Full-Stack VPS Deployment Commands – FastAPI, Next.js & PM2

VPS & System Management
Directory & File Management
Nginx Management
SSL Management
Git & GitHub Commands
PostgreSQL Management
FastAPI Server Management
Next.js Management
PM2 Management
Networking & Ports
Backup & Recovery
Emergency & Debugging

VPS & System Management

Check current user:

whoami

Check current directory:

pwd

Connect to server:

ssh username@server_ip

Connect using SSH key:

ssh -i /path/to/private_key username@server_ip

Copy file to server:

scp file.txt username@server_ip:/path/to/destination

2. System Updates & Package Management

Update package list:

sudo apt update

Upgrade installed packages:

sudo apt upgrade -y

Full upgrade:

sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Install package:

sudo apt install package_name

Remove package:

sudo apt remove package_name

List installed packages:

dpkg -l

3. User Management

Create new user:

sudo adduser username

Add user to sudo group:

sudo usermod -aG sudo username

Switch user:

su - username

List users:

cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd

4. Service Management (systemctl)

Check service status:

systemctl status service_name

Start service:

sudo systemctl start service_name

Stop service:

sudo systemctl stop service_name

Restart service:

sudo systemctl restart service_name

Reload service:

sudo systemctl reload service_name

Enable on boot:

sudo systemctl enable service_name

Disable on boot:

sudo systemctl disable service_name

List running services:

systemctl list-units --type=service

5. Process Management

Show running processes:

ps aux

Interactive process viewer:

top

If installed:

htop

Kill process by PID:

kill PID

Force kill:

kill -9 PID

Find process by name:

ps aux | grep process_name

6. System Monitoring (CPU, RAM, Disk)

Check memory:

free -m

Check disk usage:

df -h

Check folder size:

du -sh folder_name

Check uptime:

uptime

7. Firewall (UFW)

Check firewall status:

sudo ufw status

Enable firewall:

sudo ufw enable

Allow port:

sudo ufw allow 8000

Allow specific service:

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

Delete rule:

sudo ufw delete allow 8000

View environment variables:

printenv

Temporary variable:

export VARIABLE_NAME=value

Edit global environment:

sudo nano /etc/environment

Reload bash:

source ~/.bashrc

9. Cron Jobs

Edit cron jobs:

crontab -e

List cron jobs:

crontab -l

10. Time & Timezone

Check current time:

date

Check timezone:

timedatectl

Set timezone:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Karachi

11. Reboot & Shutdown

Reboot server:

sudo reboot

Shutdown server:

sudo shutdown now

Schedule shutdown:

sudo shutdown +10

Directory & File Management

Print current directory:

pwd

Change directory:

cd /path/to/directory

Go back one directory:

cd ..

Go to home directory:

cd ~

List directory tree (if tree installed):

tree

2. Listing Files

List files in current directory:

ls

Long listing with permissions, owner, size:

ls -l

Include hidden files:

ls -a

Human-readable sizes:

ls -lh

Full listing (long + hidden):

ls -lah

3. Creating Files & Folders

Create a new directory:

mkdir folder_name

Create nested directories:

mkdir -p parent/child/grandchild

Create an empty file:

touch file_name

Create file with content:

echo "Hello World" > file_name

4. Copy, Move, Rename

Copy file:

cp source_file destination_file

Copy directory recursively:

cp -r source_folder destination_folder

Move / rename file or folder:

mv old_name new_name

5. Delete Operations

Delete file:

rm file_name

Delete directory recursively:

rm -r folder_name

Force delete without prompt:

rm -rf folder_name_or_file

6. File Permissions

View file permissions:

ls -l

Change permissions:

chmod 755 file_name

Change owner:

sudo chown user:group file_name

Change recursively:

sudo chown -R user:group folder_name

7. File Compression & Archiving

Compress folder to tar.gz:

tar -czvf archive_name.tar.gz folder_name

Extract tar.gz:

tar -xzvf archive_name.tar.gz

Zip a folder:

zip -r archive_name.zip folder_name

Unzip:

unzip archive_name.zip

8. File Search

Find files by name:

find /path -name "file_name"

