1. Purchase VPS, VDS or Dedicated server
2. Purchase DirectAdmin License. You must have to have valid server IP.
3. Login to server with root
4. Begin Installation : DirectAdmin

   wget https://www.directadmin.com/setup.sh

5. Change setup.sh permission : setup.sh

   chmod 755 setup.sh

6. Run the script :

   ./setup.sh auto

   You may run manual installation script as follows:

   ./setup.sh

7. You will be asked “Would you like to install these required pre-install packages?” Write “Y”
8. Then put Client ID, License ID and Hostname.
9. Put ethernet devices
10. Select your desired apache/php setup. Option 1 is recommended. But CentOS 8 does not support ruid2! So you have to select option 4
11. DirectAdmin server is ready now! Collect login info from installation terminal. Login DirectAdmin using your IP.
    For example, 122.124.25.211:2222
12. If you face problem connecting server, check ethernet device name at /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf and edit if needed. (to see ethernet device name type /sbin/ifconfig

    ethernet_dev=eth1

    This may be eth0, venet0:0, eth0:1, eth1 etc.

13. Install default domain from user panel > Account Manager > Domain Setup (Optional)
14. Special Note
    1. If you face problem connecting server, check ethernet device name at /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf and edit if needed. (to see ethernet device name type /sbin/ifconfig

       ethernet_dev=eth1

       This may be eth0, venet0:0, eth0:1, eth1 etc.

    2. Setup SSL Certificates : LetsEncrypt (may be already installed during installation process)
       1. Enable LetsEncrypt in /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf

          letsencrypt=1

       2. Restart DirectAdmin Service with command:

          service directadmin restart

       3. Add the /.well-known Alias:

          cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
          ./build rewrite_confs

       4. Install the most recent version of the script:

          cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
          ./build update
          ./build letsencrypt
          ./build rewrite_confs

    3. Install SSL certicate for server hostname. For example, server.hostname.com
       1. LetsEncrypt free certificate

          cd /usr/local/directadmin/scripts
          ./letsencrypt.sh request_single server.hostname.com 4096

       2. Check whether SSL is enabled at /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf. Make it

          ssl=1

       3. Now server.hostname.com is secured with https.
15. Other Security measures:
    1. Install CSF (Config Server Firewall) with BFM (Brute Force Monitor) [Follow this]
    2. Change DirectAdmin port from 2222 to your choice. [Follow this]
    3. Change SSH port
       1. Open sshd_config file at /etc/ssh/sshd_config
       2. Change Port 22 to your desired port. For example, Port 231
       3. Restart SSHD service

          systemctl restart sshd.service

    4. Disable direct access to root user. [Follow this]
    5. Change web apps alias (optional)
       1. Create custombuild “custom” directory

          cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
          mkdir -p custom/ap2
          cp -Rp configure/ap2/conf custom/ap2

       2. Then go to the file at /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/custom/ap2/conf or /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/custom/ap2/conf/extra
       3. To edit httpd alias we have to edit alias at /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/custom/ap2/conf/extra/httpd-alias.conf
       4. Change alias to your choice. Original httpd-alias.conf is as below

          Alias /.well-known/acme-challenge /var/www/html/.well-known/acme-challenge
          Alias /config /var/www/html/redirect.php
          Alias /roundcube /var/www/html/roundcube
          Alias /webmail /var/www/html/roundcube
          Alias /phpMyAdmin /var/www/html/phpMyAdmin
          Alias /phpmyadmin /var/www/html/phpMyAdmin
          Alias /pma /var/www/html/phpMyAdmin

          You can change the bold word(s) and also delete any line if you don’t need.

       5. Restart Apache

          sudo systemctl restart httpd.service

       6. Rewrite config

          cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
          ./build update
          ./build rewrite_confs

16. Other settings and configurations
    1. Increase file upload size from 10 mb to your desired size at Server Manager > Administrator Setting > Server Settings (tab) > Max Request / Upload Size
    2. DirectAdmin allows 4 active php (Can also be done with CustomBuild Build Software)

       cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
       ./build update
       ./build set php1_release 7.1
       ./build set php2_release 5.6
       ./build set php3_release 7.0
       ./build set php4_release 7.3
       ./build set php1_mode php-fpm
       ./build set php2_mode php-fpm
       ./build set php3_mode php-fpm
       ./build set php4_mode php-fpm
       ./build php n
       ./build rewrite_confs

       User can select PHP version on their “Domain Setup”.

    3. Install ClamAV from DirectAdmin Build Software. Edit Options and Build.
       1. If ClamAV not functioning or down, follow quick fix

          perl -pi -e 's|nofork|foreground|g' /etc/systemd/system/clamd.service
          systemctl daemon-reload
          systemctl restart clamd.service

    4. Install SpamAssassin

       1. yum install spamassassin
          chkconfig spamassassin on
          service spamassassin start

       2.  Login to DirectAdmin and enable it from user panel.
    5. Create One-Click login to RoundCube and phpMyAdmin [Follow this]
17. Enable firewall SELinux
18. Need Partition? [Follow this]
19. View Directory Tree Structure In Linux [Follow this]
20. Host name instead ip address
    • This can be easily done by creating a default domain.
    • This domain will be used in send email too.

File edited: directadmin.conf, csf.conf, sshd_config

Important command line

DirectAdmin Status

systemctl status directadmin.service

DirectAdmin Restart

systemctl restart directadmin.service

or

service directadmin restart

Restart CSF firewall

csf -r

Restart httpd

sudo systemctl restart httpd.service

or

systemctl restart sshd.service