DirectAdmin is a powerful and easy-to-use web-based control panel that can be used to manage a wide range of server tasks. It provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to easily manage users, domains, databases, and other aspects of your server without having to use the command line.

In this article, we will show you how to install DirectAdmin on Debian 10 (also known as “Buster”). We will be using the command line for this tutorial, so you will need to have a basic understanding of how to use the Linux command line.

Before we begin, there are a few prerequisites that you will need to have in place in order to install DirectAdmin on your system:

1. A server running Debian 10
2. A user account with sudo privileges
3. The apt package manager installed

Once you have these prerequisites in place, you can proceed with the installation.

• Update your system

Before you begin the installation, it is always a good idea to update your system to ensure that you have the latest security updates and bug fixes. To do this, log in to your server and run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

This will update the package list on your system and then upgrade any outdated packages to their latest versions.

• Install the necessary packages

DirectAdmin requires a number of dependencies in order to run, including the Apache web server and PHP. To install these dependencies, run the following command:

sudo apt install apache2 php7.3

This will install the Apache web server and PHP.

• Download and run the DirectAdmin installation script

Next, you will need to download the DirectAdmin installation script from their website. To do this, run the following command:

wget -O directadmin_install.sh <https://www.directadmin.com/setup.sh>

This will download the installation script to your server. Once the download is complete, run the installation script using the following command:

sh directadmin_install.sh

This will start the installation process, which will take a few minutes to complete.

The installation script will ask you a number of questions, including your license key, server IP address, hostname, and administrator password. Be sure to answer these questions carefully, as they will be used to configure DirectAdmin.

Once the installation is complete, you will see a message that says “DirectAdmin has been installed on your system”.

• Configure Apache

In order to access DirectAdmin from a web browser, you will need to configure Apache to serve the DirectAdmin files. To do this, create a new virtual host configuration file using the following command:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/directadmin.conf

Paste the following configuration into the file, making sure to update the “ServerName” and “DocumentRoot” values to match your own server:

To do this, create a new virtual host configuration file using the following command:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/directadmin.conf

Paste the following configuration into the file, making sure to update the “ServerName” and “DocumentRoot” values to match your own server:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName directadmin.example.com
  DocumentRoot /usr/local/directadmin/data/templates

  <Directory /usr/local/directadmin/data/templates>
    Options FollowSymlinks
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
  </Directory>

  ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
  CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit the text editor.

Next, enable the virtual host using the following command:

sudo a2ensite directadmin

Finally, restart Apache using the following command:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

• Access DirectAdmin

At this point, DirectAdmin should be installed and configured on your server. To access it, open a web browser and navigate to the URL you specified in the Apache virtual host configuration file (e.g. http://directadmin.example.com/).

You should see the DirectAdmin login page. Use the administrator username and password you chose during the installation process to log in to the system.

Once you are logged in, you can begin using DirectAdmin to manage your server.

Conclusion

In this article, we showed you how to install DirectAdmin on Debian 10. We covered all of the necessary steps, including installing dependencies, running the installation script, and configuring Apache. With DirectAdmin installed and configured, you can now easily manage your server using its user-friendly web-based control panel.