Search inside files:

grep "search_text" file_name

grep -r "search_text" /path/to/folder

grep -r "search_text" /path/to/folder

9. Viewing File Content

View file:

cat file_name

View with paging:

less file_name

Scroll forward/backward:

more file_name

Tail last lines:

tail file_name

Follow log file:

tail -f file_name

Head first lines:

head file_name

10. Disk Usage & Storage

Check disk usage for file/folder:

du -sh folder_name

Check all folder sizes in current directory:

du -sh *

Check free disk space:

df -h

Nginx Management

1. Install & Remove Nginx

Install Nginx:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y

Remove Nginx:

sudo apt remove nginx -y

Purge Nginx completely (config + data):

sudo apt purge nginx -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

2. Start, Stop, Restart

Start Nginx:

sudo systemctl start nginx

Stop Nginx:

sudo systemctl stop nginx

Restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Reload Nginx (keep running connections):

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Enable Nginx on boot:

sudo systemctl enable nginx

Disable Nginx on boot:

sudo systemctl disable nginx

Check Nginx status:

systemctl status nginx

3. Configuration Files

Nginx main config file:

/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Default server block:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Available sites directory:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/

Enabled sites directory:

/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Test configuration syntax:

sudo nginx -t

Reload after changes:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

4. Virtual Hosts / Server Blocks

Create a new server block:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

Enable site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Disable site:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example.com

Test new configuration:

sudo nginx -t

Reload Nginx to apply changes:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

5. Reverse Proxy Setup (FastAPI / Next.js)

Example for FastAPI on port 8000:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
 
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

For Next.js on port 3000:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
 
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

6. Testing Configuration

Test syntax before reload:

sudo nginx -t

Check Nginx version:

nginx -v

Check which ports Nginx is listening on:

sudo lsof -i :80
sudo lsof -i :443

7. Nginx Logs

Access logs:

tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

Error logs:

tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Check logs for a specific site:

tail -f /var/log/nginx/example.com-error.log

8. Common Nginx Errors & Fixes

502 Bad Gateway:

# Check backend service
sudo systemctl status fastapi_service_name
sudo systemctl restart fastapi_service_name

Port conflicts:

sudo lsof -i :80
sudo lsof -i :443

Permission denied errors:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/example.com

SSL Management

1. Install Certbot

Update package list:

sudo apt update

Install Certbot and Nginx plugin:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Check Certbot version:

certbot --version

2. Generate SSL Certificate

Automatic SSL for Nginx:

sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

Manual SSL (if needed):

sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

Check the generated certificate files:

ls /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/

3. Auto Renewal

Check auto-renewal status:

sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

Test renewal manually:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Renew all certificates:

sudo certbot renew

4. Test SSL

Check SSL on your server:

sudo nginx -t

Check certificate expiration:

sudo certbot certificates

Test using curl:

curl -Ik https://example.com

5. Remove / Revoke Certificate

Revoke certificate:

sudo certbot revoke --cert-path /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem

Delete certificate completely:

sudo certbot delete --cert-name example.com

6. Force HTTPS Redirect

Edit Nginx server block:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

7. Troubleshooting SSL

Certificate not found:

sudo ls /etc/letsencrypt/live/

Port 443 blocked:

sudo ufw allow 443
sudo ufw status

Renewal failed:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Browser shows old certificate:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Git & GitHub Commands

1. Repository Setup

Initialize a new Git repository:

git init

**Clone an existing repository:

git clone git@github.com:username/repository.git

Set global username and email:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Check configuration:

git config --list

2. SSH Key Setup (GitHub)

Generate SSH key:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"

Check existing SSH keys:

ls ~/.ssh

Copy public key to clipboard (Ubuntu):

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Add SSH key to GitHub via web UI. Test connection:

ssh -T git@github.com

3. Basic Workflow (Add, Commit, Push)

Check status:

git status

Add changes:

git add file_name

Add all changes:

git add .

