The web server was set up using technologies like Nginx, Flask, and uWSGI. All of this process was completed on Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS.

• Install 🔧
• Usage ✔️
• Structure 🏗️
• Integration Cloudflare 🌐

• Download the ISO for Ubuntu Server from the official website at Ubuntu.
• We used VirtualBox to create the simulation, but you can download and install it as needed.
• Once all the required programs are installed on your computer, proceed with the next step.
• Configure the ISO and, in the final step, set your network interface to "Bridge adapter" to make the VM act like a PC on your LAN.
• Complete the installation and configuration of the Ubuntu Server VM and verify that everything is working correctly.
• As a server, we will set a static IP address. We will see how to do that at the end.

sudo apt update && apt install nginx -y
# Next, install the required Python dependencies to create and run your Flask application:
sudo apt install -y python3 python3-venv python3-pip

• First, create a directory for your project and navigate into it:

mkdir -p /var/www/myflaskapp

Then, create and activate a Python virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Next, install Flask (the web framework) and uWSGI (the service for running Flask with Nginx):

pip install flask uwsgi

• Create a new Python file for your Flask application app.py:

nano /var/www/myflaskapp/app.py

from flask import Flask, render_template
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route("/")
def home():
 return render_template("index.html")
if __name__ == "__main__":
 app.run()

• First, create the necessary directories for your project:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/myflaskapp/templates
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/myflaskapp/static/css
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/myflaskapp/static/js
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/myflaskapp/static/img

nano /var/www/myflaskapp/wsgi.py

from app import app
if __name__ == "__main__":
 app.run()

The wsgi.py file is used by uWSGI to serve your Flask application in production, and it's necessary for the proper deployment setup.

• First, create a new systemd service file for your application (myweb.service):

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/uwsgi.service

[Unit]
Description=uWSGI service for myflaskapp
After=network.target
[Service]
User=trexcodes
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/myflaskapp
ExecStart=/var/www/myflaskapp/venv/bin/uwsgi --ini /var/www/myflaskapp/uwsgi.ini
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

To enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable myweb.service
sudo systemctl start myweb.service

Services

• create a new Nginx configuration file for your application

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

server {
 listen 80;
 listen [::]:80;
 # Domain name for your application (replace with your actual domain)
 server_name trexcodes.cloud; # Replace with your actual domain
 # Route to serve static files
 location /static/ {
 alias /var/www/myflaskapp/static/; # Path to the static folder
 }
 # Route to serve the Flask application through uWSGI
 location / {
 include uwsgi_params;
 uwsgi_pass unix:/var/www/myflaskapp/myflaskapp.sock; # Path to the socket created by uWSGI
 }
 # Error and access logs
 error_log /var/log/nginx/myflaskapp_error.log;
 access_log /var/log/nginx/myflaskapp_access.log;
}

After creating the configuration file, create a symbolic link to enable it:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/myflaskapp /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t # Verifies if there are errors in the configuration
sudo systemctl restart nginx

This will set up Nginx as a reverse proxy to forward requests to the uWSGI server running your Flask application.

• Then, add the following configuration to the uwsgi.ini file:

nano /var/www/myflaskapp/uwsgi.ini

[uwsgi]
module = wsgi:app
master = true
processes = 4
socket = /var/www/myflaskapp/myflaskapp.sock
chmod-socket = 660
vacuum = true
die-on-term = true
virtualenv = /var/www/myflaskapp/venv

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Once you've edited and saved the file, uWSGI will use this configuration when it starts.

