blog:2025:0514_moved_to_full_vps_instead_of_shared_hosting [igazine.com]

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Moved to Full VPS instead of shared hosting. ======
 --- //[[stunder_site@igazine.com|Eric McWilliams]] 2025/05/15 20:10//


I started my [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki|dokuwiki]] adventures like 2 or 3 weeks ago hosting things in some shared space at [[https://www.dreamhost.com/|Dreamhost]].  I prefer having my instance on a shared host and not hosting this myself.  The server/webserver/php setup alone can get pretty demanding on my personal time although these days it was pretty much "Spin up [[https://www.debian.org/|Debian]] VM, configure initial server, install Apache and php, then download and tar the [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki|dokuwiki]] packaged from their download page.   The real headache comes in setting [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki|dokuwiki]] server permissions and not granting to much access to the rest of the world.  I am still not 100% sure I did it right and wouldn't be surprised if some bot finds this instance and spams the hell out of the backend.

Well as I started adding [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/plugins|plugins]] for dokuwiki I got to the point of loading a plugin I loved, and used years ago called [[https://www.dokuwiki.org/plugin:graphviz|Graphviz]]. [[https://graphviz.org|Graphviz]] is open-source graph visualization software and includes a language called dot built by AT&T Labs this whole package was used to automate large network/telco drawings.  On the shared hosting provider, the plugin constantly broke for me. I wracked my brain out for a day or two and it dawned on me that the hosting provider probably wouldn't allow a web/php script to call back and run an executable without some special permissions.   I spent another day trying to figure out a work around with no luck.

Just to test my theory I spun up another self-contained VM at [[https://www.digitalocean.com/|Digital Ocean]] another cloud provider/ISP I have been using for years now.  After configuring the server and packages I loaded up the dokuwiki plugins with Graphviz and gave it a test and YES it works now!

<graphviz dot>
digraph G {
size ="4,4";
main [shape=box]; /* this is a comment */
main -> parse [weight=8];
parse -> execute;
main -> init [style=dotted];
main -> cleanup;
execute -> { make_string; printf}
init -> make_string;
edge [color=red]; // so is this
main -> printf [style=bold,label="100 times"];
make_string [label="make a\nstring"];
node [shape=box,style=filled,color=".7 .3 1.0"];
execute -> compare;
}
</graphviz>

{{tag>blog, hosting, virtual}}