Commit changes:

git commit -m "Commit message"

Push to remote:

git push origin main

Pull latest changes:

git pull origin main

4. Branch Management

Create a new branch:

git checkout -b branch_name

Switch branches:

git checkout branch_name

Merge branch into current:

git merge branch_name

Delete a branch locally:

git branch -d branch_name

Delete a branch remotely:

git push origin --delete branch_name

5. Stash Changes

Stash current changes:

git stash

List stashes:

git stash list

Apply stash:

git stash apply

Drop a stash:

git stash drop

6. Reset & Revert

Reset staged changes:

git reset file_name

Reset to previous commit (soft):

git reset --soft HEAD~1

Reset to previous commit (hard):

git reset --hard HEAD~1

Revert a commit:

git revert commit_hash

7. Logs & History

Show commit history:

git log

Compact log:

git log --oneline

Graphical log:

git log --oneline --graph --all

Show changes for a file:

git diff file_name

8. Submodules (Optional)

Add submodule:

git submodule add git@github.com:username/repo.git path/to/submodule

Update submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

9. Deployment Workflow (Practical)

Pull latest changes on server:

cd /var/www/project
git fetch --all
git reset --hard origin/main

Check status:

git status

Restart service after pull (FastAPI example):

sudo systemctl restart fastapi_service

10. Common Issues & Fixes

Permission denied (SSH):

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Merge conflicts:

# Resolve manually, then:
git add file_name
git commit -m "Resolved conflict"

Detached HEAD:

git checkout main

PostgreSQL Management

1. Install PostgreSQL

Update packages:

sudo apt update

Install PostgreSQL and contrib package:

sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib -y

Check PostgreSQL version:

psql --version

Start PostgreSQL service:

sudo systemctl start postgresql

Enable PostgreSQL on boot:

sudo systemctl enable postgresql

Check service status:

sudo systemctl status postgresql

Switch to postgres user:

sudo -i -u postgres

Enter PostgreSQL shell:

psql

Exit PostgreSQL shell:

\q

3. Database Operations

List all databases:

\l

Create a new database:

CREATE DATABASE database_name;

Connect to a database:

\c database_name

Drop a database:

DROP DATABASE database_name;

4. User & Role Management

List all users:

\du

Create a new user:

CREATE USER username WITH PASSWORD 'password';

Grant privileges:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE database_name TO username;

Modify user:

ALTER USER username WITH PASSWORD 'new_password';

Delete user:

DROP USER username;

5. Table Operations

List tables in current database:

\dt

Create table:

CREATE TABLE users (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(50),
    email VARCHAR(100) UNIQUE,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Insert data:

INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ('Usama', 'usama@example.com');

Query data:

SELECT * FROM users;

Update data*

UPDATE users SET email='newemail@example.com' WHERE id=1;

Delete data:

DELETE FROM users WHERE id=1;

Drop table:

DROP TABLE users;

6. Query Monitoring

Show running queries

SELECT pid, query, state, usename, client_addr FROM pg_stat_activity;

Terminate a query:

SELECT pg_terminate_backend(PID);

Check database size:

SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_database_size('database_name'));

7. Backup & Restore

Backup database:

pg_dump database_name > backup_file.sql

Backup with compression:

pg_dump database_name | gzip > backup_file.sql.gz

Restore database:

psql database_name < backup_file.sql

Restore compressed backup:

gunzip -c backup_file.sql.gz | psql database_name

8. Remote Access

Edit PostgreSQL config:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/14/main/postgresql.conf
# Set listen_addresses = '*'

Allow remote connections in pg_hba.conf:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/14/main/pg_hba.conf
# Add: host all all 0.0.0.0/0 md5

Restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Test remote connection:

psql -h server_ip -U username -d database_name

9. Performance Checking

Check indexes:

\d table_name

Explain query plan:

EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE id=1;

Check active connections:

SELECT count(*) FROM pg_stat_activity;

10. PostgreSQL Logs

Default log location:

/var/log/postgresql/postgresql-14-main.log

Tail logs:

tail -f /var/log/postgresql/postgresql-14-main.log

Search for errors:

grep ERROR /var/log/postgresql/postgresql-14-main.log

FastAPI Server Management

1. Install Dependencies

Install Python and pip:

sudo apt install python3 python3-pip -y

2. Virtual Environment

Create virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv

Activate virtual environment:

source venv/bin/activate

Deactivate:

deactivate

Install requirements from file:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Freeze dependencies:

pip freeze > requirements.txt

3. Run Development Server

Run FastAPI with Uvicorn:

uvicorn main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

4. Production Server (Uvicorn / Gunicorn)

Run with Uvicorn workers:

uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --workers 4

Run with Gunicorn + Uvicorn workers:

gunicorn main:app -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker -b 0.0.0.0:8000

5. systemd Service Setup

Create service file:

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

Example service file:

[Unit]
Description=FastAPI Service
After=network.target
 
[Service]
User=youruser
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/fastapi_app
ExecStart=/var/www/fastapi_app/venv/bin/uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
Restart=always
 
[Install]

Reload systemd:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Start service:

sudo systemctl start fastapi

Enable on boot:

sudo systemctl enable fastapi

Check status:

sudo systemctl status fastapi

Restart service:

sudo systemctl restart fastapi

6. Environment Variables

Example content:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost/dbname
SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key
DEBUG=True

Load environment variables in Python:

from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os
 
load_dotenv()
database_url = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL")

Reload after changes:

source ~/.bashrc

7. Logs & Debugging

View systemd logs for FastAPI:

journalctl -u fastapi.service -f

Check Uvicorn logs:

tail -f /var/www/fastapi_app/uvicorn.log

8. CORS Issues

Enable CORS in FastAPI:

from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
 
app.add_middleware(
    CORSMiddleware,
    allow_origins=["*"],
    allow_methods=["*"],
    allow_headers=["*"],
)

9. Port Conflicts

Check processes using port 8000:

sudo lsof -i :8000

Kill process:

kill -9 PID

Restart Strategy

Restart manually:

sudo systemctl restart fastapi

Restart after pull:

git pull origin main
sudo systemctl restart fastapi

Reload on config change:

sudo systemctl reload fastapi

Next.js Management

Install Dependencies

Update packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Node.js and npm:

sudo apt install nodejs npm -y

Check versions:

node -v
npm -v

Create New Project

Using create-next-app:

npx create-next-app@latest my-nextjs-app

Navigate to project folder:

cd my-nextjs-app

Install additional dependencies (optional):

npm install axios dotenv

Run Development Server

Start dev server:

npm run dev

Access locally:

http://localhost:3000

Custom port:

PORT=4000 npm run dev

Build and Start Production Server

Build project:

npm run build

Start production server:

npm start

Custom host/port:

HOST=0.0.0.0 PORT=5000 npm start

Environment Variables

Create .env.local file:

nano .env.local

Example content:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.example.com
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost/dbname

Access variables in code:

const apiUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL;

