CI/CD with Github Actions

How to Point Domain and Deploy NextJS Project using Github on Nginx Remote Server or VPS

• Get Access to Remote Server via SSH

Syntax:- ssh -p PORT USERNAME@HOSTIP
Example:- ssh -p 1034 raj@216.32.44.12

• Verify that all required softwares are installed

nginx -v
node -v
npm -v
git --version
pm2 --version

• Install Software (If required)

sudo apt install nginx
sudo apt install git
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash - &&\
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

• Install PM2 (If required)

sudo npm install -g pm2@latest

• Add PM2 Process on Startup

sudo pm2 startup

• Verify Nginx is Active and Running

sudo service nginx status

• Verify Web Server Ports are Open and Allowed through Firewall

sudo ufw status verbose

• Exit from Remote Server

exit

• Login to Your Domain Provider Website
• Navigate to Manage DNS
• Add Following Records:

• Copy Project from Local Machine to Remote Server or VPS. There are two ways to do it:-

  1. Using Command Prompt

     • On Local Windows Machine Make Your Project Folder a Zip File using any of the software e.g. winzip
     • Open Command Prompt
     • Copy Zip File from Local Windows Machine to Linux Remote Server

     Syntax:- scp -P Remote_Server_Port Source_File_Path Destination_Path
     Example:- scp -P 1034 miniblog.zip raj@216.32.44.12:

     • Copied Successfully
     • Get Access to Remote Server via SSH

     Syntax:- ssh -p PORT USERNAME@HOSTIP
     Example:- ssh -p 1034 raj@216.32.44.12

     • Unzip the Copied Project Zip File

     Syntax:- unzip zip_file_name
     Example:- unzip miniblog.zip

  2. Using Github

     • Open Project on VS Code then add .gitignore file (If needed)
     • Push your Poject to Your Github Account as Private Repo
     • Make Connection between Remote Server and Github Repo via SSH Key
     • Generate SSH Keys

     Syntax:- ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

     • If Permission Denied then Own .ssh then try again to Generate SSH Keys

     Syntax:- sudo chown -R user_name .ssh
     Example:- sudo chown -R raj .ssh

     • Open Public SSH Keys then copy the key

     cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

     • Go to Your Github Repo
     • Click on Settings Tab
     • Click on Deploy Keys option from sidebar
     • Click on Add Deploy Key Button and Paste Remote Server's Copied SSH Public Key then Click on Add Key
     • Clone Project from your github Repo using SSH Path It requires to setup SSH Key on Github

     Syntax:- git clone ssh_repo_path
     Example:- git clone git@github.com:geekyshow1/miniblog.git

• Create Virtual Host File

Syntax:- sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_domain
Example:- sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/sonamkumari.com

• Write following Code in Virtual Host File

server{
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name your_domain www.your_domain;
    location / {
       proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;
       proxy_http_version 1.1;
       proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
       proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
       proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

• Enable Virtual Host or Create Symbolic Link of Virtual Host File

Syntax:- sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/virtual_host_file /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/virtual_host_file
Example:- sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/sonamkumari.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/sonamkumari.com

• Check Configuration is Correct or Not

sudo nginx -t

• Install Dependencies

cd ~/project_folder_name
npm install

• Create Production Build

npm run build

• Create pm2 config File inside project folder

nano ecosystem.config.js

• Write below code in ecosystem.config.js file

module.exports = {
  apps : [
      {
        name: "myapp",
        script: "npm start",
        port: 3001
      }
  ]
}

• Restart Nginx

sudo service nginx restart

• Start NextJS Application using pm2

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

• Save PM2 Process

pm2 save

• Check PM2 Status

pm2 status

• Now you can make some changes in your project local development VS Code and Pull it on Remote Server (Only if you have used Github)
• Pull the changes from github repo

git pull

• Create Production Build

npm run build

• Reload using PM2

pm2 reload app_name/id

How to Automate NextJS Project Deployment using Github Action

• On Your Local Machine, Open Your Project using VS Code or any Editor
• Create A Folder named .scripts inside your root project folder e.g. miniblog/.scripts
• Inside .scripts folder Create A file with .sh extension e.g. miniblog/.scripts/deploy.sh
• Write below script inside the created .sh file

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "Deployment started..."

