service_account /var/www/ghost
sudo chmod 775 /var/www/ghost

Navigate to the website folder and install Ghost:
```
cd /var/www/ghost && ghost install
```
then configure as follows:
- Blog URL: https://ghostfree.com
- MySQL hostname: localhost
- MySQL username: root
- MySQL password: the password you set for root
- Ghost database name: ghost_prod
- Set up Ghost MySQL user? — Y
- Set up NGINX? — Y
- Set up SSL? — Y, then enter your email
- Set up systemd? — Y
  - If you entered a value wrong, interrupt with Ctrl + C then run ghost setup, otherwise:
- Start Ghost? — Y
Ghost is live at: https://ghostfree.com/ghost

3.4. Set up Mailgun on Ghost

While still inside /var/www/ghost, run:
```
sudo nano config.production.json
```

and update the "mail" section as follows, using spaces (not tabs) to indent:

"mail": {
  "transport": "SMTP",
  "options": {
    "service": "Mailgun",
    "host": "smtp.mailgun.org",
    "port": "587",
    "secure": false,
    "auth": {
      "user": "your-mailgun-username",
      "pass": "your-mailgun-password"
    }
  }
},

replacing "your-mailgun-username" and "your-mailgun-password" with your Mailgun SMTP credentials and host domain.
Then Ctrl-X > Y > Enter to save and quit.
Restart Ghost for the config to take effect:
```
ghost restart
```

Go to https://ghostfree.com/ghost. Create your admin login credentials.
Customize your site > click ⚙️ icon > Email newsletter > Mailgun settings > click Edit:
- Mailgun region: US (from Mailgun > Domain Settings > SMTP credentials)
- Mailgun domain: mg.ghostfree.com
- Mailgun Private API key: your-API-key

5. Future maintenance

5.1 Enable Ghost auto-start

Cron job to restart Ghost, whenever the virtual machine restarts.
From the home directory of service_account, run:
```
crontab -e
```
and press 1 to select Nano as your text editor.

Paste the following into the cronfile:

@reboot cd /var/www/ghost && /usr/bin/ghost start

then Ctrl-X > Y > Enter to save and quit.

5.2. Create maintenance scripts

Create an update script in the home directory of service_account:
```
cd && sudo nano update-ghost.sh
```

Paste the following text into the update script:

#!/bin/bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt clean && sudo apt autoclean && sudo apt autoremove
sudo npm install -g npm@latest
sudo rm -r /usr/lib/node_modules/ghost-cli
cd /var/www/ghost
sudo npm install -g ghost-cli@latest
sudo find ./ ! -path "./versions/*" -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
ghost backup
ghost stop
ghost update
ghost ls
ghost start
sudo reboot

then Ctrl-X > Y > Enter to save and quit.

Make it executable:

sudo chown service_account:service_account update-ghost.sh
sudo chmod 775 update-ghost.sh

In the future, to keep Ghost up date, open MobaXTerm:
Connect to user session with Public IP from Oracle.
```
su - service_account
./update-ghost.sh
```
Note that ghost backup requires your Ghost admin credentials.

Conclusion

In this blog post, I have shown you how to install Ghost on OCI for free. By following these steps, you can create a self-hosted Ghost blog that is both powerful and affordable.

Additional notes

Don't give up on provisioning A1 Ampere due to "out of capacity errors", follow the python guide below.
To prevent out-of-memory errors try adding a swap space to your server.
For more information on installing Ghost, please refer to the Ghost documentation and the following links 👇

Self-hosted Ghost on Oracle Cloud for free

Predrag Cvetkovski

Prerequisites

1. Create Oracle Cloud account

1.1. Set up account

1.2. Spin up a web server

1.3. Configure Virtual Cloud Network

2. Get domain name and set up Mailgun

2.1. Register a domain name

2.2 Set up email delivery system

3. Install Ghost on Ubuntu

3.1. Set up VM instance

3.2. Install Ghost dependencies

3.3. Set up Ghost

3.4. Set up Mailgun on Ghost

5. Future maintenance

5.1 Enable Ghost auto-start

5.2. Create maintenance scripts

Conclusion

Additional notes

References

Read more

Add swap file on Ubuntu for Ghost on Google Cloud

How to install Ghost on Google Cloud for free

Prerequisites

1. Create Oracle Cloud account

1.1. Set up account

1.2. Spin up a web server

1.3. Configure Virtual Cloud Network

2. Get domain name and set up Mailgun

2.1. Register a domain name

2.2 Set up email delivery system

3. Install Ghost on Ubuntu

3.1. Set up VM instance

3.2. Install Ghost dependencies

3.3. Set up Ghost

3.4. Set up Mailgun on Ghost

4. Configure email newsletter

5. Future maintenance

5.1 Enable Ghost auto-start

5.2. Create maintenance scripts

Conclusion

Additional notes

References

Read more

Add swap file on Ubuntu for Ghost on Google Cloud

How to install Ghost on Google Cloud for free