How-To Install Sentora on CentOS or Ubuntu

If you are looking for a clean and modern web hosting panel but you don’t simply have the funds to pay for one, Sentora is your answer. Sentora is an open source web hosting panel that is designed to simplify your web hosting experience.

Prerequisites

• A Vultr VPS (768MB should work fine).
• One of the following supported OS: CentOS 6 & 7, Ubuntu 12.04 & 14.04
• Registered domain name.
• Public IP for your server.
• 5-10 minutes of your time.

None of the following installed:

• MySQL
• Apache
• PHP
• Bind
• phpMyAdmin
• RoundCube
• Dovecot
• Postfix
• proFTPd

The following ports opened:

• 20 & 21 : FTP
• 25 (TCP) : SMTP
• 53 (TCP & UDP) : DNS
• 80 (TCP & UDP) : HTTP
• 110 : POP3
• 143 : IMAP
• Optional: 443 (HTTPS) and 3306 (MySQL)

Note: Your server OS should be freshly installed. Nothing else should be installed or it may mess with the installation process. This includes other management panels, web services, databases, mail servers, etc. If you have any of these installed, either uninstall them or reload the operating system to a fresh state.

Installation Process:

Once you are ready to start, you will want to log into your DNS management panel where you manage your domain name and the host records. Create a sub-domain that points to your server’s IP address. The sub-domain will be used to access your panel later on. It could be panel.domainname.com or web.domainname.com, whatever you prefer.

Step 1:

Once you have this done, log into the server you would like to install the panel on. We’ll be installing the latest stable version of the panel today. Start by typing the following command:

 bash <(curl -L -Ss http://sentora.org/install)

This will download and start the installation process for you. A script will run and you’ll need to answer the questions asked. It’ll look something like this:

 ############################################################
 #  Welcome to the Official Sentora Installer 1.0.1  #
 ############################################################

 Checking that minimal requirements are ok
 Detected : CentOs  6  x86_64
 Ok.
 DB server will be mySQL

 -- Installing wget and dns utils required to manage inputs
 Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
 Setting up Update Process
 Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
  * base: repos.mia.quadranet.com
  * epel: epel.mirror.constant.com
  * extras: mirror.ash.fastserv.com
  * updates: mirror.ash.fastserv.com
 No Packages marked for Update
 Package 32:bind-utils-9.8.2-0.30.rc1.el6_6.1.x86_64 already installed and latest version
 Package wget-1.12-5.el6_6.1.x86_64 already installed and latest version
 Preparing to select timezone, please wait a few seconds...
 Package tzdata-2015a-1.el6.noarch already installed and latest version
 Please identify a location so that time zone rules can be set correctly.

 Please select a continent or ocean.
  1) Africa
  2) Americas
  3) Antarctica
  4) Arctic Ocean
  5) Asia
  6) Atlantic Ocean
  7) Australia
  8) Europe
  9) Indian Ocean
 10) Pacific Ocean
 11) none - I want to specify the time zone using the Posix TZ format.
 #? 

Enter the number that is appropriate to your country. If you live in the Americas, you will type in 2 and hit enter. In this case, we will use Americas as an example. Thus, we will type in the number 2 and hit enter.

Step 2:

Find the country you live in and type in the corresponding number. In our case, we will choose the United States, which is number 49. Type this in and hit enter to move forward.

