Multiple Instances of Discourse on CloudPanel

[nOObish]

To Install a First Discourse Instance on CloudPanel

Installing Discourse on CloudPanel

Why CloudPanel Why might you want to install a Discourse Forum on a VPS or Dedicated Server running CloudPanel? Here are my reasons: I prefer to use a graphical interface for server and site administration. I’ve used most of the web hosting control panels at one time or another. In comparison to the rest, CloudPanel is very slim and minimal and uncluttered. It has every feature I need, presented very simply and intuitively. And that’s it. It has nothing I don’t need. I develop and host and m…

---

To Install a Second Discourse Instance on the Same CloudPanel Server…

1. Create a Reverse Proxy Site in CloudPanel

In CloudPanel…

Click the + Add Site button…

For my Discourse instance I am using my domain name noobish.me, so from now on wherever you see that in the rest of these instructions, replace noobish.me with your actual domain name.

Next we click create a new “Create a Reverse Proxy” in the CloudPanel for the domain where we want to host our Discourse forum.

Here we type in the Domain Name for our Discourse forum. If we want, we can change the Site User and/or Site User Password, or just accept the defaults provided.

2. Prepare the Domain and Set up SSL (Cloudflare)

For my site I’m using Cloudflare’s nameservers to point the domain. In Cloudflare I set the SSL to Full or Full (strict).

I also create a Cloudflare Page Rule. Visit this post to learn why.

I’m also using a free Cloudflare SSL Origin Certificate for my domain, which I “Import” into CloudPanel within the “SSL/TLS” site settings for that site (by simply pasting in both the Certificate and the Private Key I had downloaded for that domain name from my Cloudflare account.)

One more thing in Cloudflare, is to prevent the error …

Error: Slow down, too Many Requests from this IP Address

… in Cloudflare we need to …

Always Use HTTPS · Cloudflare SSL/TLS docs

3. Create and Edit the app2.yml File

Next, back in Putty (or other terminal), as the root user… type

nano /var/discourse/containers/app2.yml

Enter

(This creates the app2.yml file.)

Now we paste in the contents of the below sample app2.yml file, and then edit according to our specific site settings:

Sample of app2.yml (w/Cloudflare & Mailgun) ->

templates:
  - "templates/postgres.template.yml"
  - "templates/redis.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.ratelimited.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.socketed.template.yml"
  - "templates/cloudflare.template.yml"

params:
  db_default_text_search_config: "pg_catalog.english"
  db_shared_buffers: "4096MB"

env:
  DISCOURSE_CAN_PERMANENTLY_DELETE: true
  LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
  LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  LANGUAGE: en_US.UTF-8
  DISCOURSE_FORCE_HTTPS: true
  UNICORN_WORKERS: 8
  DISCOURSE_HOSTNAME: 'domain.com'
  DISCOURSE_DEVELOPER_EMAILS: 'admin@domain.com'
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: smtp.mailgun.org
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: postmaster@domain.com
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD:  xxxxxxxxxx
  DISCOURSE_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL: noreply@domain.com

volumes:
  - volume:
      host: /var/discourse/shared/standalone2
      guest: /shared
  - volume:
      host: /var/discourse/shared/standalone2/log/var-log
      guest: /var/log

hooks:
  after_code:
    - exec:
        cd: $home/plugins
        cmd:
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/docker_manager.git

Under the section env: we need to change both instances of domain.com to the domain name of our Discourse site;

→ Then we save and exit the app2.yml file…

CTRL-X

y

Enter

4. Set the Permissions for the app2.yml File

Next, still in the terminal, we set the permissions for the app2.yml file…

chmod o-rwx /var/discourse/containers/app2.yml

Enter

then…

5. Bootstrap the App

cd /var/discourse

Enter

./launcher bootstrap app2

Enter

This will take 5 - 10 minutes.

While we are waiting for the app to bootstrap, we…

6. Edit the Vhost File

Back in our CloudPanel site settings we paste the below Sample Vhost Contents into the “Vhost Editor” for our Discourse site (overwriting what is already there).

