DEV Community: Samuel Opoku Asare

How To Create A New User And Assign Super User Privileges On Your Ubuntu Server

Samuel Opoku Asare — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 14:50:15 +0000

Whether you are a seasoned developer or a DevOps engineer, setting up a dedicated Ubuntu server is a common task when working with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers. One of the first things you'll need to do is create a new user and grant them superuser privileges. This guide will walk you through the process seamlessly. Before we proceed, ensure that you have already connected to your remote server via SSH.

Creating a New User

To begin, you will need to create a new user. This process is straightforward:

Open your terminal.
Execute the following command:

   sudo adduser [user_name]

Replace [user_name] with your desired username. During this process, the system will prompt you to enter a password and other details such as the full name, room number, and more. Ensure you choose a strong password to maintain server security.

Assigning Superuser Privileges

Once the new user is created, the next step is to grant them superuser privileges. This will allow the user to perform administrative tasks using the sudo command.

Run the following command:

   sudo usermod -aG sudo [user_name]

Again, replace [user_name] with the username you set up previously. This command adds the new user to the sudo group, enabling them to execute commands with elevated privileges.

And that's it—in just a few commands, you have successfully created a new user with superuser privileges on your Ubuntu server. This configuration will empower the user to perform critical tasks while maintaining a secure environment.

Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences. If you want to learn more about similar topics, don't hesitate to check out my other work.

More about the author here.
Cover photo by Tima Miroshnichenko.

Hosting a Rails App on Ubuntu 20.04 with Nginx and Phusion Passenger: A Comprehensive Guide

Samuel Opoku Asare — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 00:40:54 +0000

In today's rapidly evolving software landscape, Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings like Heroku have gained immense popularity for their convenience and ease of use. They allow developers to deploy applications without worrying about the intricacies of server management. However, this convenience often comes at a hefty price, making it a less attractive option for developers and small businesses operating on a tight budget.

For those who prefer to maintain complete control over their application stack and want to avoid recurring PaaS costs, hosting a Rails app on a dedicated server remains a viable and cost-effective solution. Yet, finding reliable resources that guide you through the manual setup process can be daunting. This guide is designed for users who are ready to roll up their sleeves and dive into the intricacies of server management, bypassing the need for pricey service fees that come with PaaS. If you're someone who isn't afraid of getting your hands dirty and want to deploy a Rails app manually using Nginx and Phusion Passenger on Ubuntu 20.04, this detailed walkthrough is just what you need.

Step-by-Step Guide to Host Your Rails App on Ubuntu

1. Update System Packages

Start by ensuring your system is up-to-date. This is crucial for security and stability.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install RVM and Ruby

Ruby Version Manager (RVM) is essential for managing Ruby installations and gemsets efficiently.

sudo apt install curl gpg
curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
source ~/.rvm/scripts/rvm
rvm install ruby
rvm use ruby --default

3. Install Rails

Once Ruby is installed, proceed to install Rails, the framework used to build your application.

gem install rails

4. Install Node.js and Yarn

Rails requires a JavaScript runtime like Node.js for its asset pipeline, and Yarn helps in managing JavaScript dependencies.

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
npm install --global yarn

5. Install MySQL (or Your Preferred Database)

Set up the database system of your choice; MySQL is used here for demonstration.

sudo apt install mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev

6. Install and Configure Nginx

Nginx will serve your Rails application to the web, providing fast and efficient delivery.

sudo apt install nginx

7. Install Passenger

Phusion Passenger is an application server that integrates seamlessly with Nginx to handle Ruby applications.

sudo apt install dirmngr gnupg
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 95C1DD26C60FA986 4B2C1C7E1088DA93
sudo sh -c 'echo deb https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger focal main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/passenger.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libnginx-mod-http-passenger

Configuring Nginx and Passenger

Edit your Nginx configuration to enable Passenger:

Open Nginx's main configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf and uncomment the following line:

   include /etc/nginx/passenger.conf;

Create a server block for your Rails application in /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_app_name.conf:

   server {
     listen 80;
     server_name your_domain_or_IP;
     root /path/to/your/app/public;
     passenger_enabled on;
     passenger_ruby /usr/share/rvm/rubies/ruby-x.y.z/bin/ruby; # Update to your Ruby version
   }

