Setting Up Portainer on a VPS from A2 Hosting

If you're looking to set up a cheap, easy-to-manage hosting solution for static or MEAN stack sites, Portainer on a VPS from A2 Hosting is a great choice. Portainer is a lightweight management UI that allows you to easily manage your Docker environments. Here's a step-by-step guide to get you started.

Step 1: Choosing the Right VPS from A2 Hosting

Visit A2 Hosting VPS Plans: Go to A2 Hosting Unmanaged VPS.
Select a Plan: Choose a plan that fits your needs. For basic static or MEAN stack sites, a lower-tier plan should suffice.

Step 2: Setting Up Your VPS

Once you have your VPS, you'll need to set it up and ensure it's ready for Docker and Portainer.

Access Your VPS: Use SSH to log into your VPS. You can use a terminal on Linux/Mac or an SSH client like PuTTY on Windows.
```
ssh root@your_vps_ip
```
Update Your System:
```
apt update && apt upgrade -y
```

Step 3: Installing Docker

Docker is required for running Portainer. Follow these steps to install Docker on your VPS.

Install Docker:
```
apt install docker.io -y
```

Enable and Start Docker:

systemctl enable docker
systemctl start docker

Verify Docker Installation:
```
docker --version
```

Step 4: Installing Portainer

Now that Docker is installed, you can proceed to install Portainer.

Pull the Portainer Image:
```
docker pull portainer/portainer-ce
```
Create the Portainer Volume:
```
docker volume create portainer_data
```

Run Portainer:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 9443:9443 --name=portainer --restart=always -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer_data:/data portainer/portainer-ce:latest

Access Portainer: Open your browser and go to https://your_vps_ip:9443. You’ll be prompted to create an admin user.

Step 5: Deploying Static or MEAN Stack Sites

With Portainer set up, you can now deploy your static or MEAN stack sites.

Create a New Stack in Portainer:
- Go to the Portainer dashboard.
- Select "Stacks" and then "Add stack".
- Name your stack and define your docker-compose.yml for your static site or MEAN stack site.

Example Docker Compose for a Static Site:

version: '3'
services:
  web:
    image: nginx:alpine
    volumes:
      - ./html:/usr/share/nginx/html
    ports:
      - "80:80"

Example Docker Compose for a MEAN Stack Site:

version: '3'
services:
  web:
    image: node:14
    working_dir: /app
    volumes:
      - ./:/app
    command: npm start
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
  mongo:
    image: mongo:latest
    ports:
      - "27017:27017"

Deploy the Stack: Once you have your docker-compose.yml defined, deploy the stack.

Step 6: Managing Your Site with Portainer

Portainer provides a user-friendly interface to manage your Docker containers. You can:

Start, stop, and restart containers.
View logs and stats.
Manage volumes and networks.
Use the console to interact with containers.

Additional Resources

By following these steps, you'll have a powerful and cost-effective hosting solution for your static or MEAN stack sites using A2 Hosting and Portainer. Enjoy the ease of managing your Docker environments with Portainer's intuitive UI!