Getting started with AlmaLinux on your VPS

AlmaLinux is a free, enterprise-grade Linux distribution compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It is the recommended choice for cPanel/WHM and production web hosting environments due to its long-term stability, RHEL compatibility, and strong community support.

Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-server-ip

Your root password is in your VPS welcome email. On Windows, use PuTTY or Windows Terminal. On Mac/Linux, use the built-in terminal.

Update packages

Always update immediately after provisioning:

dnf update -y

AlmaLinux uses dnf (not apt) as its package manager-it is the yum replacement on RHEL-based systems.

Configure firewalld

AlmaLinux uses firewalld by default:

# Check status
systemctl status firewalld

# Allow web traffic
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh

# Apply changes
firewall-cmd --reload

# List active rules
firewall-cmd --list-all

Install common software

Install the EPEL repository first to access additional packages:

dnf install epel-release -y

Common packages:

# Web server
dnf install nginx -y

# PHP (use dnf module for PHP 8.x)
dnf module enable php:8.2 -y
dnf install php php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-gd php-xml php-mbstring -y

# MySQL
dnf install mysql-server -y

# Git, wget, tools
dnf install git wget curl unzip htop -y

Create a non-root user

Running as root all the time is risky. Create a standard user with sudo access:

adduser deploy
passwd deploy
usermod -aG wheel deploy

Members of the wheel group can use sudo. SSH in as deploy for daily operations, and use sudo when root permissions are needed.

Related: Linux and Windows operating systems for VPS-which to choose | How to choose the right operating system for your VPS | Manage VPS | VPS firewall

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