Initial server/host/domain setup

[aardappeltje]

Hi,

New to Hestia here. Need some clarification on best practise for the initial setup.

A breakdown of what i did.

• My setup is a Debian12 droplet on digital ocean.
• I took mywebsite.com registered at an external host and changed the nameservers for mywebsite(.)com to digitalocean’s nameservers.
• i added the domain to digital ocean and add an A record for server(.)mywebsite(.)com pointing to my droplet/server IP.
• i added letsencrypt to my subdomain. Its working fine.

So couple of issues for me here, i come from directadmin.

so first i’ve added mywebsite(.)com under a new user account. I like to test email/roundcube, and actually managing dns from hestia. But i need some direction on the initial setup:

• Should i change the admin domainname to mywebsite.com and add the subdomain in dns within hestia to use as hostname?
• If my hestia vps is running on digital ocean, should i (for ease of use) always use digital oceans nameservers? Or should i set Glue records for mywebsite(.)com so i can use my own nameservers within hestia?

Sorry for the long thread, just need some directions from someone who got it running. For me it needs to be as easy as (1) change domainname nameservers (2) add domainname to hestia user (3) be up and running.

Thanks!

[aardappeltje]

im thinking of setting up glue records for mywebsite.com. Not sure how to proceed from there:
→ What changes would be needed to get back on the server again? I have no idea about hestia config files.

[eris]

You have 2 options:

1. Change the admin user package to the default package. And add mail support

or

2. add a new user run v-change-domain-owner domain.com new user

And then v-change-sys-hostname sub.domain.com (Change first in Settings → Security → Enforce subdomain ownership to no …

[aardappeltje]

Alright @eris thanks for replying. Can we take a step back:

DNS & DKIM Questions : Pre-Install Prep

In HESTIA you have to: create NS records ** ns1.domain.tld ** ns2.domain.tld also create A records ** ns1.domain.tld A 123.123.123.123 (IP of your server) ** ns2.domain.tld A 123.123.123.123 (IP of your ns or a different dns server if configured) Then, go to the domain registrar and set: ns1.domain.tld and ns2.domain.tld as the DNS servers for every domain that you use. After that, the world will recognize and use your DNS servers as the true ones. You may check https://dnschecker.org…

here is mentioned to keep the subdomain seperate in the admin account from the main domain.

What i think of doing now, is abandon digital ocean nameservers, change mydomain.com dns with the registrar, where i set my glue records for nameservers and A record. Than simply leave as if. I’ll use 2 dedicated ip’s for the glue records. This seems like the best way to me or am i missing something?

[jlguerrero]

Follow the guide. Don’t fight it.

[aardappeltje]

the guide only deals with the dns domain setup for NS, not what comes before, am new to digital ocean and their one ipv4 address per droplet policy, but figured it all out. Thanks for your responses.

[Bruce27]

It would be great if you could outline your procedure. I have also been puzzling over how to set up a DNS server when I have only one ip address.

[aardappeltje]

A month further just dont get the nameservers to propagate properly.

• I now removed the subdomain from the admin account.
• Used @erin instruction to move the server domainname to the admin account. And ofcourse there’s an A record for subdomain server.mydomainname.com
• Enforce subdomain ownership is set to yes

I’m lost, got a dozen other vps running with several control panels but this one just doesnt pick up my hostname. I’ve set glue records for ns1 and ns2 with 2 ipv4 addresses. The problem lies in hestia.

Any help on where to look next would be nice.

Is the below a requirement? Seems so strange. Does hestia not allow ssl for subdomains within the dns records?:

• subdomain.domain.tld will be under the admin account and hosts only WEB in order to provide you with a valid SSL certificate.
• domain.tld will be under a normal user’s account and under that user’s DNS settings you will configure.

[eris]

Please send me a DM (in Dutch if you want) with your hostname so I can check…

[aardappeltje]

Hey @eris thanks for the quick reply.

So i fixed it, finally

So i had to use command: " 2. add a new user run v-change-domain-owner domain.com new user"

move the domain back to a user package.
eventually deleting and re-adding the subdomain under admin solved it.
Than my hostname main domainname didnt work but somehow i had a cname record in dns, removing that fixed it.

happy hestia user now:)