Sample Vhost Contents

server {
  listen 443 ssl http2;
  listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
  {{ssl_certificate_key}}
  {{ssl_certificate}}
  server_name domain.com;
  {{root}}

  {{nginx_access_log}}
  {{nginx_error_log}}

  if ($scheme != "https") {
    rewrite ^ https://$host$uri permanent;
  }

  location ~ /.well-known {
    auth_basic off;
    allow all;
  }

  {{settings}}

  add_header Cache-Control no-transform;

  location / {
                proxy_pass http://unix:/var/discourse/shared/standalone2/nginx.http.sock:;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

  }
}

Of course we replace:

domain.com with the actual domain name of our new CloudPanel site from above.

(Then, don’t forget to Save the Vhost settings.)

7. Next, Launch Start

Back in the terminal, at the end of the bootstrap process, you’ll be asked if you want to (and you do, so type in)…

./launcher start app2

Enter

Sidenote: When using a Cloudflare Origin SSL Certificate I find that (for some unknown reason) I need to go into Cloudflare SSL and change the encryption mode to Full, and then back again to Full (Strict) to prevent an error (err_ssl_version_or_cipher_mismatch).

So…

And then…

Enjoy Your Second Discourse!

Go to the URL of your new site, and you should see this…

---

For More Discourse Instances…

Follow this tutorial, changing every instance of (for example) app2 to app3, app2.yml to app3.yml, and standalone2 to standalone3.

On your CloudPanel, using this method, you can install as many Discourse instances as your CloudPanel server can handle!

2023-09-29 Jen's Sample Contents for app9.yml

## this is the all-in-one, standalone Discourse Docker container template
##
## After making changes to this file, you MUST rebuild
## /var/discourse/launcher rebuild app
##
## BE *VERY* CAREFUL WHEN EDITING!
## YAML FILES ARE SUPER SUPER SENSITIVE TO MISTAKES IN WHITESPACE OR ALIGNMENT!
## visit http://www.yamllint.com/ to validate this file as needed

templates:
  - "templates/postgres.template.yml"
  - "templates/redis.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.ratelimited.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.socketed.template.yml"
  - "templates/cloudflare.template.yml"

params:
  db_default_text_search_config: "pg_catalog.english"

  ## Set db_shared_buffers to a max of 25% of the total memory.
  ## will be set automatically by bootstrap based on detected RAM, or you can override
  db_shared_buffers: "4096MB"

  ## can improve sorting performance, but adds memory usage per-connection
  #db_work_mem: "40MB"

  ## Which Git revision should this container use? (default: tests-passed)
  #version: tests-passed

env:
  LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
  LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  LANGUAGE: en_US.UTF-8
  # DISCOURSE_DEFAULT_LOCALE: en

  DISCOURSE_FORCE_HTTPS: true

  DISCOURSE_CAN_PERMANENTLY_DELETE: true

  DISCOURSE_ENABLE_CORS: true

  ## How many concurrent web requests are supported? Depends on memory and CPU cores.
  ## will be set automatically by bootstrap based on detected CPUs, or you can override
  UNICORN_WORKERS: 8

  ## TODO: The domain name this Discourse instance will respond to
  ## Required. Discourse will not work with a bare IP number.
  DISCOURSE_HOSTNAME: 'domain.com'

  ## Uncomment if you want the container to be started with the same
  ## hostname (-h option) as specified above (default "$hostname-$config")
  #DOCKER_USE_HOSTNAME: true

  ## TODO: List of comma delimited emails that will be made admin and developer
  ## on initial signup example 'user1@example.com,user2@example.com'
  DISCOURSE_DEVELOPER_EMAILS: 'admin@domain.com'

  ## TODO: The SMTP mail server used to validate new accounts and send notifications
  # SMTP ADDRESS, username, and password are required
  # WARNING the char '#' in SMTP password can cause problems!
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: smtp.mailgun.org
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: postmaster@domain.com
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD:  xxxxxxxxxxxx
  #DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: true           # (optional, default true)
  #DISCOURSE_SMTP_DOMAIN: jen.do    # (required by some providers)
  DISCOURSE_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL: noreply@domain.com    # (address to send notifications from)

