static site server

Summary

This document includes the complete steps followed to complete the Static Site Server project: creation and configuration of a Linux server (Ubuntu Server in VirtualBox), SSH connection, installation and configuration of Nginx to serve a static site, deployment with rsync from the host machine, and troubleshooting of errors encountered. It includes commands, configuration files, and a troubleshooting section with the actual outputs used as evidence.

Environment and Requirements

• Host machine: Windows (without WSL2, using Git Bash).
• VirtualBox: machine with Ubuntu Server 24.04.3 LTS installed (OpenSSH selected during installation).
• Network in VirtualBox: Bridged Adapter so the VM gets a local IP.
• IP assigned to VM: 192.168.1.148 (checked with ip a).
• User on VM: user.
• Source repository of the site: https://github.com/mohamedkamil-hub/gh-deployment-workflow (cloned as mi-sitio).

Project Objectives

1. Register and set up a Linux server (here in VirtualBox).
2. Ensure access via SSH.
3. Install and configure Nginx to serve a static site.
4. Create or clone the static site (HTML/CSS/images).
5. Use rsync to sync local files to /var/www/misitio on the server.
6. Automate deployment with a deploy.sh script.
7. Document and troubleshoot errors encountered.

Steps Performed (commands and actions)

1) VM Preparation (VirtualBox)

• Created Ubuntu Server VM, activated OpenSSH during installation.
• Configured network in Bridged mode to get a local IP.

Check VM IP:

ip a
# relevant output: IPv4 address for enp0s17: 192.168.1.148

2) SSH Connection from Host (Windows → Git Bash)

Tested connection:

ssh user@192.168.1.148

Sample output:

Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 6.8.0-85-generic x86_64)
...
IPv4 address for enp0s17: 192.168.1.148

Note: WSL2 was not used because Hyper-V and the hypervisor were disabled for VirtualBox compatibility. Git Bash was used instead.

3) Install and enable Nginx (on VM)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nginx
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Test in browser (host): http://192.168.1.148 — initially showed the default Nginx page.

4) Prepare destination folder and permissions

Using /var/www/misitio:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/misitio
sudo chown -R user:user /var/www/misitio
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/misitio

5) Clone site repository (on VM or local)

On VM:

git clone https://github.com/mohamedkamil-hub/gh-deployment-workflow.git mi-sitio

Sample output:

Cloning into 'mi-sitio'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 116, done.
Receiving objects: 100% (116/116), 18.31 KiB | 191.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (28/28), done.

Alternative: clone on host machine and use rsync from there.

6) Deploy with rsync (from machine with mi-sitio)

Command used:

rsync -avz ./mi-sitio/ user@192.168.1.148:/var/www/misitio

Sample output after fixing permissions:

sending incremental file list
./
.nojekyll
README.md
index.html
site/
site/styles.css

sent 35.631 bytes  received 738 bytes  8.082,00 bytes/sec
total size is 52.367  speedup is 1,44

7) Nginx configuration to serve /var/www/misitio

File /etc/nginx/sites-available/misitio:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name _;
    root /var/www/misitio;
    index index.html;
}

Enable and reload:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/misitio /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ 2>/dev/null || true
sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

8) Final verification

• Listing final content in /var/www/misitio:

total 28
drwxrwxr-x 5 user user 4096 oct 12 08:12 .
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user  335 oct 12 08:12 index.html
...

• Browser access: http://192.168.1.148 — should now display index.html from the repo.

deploy.sh (final script)

Save on the machine from where deployment occurs (e.g., Git Bash on host):

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# deploy.sh - sync mi-sitio -> /var/www/misitio on VM
REMOTE_USER="user"
REMOTE_HOST="192.168.1.148"
REMOTE_DIR="/var/www/misitio"

set -e

echo "Deploying site/ -> ${REMOTE_USER}@${REMOTE_HOST}:${REMOTE_DIR}"
rsync -avz ./mi-sitio/ ${REMOTE_USER}@${REMOTE_HOST}:${REMOTE_DIR}/
echo "Deployment completed."

Make executable:

chmod +x deploy.sh

Run:

./deploy.sh

Optional: use a specific SSH key: rsync -avz -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519" ./mi-sitio/ user@192.168.1.148:/var/www/misitio/

Errors Encountered and Troubleshooting

1) WSL error: HCS_E_SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE

Message:

The operation could not be started because a required feature is not installed.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/HCS/HCS_E_SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE

Cause: Hyper-V and the hypervisor were disabled for VirtualBox. WSL2 requires Hyper-V.

Solution:

• Use Git Bash instead for rsync and SSH.

2) rsync: No such file or directory

Message:

rsync: [sender] change_dir "/home/user/./mi-sitio" failed: No such file or directory (2)

Cause: rsync was run from a directory that did not contain ./mi-sitio/.

Solution: clone or create mi-sitio before running rsync.

3) rsync Permission denied / code 23

Messages:

rsync: [generator] chgrp "/var/www/misitio/." failed: Operation not permitted (1)
rsync: [generator] recv_generator: mkdir "/var/www/misitio/.git" failed: Permission denied (13)
rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred ... (code 23)

Cause: user did not have write permissions on /var/www/misitio.

Solution:

sudo chown -R user:user /var/www/misitio
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/misitio

Alternative: use rsync --rsync-path="sudo rsync".

4) Nginx shows default page

Symptom: opening http://192.168.1.148 shows Welcome to nginx! instead of repo content.

Solution:

1. Ensure files are in /var/www/misitio.
2. Enable site configuration and remove default: ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/misitio /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ and `rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/misitio