In this tutorial, we'll discuss about setting up Caddy Web Server on AlmaLinux 9.
Caddy is a powerful, enterprise-ready, open-source web server with automatic HTTPS by default, making it an excellent choice for both novice and experienced users. It is known for its simplicity, automatic HTTPS configuration, and robust feature set.
Prerequisites
- A server running AlmaLinux 9 dedicated server or KVM VPS
- A user with sudo privileges
- A domain name pointing to your server's IP address
Step 1: Update System Packages
First, ensure your package list is up-to-date:
sudo dnf update
Step 2: Install Caddy
This package comes with both of Caddy's systemd service unit files, but does not enable them by default. We need to enable to and install Caddy:
sudo dnf install 'dnf-command(copr)'
sudo dnf copr enable @caddy/caddy
Note: It will ask if you want to enable it . Type y an enter.
Then, install Caddy:
sudo dnf install caddy -y
Start and enable the Caddy service
sudo systemctl start caddy
sudo systemctl enable caddy
Check that Caddy was installed correctly by verifying its version:
caddy version
Step 3: Configure Firewall
We need to add HTTP and HTTPS ports in firewall.
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=443/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload
Step 4: Configure Caddy
Caddy's configuration file is called Caddyfile and is located at /etc/caddy/Caddyfile. Open this file in your preferred text editor:
sudo nano /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
A basic configuration for serving a static site might look like this:
example.com {
root * /var/www/html
file_server
}
Replace example.com with your domain and /var/www/html with the path to your website files.
Set up directory, permissions, and create index file.
Create the directory for your website if it doesn't already exist and set appropriate permissions:
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html
sudo chown -R caddy:caddy /var/www/html
Change current working directory to /var/www/html and create index.html file.
sudo cd /var/www/html && nano index.html
Add following content:
<html>
<head>
<title>This is test file</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>It works!</h1>
</body>
</html>
Save and exit
Step 5: Test and Restart Caddy Configuration
Test the configuration to ensure there are no errors:
sudo caddy validate --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
After configuring Caddy, restart the service to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart caddy
Step 6: Access Your Website
Caddy automatically requests an SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt for your domain. You can verify that your site is using HTTPS.
Open a web browser and navigate to your domain name. You should see your website served by Caddy.
Additional Configuration
Caddy offers many features such as reverse proxying, load balancing, and more. You can explore further configurations in the official Caddy documentation.
Conclusion
You have successfully installed and configured the Caddy web server on AlmaLinux 9. This setup ensures that your web server is secure with automatic HTTPS and ready to serve your website.