  ## The http or https CDN address for this Discourse instance (configured to pull)
  ## see https://meta.discourse.org/t/14857 for details
  #DISCOURSE_CDN_URL: https://discourse-cdn.example.com

  ## The maxmind geolocation IP address key for IP address lookup
  ## see https://meta.discourse.org/t/-/137387/23 for details
  #DISCOURSE_MAXMIND_LICENSE_KEY: 1234567890123456

## The Docker container is stateless; all data is stored in /shared
volumes:
  - volume:
      host: /var/discourse/shared/standalone9
      guest: /shared
  - volume:
      host: /var/discourse/shared/standalone9/log/var-log
      guest: /var/log

## Plugins go here
## see https://meta.discourse.org/t/19157 for details
hooks:
  after_code:
    - exec:
        cd: $home
        cmd:
          - sudo apt-get install wget ca-certificates
    - exec:
        cd: $home
        cmd:
          - wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
    - exec:
        cd: $home
        cmd:
          - sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ `lsb_release -cs`-pgdg main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
    - exec:
        cd: $home
        cmd:
          - apt-get update
    - exec:
        cd: $home
        cmd:
          - apt-get -y install -y postgresql-server-dev-13
    - exec:
        cd: $home/tmp
        cmd:
          - git clone https://github.com/neondatabase/pg_embedding.git
    - exec:
        cd: $home/tmp/pg_embedding
        cmd:
          - make PG_CONFIG=/usr/lib/postgresql/13/bin/pg_config
    - exec:
        cd: $home/tmp/pg_embedding
        cmd:
          - make PG_CONFIG=/usr/lib/postgresql/13/bin/pg_config install
    - exec:
        cd: $home
        cmd:
          - su postgres -c 'psql discourse -c "create extension if not exists embedding;"'
    - exec:
        cd: $home/plugins
        cmd:
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/docker_manager.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-ai.git
          - git clone https://github.com/merefield/discourse-ai-topic-summary.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-akismet.git
          - git clone https://github.com/denvergeeks/discourse-audio-message.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-bbcode.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-categories-suppressed.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-characters-required.git
          - git clone https://github.com/merefield/discourse-chatbot.git
          - git clone https://github.com/cpradio/discourse-plugin-composer-help-button.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-docs.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-follow.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-footnote.git
          - git clone https://github.com/MonDiscourse/discourse-formatting-toolbar.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-gamification.git
          - git clone https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-group-directory.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-group-tag-associations.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-group-tracker.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-nested-posts.git
          - git clone https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-news.git
          - git clone https://github.com/thoka/discourse-send-pdf-inline.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-plugin-autoplay.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-post-voting.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-prepend-tags-in-topic-slug.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-reactions.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-restricted-replies.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-rss-polling.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-saved-searches.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-solved.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-staff-alias.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-subscriptions.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-surveys.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-templates.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-tooltips.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-topic-voting.git
          - git clone https://github.com/merefield/discourse-word-cloud.git

## Any custom commands to run after building
run:
  - exec: echo "Beginning of custom commands"
  - exec: rails r "SiteSetting.max_category_nesting=3"
  - exec: rails r "SiteSetting.allow_embedding_site_in_an_iframe=true"
  ## If you want to set the 'From' email address for your first registration, uncomment and change:
  ## After getting the first signup email, re-comment the line. It only needs to run once.
  #- exec: rails r "SiteSetting.notification_email='info@unconfigured.discourse.org'"
  - exec: echo "End of custom commands"

2023-09-29 Jen's Sample Vhost Contents for app9

server {
  listen 443 ssl http2;
  listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
  {{ssl_certificate_key}}
  {{ssl_certificate}}
  server_name domain.com;
  {{root}}

  {{nginx_access_log}}
  {{nginx_error_log}}

  if ($scheme != "https") {
    rewrite ^ https://$host$uri permanent;
  }

  location ~ /.well-known {
    auth_basic off;
    allow all;
  }

  {{settings}}

  add_header Cache-Control no-transform;

  location / {
                proxy_pass http://unix:/var/discourse/shared/standalone9/nginx.http.sock:;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

  }
}