• Once the myflaskapp.service file is configured, reload the systemd manager to recognize the new service:
  • Start the myflaskapp service
  • Enable the service to start automatically on boot
  • Check the status of the myflaskapp service to ensure it's running correctly

sudo systemctl start miweb
sudo systemctl enable miweb
sudo systemctl status miweb

• ❗❗ If you make any changes or edits to the configuration files, you need to restart both Nginx and the uWSGI service to apply the new parameters. Use the following commands ❗❗

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart miweb

Website deployment on IP address

The project is organized as follows:

📂 /var/www/myflaskapp
├── 📜 app.py
├── 📜 myflaskapp.sock
├── 📂 static
│ ├── 📂 css
│ │ └── 📜 styles.css # Styles file
│ ├── 📂 img
│ │ └── 📜 logo.png # Example image
│ └── 📂 js
│ └── 📜 script.js # Script file
├── 📂 templates
│ └── 📜 index.html
├── 📜 uwsgi.ini
├── 📂 venv
│ ├── 📂 bin
│ ├── 📂 include
│ ├── 📂 lib
│ ├── 📂 lib64 -> lib
│ └── 📜 pyvenv.cfg
└── 📜 wsgi.py
📂 /etc/nginx
├── 📂 sites-available
│ └── 📜 miweb # Nginx config for the site
├── 📂 sites-enabled
│ └── 📜 miweb # Symbolic link to the config
└── 📂 systemd
 └── 📜 miweb.service # Systemd service for uWSGI

• app.py: Contains the main Flask application logic.
• wsgi.py: The entry point for uWSGI.
• uwsgi.ini: uWSGI configuration file.
• venv/: Python virtual environment for isolated dependencies.
• templates/: Directory for HTML templates.
• static/: Directory for static assets like CSS, JavaScript, and images.
• logs/: Folder for log files (optional).
• /etc/nginx/sites-available/: Contains Nginx configuration for the site.
• /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/: Symbolic link for the Nginx configuration.
• /etc/systemd/system/: Contains the systemd service configuration for uWSGI.

<<<<<<< HEAD

We used Cloudflare Named Tunnel 🔒 to securely expose our local web server (http://localhost:80) to the internet without opening firewall ports or directly exposing the server's public IP.

A custom domain (trexcodes.cloud) was registered via Hostinger , which was later added to Cloudflare . This allowed us to route external traffic to our internal application using a secure and reliable connection.

We used the persistent tunnel method (cloudflared tunnel create) and configured it as a systemd service , ensuring the tunnel runs continuously and starts automatically on server boot.

• Download and install cloudflared

======= Structure General

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wget -O cloudflared.deb https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cloudflared.deb

• Authenticate cloudflared with your Cloudflare account

  cloudflared tunnel login

• Create the tunnel (give it a name, eg., "TunnelNetwork")

  cloudflared tunnel create TunnelNetwork
  

• Create the configuration file

  This will generate a tunnel ID and credentials file inside ~/.cloudflared/

  sudo nano /etc/cloudflared/config.yml
  

  tunnel: TunnelNetwork
  credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<TUNNEL_ID>.json
  ingress:
   - hostname: trexcodes.cloud
   service: http://localhost:80
   - service: http_status:404
  

• Create systemd service to run the tunnel on boot

  sudo cloudflared service install
  

• Start and enable the tunnel service

sudo systemctl start cloudflared
sudo systemctl enable cloudflared

• Add your domain to Cloudflare:

  • Go to Cloudflare Dashboard and click "Add a Site".
  • Enter your domain (e.g. trexcodes.cloud).
  • Select the Free plan or another plan that fits your needs.

• Update your domain’s nameservers:

  • Cloudflare will provide two nameservers (e.g., mark.ns.cloudflare.com, june.ns.cloudflare.com).
  • Log in to your domain registrar and replace the current nameservers with the ones provided by Cloudflare.

• Configure DNS records:

  • In the DNS tab of your Cloudflare dashboard:

    • Make sure you have an A record like this:

      Type: A
      Name: @
      Value: <YOUR_SERVER_PUBLIC_IP>
      Proxy status: Proxied (orange cloud)
      

    • Optionally, add a www CNAME pointing to @ if you want to support www.trexcodes.cloud.

• Verify setup

  • Once DNS has propagated (can take a few minutes to a few hours), access your site via:

    https://trexcodes.cloud
    

    Status Tunnel CloudFlared

  • Your traffic is now routed securely through Clouflare.