Hello everyone, After struggling for a while to set up my VPS with Discourse, I decided to share a simple step-by-step guide to help you install Discourse on an OVH VPS. In my case, I’m using: An OVH VPS A domain name A professional email (OVH Email Pro) :warning: Note: I’m not a server configuration expert. If you notice any mistakes or improvements, feel free to let me know. Step 0 – Prerequisites You’ll need the following products from OVH: VPS (with the following options when purchasing): Choose a datacenter located in the country of your target audience (recommended). Operating System: Debian 12 Domain name Email (OVH Email Pro) Note : Read the two important OVH emails you’ll receive Additional tools & accounts: (Optional) MaxMind – for extra security: Create an account: MaxMind Signup Go to Manage License Keys > Generate new license key (save both the ID and the key, as key won’t be shown again). PuTTY (SSH client used in this guide): Download PuTTY Step 1 – Configure your OVH services Domain → VPS Go to: Web Cloud > Domain Names > yourdomain.com > DNS Zone For each type A record, replace the target with your VPS IPv4 address. Domain → Email Pro Go to: Web Cloud > Email Pro > Associated Domains Add your purchased domain. Create an Email Go to: Web Cloud > Email Pro > Email Accounts Create a new email address (e.g. contact@yourdomain.com). Step 2 – VPS Setup Connect via SSH Open PuTTY Hostname: your VPS IPv4 Port: 22 In console : Log in with the username and password sent by email. Secure your server Change your password. Change SSH port (Recommended): sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config Find the line with “Port” (use arrow keys). Remove the # and replace the port number (i to insert) with one between 49152 and 65535. Save and exit (Esc > :wq) Install dependencies (Debian) sudo apt install docker.io -y sudo apt install git -y Install Discourse sudo -s git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker.git /var/discourse cd /var/discourse chmod 700 containers Run the setup script sudo ./discourse-setup Fill in the prompts : Hostname: your domain (e.g. yourdomain.com) Admin Email: your personal email SMTP server address: found in OVH client area → Email Pro (e.g. proX.mail.ovh.net) SMTP Port: 587 SMTP Username: the email you created earlier (e.g. contact@yourdomain.com) SMTP Password: password of that email account Notification Email: same as SMTP Username Let’s Encrypt Email: your personal email (recommended) MaxMind Account ID: from your MaxMind account MaxMind Key: license key you generated Fine-tune the SMTP settings sudo nano containers/app.yml Scroll to the SMTP section. Edit as follows: SMTP domain: same as your SMTP hostname SMTP authentication: replace “plain” with “login” Enable STARTTLS: remove the # before the line Save & exit (Ctrl + O, Enter, Ctrl + X). Rebuild the app sudo ./launcher rebuild app Step 3 – Final Test Check if email sending works: sudo ./discourse-doctor Enter a test email address to receive a test message. If everything works, you can now finish setting up Discourse directly from your website at https://yourdomain.com Murffy

Awesome we needed some documentation for OVH which is one of my favorite providers. I really like the fact that with any domain name you purchase you receive a free email adress with it(I haven’t tested their email adress with a discourse setup, maybe I will later and report here). @murffy By the way if your OVH VPS has only docker + discourse on it, you could maybe include a firewall setup(iptables/ufw) in the documentation so that it’s even more a plug and play documentation for an amateur?

[image] opcourdis: I really like the fact that with any domain name you purchase you receive a free email adress with it(I haven’t tested their email adress with a discourse setup, maybe I will later and report here). I advise not doing this. This is not a transactional email service, and you’ll likely face automatic blocking from OVH for suspected spam. I’ve used a free OVH email for Discourse for a while, and it was a bad idea. I suggest you look for a proper email sending service instead. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks for the tip, I contacted OVH about this, we’ll see what they say. 200-500 mails per week with DKIM/SPF + official headers and an unsubscribe buttons is not asking them too much though to have it not considered at spam. Update From OVH = 200 mails per hours ; nice limit for a free mail though :slight_smile: and to avoid spam here is their suggestion : Three or more words in capital letters in the subject line of your email. * No subject line or no text in the email. * The email contains only one large image (> 1MB) and a few words, or many images and little text. * Certain keywords in the subject line or at the beginning of the email: Hello, FREE, BUY, BUYING, etc. * The email contains more than 70% white space (excessive use of the SPACE or ENTER key on the keyboard). * The font used to write the email is too large. * The font color and background color are identical, making the text unreadable. * The link(s) in the email are incorrect. * The URLs are not secure (e.g., declared as https:// when the URL only exists as http://) or link to a hacked or malicious site. * The email contains pornographic or similar terms. * The email contains an executable file (EXE, BAT, PIF, XML, XLSX, or any document with a macro), even if zipped. * Your recipients are listed in BCC only or mainly, even though you are not using a system suitable for mailing lists.

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How to Install Discourse on an OVH VPS

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NateDhaliwal (Nate Dhaliwal) August 31, 2025, 10:34am 2

Is OVH’s email a transactional email service? I couldn’t find anything related to it being transactional from a cursory search, but maybe not?

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How to Install Discourse on an OVH VPS

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