Enable the site by creating a symbolic link:

   sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_app_name.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
   sudo nginx -t
   sudo systemctl restart nginx

SSL with Certbot

Secure your site with SSL using Certbot, which automates the process of obtaining and renewing SSL certificates.

sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx

Conclusion

By following these steps, you bypass the high costs associated with PaaS solutions and gain complete control over your Rails application's deployment. This approach might require a bit more effort, but the freedom and cost savings are well worth it. If full ownership of your server environment sounds appealing, this guide empowers you to host your Rails app with confidence. Enjoy the flexibility and financial freedom that come with self-hosting your applications!``

Adding Custom Fonts In Expo React-Native.

Samuel Opoku Asare — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 04:19:47 +0000

Introduction

If you are a beginner to expo react-native there are a lot of things you might find very difficult doing and not to talk about unavailability of resources to help. These problems may include how to use custom fonts in your project.
Do not worry. Here, I will try my very best to teach you the easiest way to do so.
Expo by default supports all google fonts. You didn't pick your custom fonts from there? Well, there's still a way to use them in your projects. Let's learn how.

Prerequisites

A fair knowledge of react-native.
A simple react native setup.

Adding Google Fonts

Install the font package by using the syntax 'expo install @expo-google-fonts/{name_of_font}'. In this example I will be using the montseratt font. So we can install with the command expo install @expo-google-fonts/montserrat.
The code below demonstrates how you should add the font you just downloaded to your project.

import React from 'react'
import { Text, StyleSheet, View } from 'react-native'
import {useFonts, Montserrat_400Regular} from '@expo-google-fonts/montserrat'

export default function ExpoCustomFonts() {

    const [fontsLoaded] = useFonts({
        Montserrat_400Regular
    })

    if(!fontsLoaded){

        return null

    }else{

        return (
            <View style={styles.container}>

                <Text style={styles.text}>
                    Hello react native
                </Text>

            </View>
        )

    }

}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
    container: {
        flex: 1,
        backgroundColor: '#fff',
        alignItems: 'center',
        justifyContent: 'center',
    },
    text: {
        fontSize: 32,
        fontFamily: 'Montserrat_400Regular', 
        color: "#1DA1F2",
    }
})

What's happening in the code?

From line 1 to line 3 we import all the resources needed for this project.
In line 3, we import two things, the font style we want to use and a very important hook, the useFonts hook, I will soon explain what this hook does. For now lets proceed.
In line 5, we declare and export the component ExpoCustomFonts.
Line 7 to line 9 is where all the fun begins, here we tell react-native to load our montseratt font. We do this by using the react hook; useFonts. Its job is to load a map of fonts and return the boolean true if it does so successfully or an error if it doesn't. We save the return value in the constant fontsLoaded.
Finally, we check if our font was loaded successfully. If yes, we return a component containing the text styled with the montserrat font. If not, we return null. Certainly, this is not advisable in real world. In the real world, you would want to return a component which has not been styled with the custom font. This way, you indirectly tell react-native to use the default fonts provided on whichever platform your application will run on.

Adding any other font

The steps in doing so is quite similar to what we did with the google fonts. Only in this case you direct react-native to where in the project structure you have fonts saved. By convention and good practice's sake, you should save your fonts in 'assets/fonts' directory.
The implementation is demonstrated below;

import * as React from 'react';
import { View, Text, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import { useFonts } from 'expo-font';

export default function App() {
  const [loaded] = useFonts({
    Montserrat: require('./assets/fonts/Montserrat.ttf'),
  });

  if (!loaded) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text style={styles.text}
      >Montserrat</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
    container: {
        flex: 1,
        backgroundColor: '#fff',
        alignItems: 'center',
        justifyContent: 'center',
    },
    text: {
        fontSize: 30,
        fontFamily: 'Montserrat', 
        color: "#1DA1F2",
    }
})

Conclusion

So that's pretty much it. I hope you find this useful and not hesitate to share. Please drop a like if this was useful and helped you solve a problem. Thank you😊.