A novice’s step by step specific process for installing Discourse. From choosing a right server to configuring it, to SMTP, DNS & doing it all in the right order. Because of such a manual process with many branches with many options, I have many uncertainties & heard many setups go wrong when not do…

please don’t @ mention people. i really do not need the additional noise in my notifications and it’s poor forum etiquette in general. if you want to use usernames without actively mentioning them then put back tics around them or use the preformatted text button in the composer (like this @Gid) so …

[image] Gid: Powerful, flexible, large / multiple server install: Advanced Docker install guide don’t even go near this right now. stick to the basics. get a domain name with a nameserver like namecheap. or since you have one you want to use already: [image] Gid: Not sure which I shoul…

I would say don’t go right up the the lower limit of 2GB, unless you are running a small forum with not many users. [image] Gid: I’ve heard of cPanel, I don’t need this right? No, cPanel is not needed. [image] Gid: I haven’t set up a business email yet, & can now from Hostinger. Does th…

[image] Lilly: Single Sign On (SSO) is not something you should even be thinking about yet since you still learning how to set up the most basic self-hosted install. get your forum up and running, then think about plugins. by the looks of existing documentation, configuring SSO with your wix web…

[image] Gid: oh.. this was quite important for me & was a reason behind me choosing self hosting. If this can be sorted out later without much difficulty then fine, but I wonder if this particular setup will harden this later? Pls lmk if I should I be doing something different now to allow for t…

Thank you everyone for all those answers so far:folded_hands: [image] NateDhaliwal: Does the business email provide a transactional mail service? With >2 reps, I had this checked & confirmed. Their business email covers Discourse’s SMTP needs, without needing a provider like MailGun. They c…

[image] NateDhaliwal: You can still take backups of Discourse regularly in case something goes wrong, if you’re only hosting Discourse on the VPS. And you really really should take your own backups. And take those backups offsite. This is part of being your own sysadmin. If you leave every…

How often would you think snapshots be taken? Once a month, with weekly backups/twice a week? Or is that overkill?

Personally, I’ve never used snapshots. (I think they are an extra-cost item, and I’m not certain of their usefulness when there’s a live database running.) The way I think about backup frequency, is how would I feel at the time I need to restore the backup? If I’d lost a month’s worth of member co…

Installing Discourse on a self hosted VPS. A process with FAQs

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RGJ (Richard - Communiteq) July 18, 2026, 8:06pm 9

Whatever AI wrote that, it clearly does not understand that OpenID/SAML and Discourse Connect are entirely different things, so I wouldn’t trust the other things it’s saying either.

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Installing Discourse on a self hosted VPS. A process with FAQs

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