Deployment with PM2

Install PM2 globally:

npm install -g pm2

Start Next.js app with PM2:

pm run build
pm run start &
pm2 start npm --name my-nextjs-app -- start

List PM2 processes:

pm2 list

Restart app:

pm2 restart my-nextjs-app

Stop app:

pm2 stop my-nextjs-app

Save PM2 process list:

pm2 save

Logs & Debugging

View PM2 logs:

pm2 logs my-nextjs-app

Check error logs:

pm2 logs my-nextjs-app --lines 100

Tail server logs manually:

tail -f .next/server/logs/*.log

Common Issues & Fixes

Port already in use:

sudo lsof -i :3000
kill -9 PID

Dependencies issues:

rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

Next.js build errors:

npm run build --clean

PM2 Management

Install PM2

Install PM2 globally:

npm install -g pm2

Check PM2 version:

pm2 -v

Update PM2 to latest version:

pm install pm2@latest -g

Start Application

Start a Node.js app:

pm2 start app.js --name my-app

Start a Next.js app:

pm run build
pm2 start npm --name my-nextjs-app -- start

Start with custom environment variables:

pm2 start app.js --name my-app --env production

Start multiple apps:

pm2 start app1.js --name app1
pm2 start app2.js --name app2

Manage Applications

List all PM2 processes:

pm2 list

Stop an app:

pm2 stop my-app

Restart an app:

pm2 restart my-app

Delete an app from PM2:

pm2 delete my-app

Reload app (zero downtime):

pm2 reload my-app

Monitor Applications

Live monitoring:

pm2 monit

Show app details:

pm2 describe my-app

Check resource usage:

pm2 list

Logs Management

View logs:

pm2 logs my-app

Tail last N lines:

pm2 logs my-app --lines 100

Clear logs:

pm2 flush

Save logs to file manually:

pm2 logs my-app > app.log

Auto Start on Reboot

Generate startup script:

pm2 startup

Save current process list:

pm2 save

Check startup script:

pm2 list

Common Issues & Fixes

App not starting:

pm2 logs my-app

Port conflicts:

sudo lsof -i :PORT
kill -9 PID

Dependencies missing:

rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

PM2 not running on reboot:

pm2 save
pm2 startup

Table of Contents

VPS & System Management

1. Server Login & SSH

2. System Updates & Package Management

3. User Management

4. Service Management (systemctl)

5. Process Management

6. System Monitoring (CPU, RAM, Disk)

7. Firewall (UFW)

9. Cron Jobs

10. Time & Timezone

11. Reboot & Shutdown

Directory & File Management

1. Navigation

2. Listing Files

3. Creating Files & Folders

4. Copy, Move, Rename

5. Delete Operations

6. File Permissions

7. File Compression & Archiving

8. File Search

9. Viewing File Content

10. Disk Usage & Storage

Nginx Management

1. Install & Remove Nginx

2. Start, Stop, Restart

3. Configuration Files

4. Virtual Hosts / Server Blocks

5. Reverse Proxy Setup (FastAPI / Next.js)

6. Testing Configuration

7. Nginx Logs

8. Common Nginx Errors & Fixes

SSL Management

1. Install Certbot

2. Generate SSL Certificate

3. Auto Renewal

4. Test SSL

5. Remove / Revoke Certificate

6. Force HTTPS Redirect

7. Troubleshooting SSL

Git & GitHub Commands

1. Repository Setup

2. SSH Key Setup (GitHub)

3. Basic Workflow (Add, Commit, Push)

4. Branch Management

5. Stash Changes

6. Reset & Revert

7. Logs & History

8. Submodules (Optional)

9. Deployment Workflow (Practical)

10. Common Issues & Fixes

PostgreSQL Management

1. Install PostgreSQL

2. Login to psql

3. Database Operations

4. User & Role Management

5. Table Operations

6. Query Monitoring

7. Backup & Restore

8. Remote Access

9. Performance Checking

10. PostgreSQL Logs

FastAPI Server Management

1. Install Dependencies

2. Virtual Environment

3. Run Development Server

4. Production Server (Uvicorn / Gunicorn)

5. systemd Service Setup

6. Environment Variables

7. Logs & Debugging

8. CORS Issues

9. Port Conflicts

Restart Strategy

Next.js Management

Install Dependencies

Create New Project

Run Development Server

Build and Start Production Server

Environment Variables

Deployment with PM2