# Pull the latest version of the app
git pull origin master
echo "New changes copied to server !"

echo "Installing Dependencies..."
npm install --yes

echo "Creating Production Build..."
npm run build

echo "PM2 Reload"
pm2 reload app_name/id

echo "Deployment Finished!"

• Go inside .scripts Folder then Set File Permission for .sh File

git update-index --add --chmod=+x deploy.sh

• Create Directory Path named .github/workflows inside your root project folder e.g. miniblog/.github/workflows
• Inside workflows folder Create A file with .yml extension e.g. miniblog/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
• Write below script inside the created .yml file

name: Deploy

# Trigger the workflow on push and
# pull request events on the master branch
on:
  push:
    branches: ["master"]
  pull_request:
    branches: ["master"]

# Authenticate to the the server via ssh
# and run our deployment script
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Deploy to Server
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@master
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
          port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSHKEY }}
          script: "cd ~/project_folder_name && ./.scripts/deploy.sh"

• Go to Your Github Repo Click on Settings
• Click on Secrets and Variables from the Sidebar then choose Actions
• On Secret Tab, Click on New Repository Secret
• Add Four Secrets HOST, PORT, USERNAME and SSHKEY as below

Name: HOST
Secret: Your_Server_IP

Name: PORT
Secret: Your_Server_PORT

Name: USERNAME
Secret: Your_Server_User_Name

• You can get Server User Name by loging into your server via ssh then run below command

whoami

• Generate SSH Key for Github Action by Login into Remote Server then run below Command

Syntax:- ssh-keygen -f key_path -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"
Example:- ssh-keygen -f /home/raj/.ssh/gitaction_ed25519 -t ed25519 -C "gitactionautodep"

• Open Newly Created Public SSH Keys then copy the key

cat ~/.ssh/gitaction_ed25519.pub

• Open authorized_keys File which is inside .ssh/authroized_keys then paste the copied key in a new line

cd .ssh
nano authorized_keys

• Open Newly Created Private SSH Keys then copy the key, we will use this key to add New Repository Secret On Github Repo

cat ~/.ssh/gitaction_ed25519

Name: SSHKEY
Secret: Private_SSH_KEY_Generated_On_Server

• Commit and Push the change to Your Github Repo
• Get Access to Remote Server via SSH

Syntax:- ssh -p PORT USERNAME@HOSTIP
Example:- ssh -p 22 raj@216.32.44.12

• Pull the changes from github just once this time.

cd ~/project_folder_name
git pull

• Your Deployment should become automate.
• On Local Machine make some changes in Your Project then Commit and Push to Github Repo It will automatically deployed on Live Server
• You can track your action from Github Actions Tab
• If you get any File Permission error in the action then you have to change file permission accordingly.
• All Done

How to Enable HTTPS in Your Domain Hosted on Linux Remote Server or VPS

Let's Encrypt is a non-profit certificate authority run by Internet Security Research Group that provides X.509 certificates for Transport Layer Security encryption at no charge.

Certbot is a free, open source software tool for automatically using Let’s Encrypt certificates on manually-administrated websites to enable HTTPS.

• To Access Remote Server via SSH

Syntax:- ssh -p PORT USERNAME@HOSTIP
Example:- ssh -p 1034 raj@216.32.44.12

• Install Certbot and it’s Nginx plugin

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

• Verify Web Server Ports are Open and Allowed through Firewall

sudo ufw status verbose

• Obtain an SSL certificate

sudo certbot --nginx -d your_domain.com -d www.your_domain.com

• Check Status of Certbot

sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

• Dry Run SSL Renewal

sudo certbot renew --dry-run