How to deploy LAMP on a Pulsar67 VPS

Connect to the VPS

After your Pulsar67 VPS deploys, connect over SSH using the IP address and credentials from your welcome email or client area.

ssh root@your_server_ip

Update the package index before installing anything.

apt update

Install Apache, MariaDB, and PHP

Install the standard LAMP packages from the operating system repositories.

apt install apache2 mariadb-server php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql -y

Start and enable Apache and MariaDB so they come back after a reboot.

systemctl enable --now apache2 mariadb

Check that Apache is running.

systemctl status apache2 --no-pager

Secure MariaDB

Run the MariaDB security helper. For most new installs, you can remove anonymous users, disable remote root login, remove the test database, and reload privileges.

mysql_secure_installation

Then create an application database and user. Replace the database name, username, and password before running this on a real server.

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE appdb;
CREATE USER 'appuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'change_this_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON appdb.* TO 'appuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Open the firewall

If you use UFW, allow SSH and web traffic. Keep SSH open before enabling the firewall.

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow "Apache Full"
ufw enable
ufw status

Test the site

Create a small PHP info page to confirm that Apache and PHP are working together.

cat > /var/www/html/info.php <<'EOF'
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
EOF

Open this URL in your browser:

http://your_server_ip/info.php

Delete the test file after checking it. PHP info pages expose server details and should not stay public.

rm /var/www/html/info.php

Next steps

• Point your domain's A record to the VPS IP address.
• Install a TLS certificate with Certbot or use Caddy as a reverse proxy.
• Create a non-root SSH user and disable password SSH login if you use keys.
• Take a snapshot before major application changes.