 Please select a country.
  1) Anguilla            28) Haiti
  2) Antigua & Barbuda    29) Honduras
  3) Argentina           30) Jamaica
  4) Aruba           31) Martinique
  5) Bahamas             32) Mexico
  6) Barbados            33) Montserrat
  7) Belize          34) Nicaragua
  8) Bolivia             35) Panama
  9) Brazil          36) Paraguay
 10) Canada          37) Peru
 11) Caribbean Netherlands    38) Puerto Rico
 12) Cayman Islands      39) St Barthelemy
 13) Chile           40) St Kitts & Nevis
 14) Colombia            41) St Lucia
 15) Costa Rica          42) St Maarten (Dutch part)
 16) Cuba            43) St Martin (French part)
 17) Curacao             44) St Pierre & Miquelon
 18) Dominica            45) St Vincent
 19) Dominican Republic      46) Suriname
 20) Ecuador             47) Trinidad & Tobago
 21) El Salvador             48) Turks & Caicos Is
 22) French Guiana       49) United States
 23) Greenland           50) Uruguay
 24) Grenada             51) Venezuela
 25) Guadeloupe          52) Virgin Islands (UK)
 26) Guatemala           53) Virgin Islands (US)
 27) Guyana
 #?

Step 3:

Now you will be asked what timezone you are in. Similar to the previous steps, type in the number of your time zone. Multiple options are given in each timezone, so be careful to choose the correct one. Google can be your friend in this case.

 Please select one of the following time zone regions.
  1) Eastern Time
  2) Eastern Time - Michigan - most locations
  3) Eastern Time - Kentucky - Louisville area
  4) Eastern Time - Kentucky - Wayne County
  5) Eastern Time - Indiana - most locations
  6) Eastern Time - Indiana - Daviess, Dubois, Knox & Martin Counties
  7) Eastern Time - Indiana - Pulaski County
  8) Eastern Time - Indiana - Crawford County
  9) Eastern Time - Indiana - Pike County
 10) Eastern Time - Indiana - Switzerland County
 11) Central Time
 12) Central Time - Indiana - Perry County
 13) Central Time - Indiana - Starke County
 14) Central Time - Michigan - Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron & Menominee Counties
 15) Central Time - North Dakota - Oliver County
 16) Central Time - North Dakota - Morton County (except Mandan area)
 17) Central Time - North Dakota - Mercer County
 18) Mountain Time
 19) Mountain Time - south Idaho & east Oregon
 20) Mountain Standard Time - Arizona (except Navajo)
 21) Pacific Time
 22) Pacific Standard Time - Annette Island, Alaska
 23) Alaska Time
 24) Alaska Time - Alaska panhandle
 25) Alaska Time - southeast Alaska panhandle
 26) Alaska Time - Alaska panhandle neck
 27) Alaska Time - west Alaska
 28) Aleutian Islands
 29) Hawaii
 #? 

After choosing your timezone, the system will ask to confirm the information you provided. Enter 1 if the information is correct, enter 2 if you need to change something. Once confirmed, we can move on to the next step.

Step 4:

Enter the sub-domain you assigned earlier. By default, the system will input the server’s hostname. Erase this and type in the sub-domain address you assigned earlier, unless the hostname is the same as your sub-domain.

 Enter the sub-domain you want to access Sentora panel: <//Sub-domain here//>

Step 5:

Confirm the public IP for the server. It should already have your IP address listed. Hit enter if it is correct. Otherwise, erase it and type in the correct IP address and hit enter.

 Enter (or confirm) the public IP for this server: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Note: if you have not assigned a sub-domain to your IP address, you will see a warning message after hitting enter. You can safely ignore this if you plan on assigning a sub-domain later. Simply enter y to continue or n to change the domain/IP or q to quit the entire installation process.

Step 6:

You are pretty much done now! From this point on, you will see your system installing necessary packages in order for your panel to operate successfully. Let this run for a few minutes.

It will also install MySQL for you, so you will want to keep note of the usernames and passwords it assigns you. Never fear, the script will generate a file that has the passwords for you. It should be stored in /root/passwords.txt.

Also note that at the end of the installation process (in the Congratulations summary), it will tell you your Sentora username and password. Keep note of this!

Step 7:

Once you have kept note of the important information, it will ask to reboot your server to complete the installation. Enter y to allow the reboot process.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Sentora as your new web management panel. You may access it by entering the sub-domain address (or IP address) into your browser and log in.