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Infrastructure & Hosting
Tech Stack & Hosting
Stop renting infrastructure you don't understand. Learn exactly how servers, hosting, domains, Linux, and databases work — then deploy a real PHP application live on your own VPS. Walk in with a laptop, walk out with a hardened VPS serving HTTPS. Includes 10 live server labs and South African hosting context.
Course Curriculum
Navigating the filesystem: ls, cd, pwd, find
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Reading and editing files: cat, nano, vim basics
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Permissions, ownership, chmod and chown
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Process management: ps, top, kill, systemctl
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Package management with apt: install, upgrade, remove
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Module 2 Lab: Set up the server directory structure
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Installing Apache and understanding its directory layout
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Virtual hosts: serving multiple sites from one server
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mod_rewrite and .htaccess: URL routing and redirects
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Reading Apache access and error logs
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Module 3 Lab: Host two separate sites on one VPS
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Nginx vs Apache: when to use which
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Nginx server blocks and proxy configuration
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Using Nginx as a reverse proxy in front of Apache
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Module 4 Lab: Switch your server to Nginx
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Installing and securing MariaDB
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Creating databases, users, and granting permissions
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Importing and exporting SQL dumps
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Connecting PHP to MariaDB with PDO
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Module 5 Lab: Create a database for your PHP app
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DNS records explained: A, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS
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Pointing a domain to your VPS IP
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Subdomains and wildcard DNS
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Let's Encrypt with Certbot — free SSL in 5 minutes
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Module 6 Lab: Your domain live on HTTPS
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Installing PHP 8.x and required extensions
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php.ini tuning: error reporting, upload limits, memory
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PHP-FPM and why it matters for performance
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Module 7 Lab: Deploy your first PHP app to production
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UFW firewall: allow only what you need
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fail2ban: auto-ban brute-force attackers
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Blocking scanners and bots in Apache / Nginx
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Security headers: HSTS, X-Frame-Options, CSP basics
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Module 8 Lab: Run a basic vulnerability scan on your server
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Crontab syntax and scheduling tasks
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Reading and rotating logs with logrotate
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Simple uptime monitoring with cURL pings
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Module 9 Lab: Add automated DB backups on a schedule
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Deployment checklist — the 20-point production readiness check
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Environment variables and .env file management
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Zero-downtime deploys with file swap strategy
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Rollback strategy when things go wrong
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Capstone Lab: Full deployment of a PHP CRUD application
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