Deployment Overview of aaPanel on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

To ensure a successful deployment, the following requirements must be met by the server environment:

Operating System: Ubuntu (latest stable version).
Privileges: Root or sudo access is required for all installation steps.
Network Ports:
3000: Default panel port (configured via setup script).
443: HTTPS traffic (via Nginx reverse proxy if configured).
80: HTTP traffic (for ACME challenges and redirection).
Dependencies: The installation process requires curl, wget, and python3-pexpect.

If a custom domain is not provided, the application uses a default subdomain template based on the server ID.

The deployment utilizes several specific directories for configuration and data persistence:

/root/nginx: Contains the Nginx Docker Compose configuration.
/data/nginx/user_conf.d/: Stores custom Nginx configuration files for domain routing.
/data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env: Environment variables for the Certbot container.
/www/server/panel/: The primary installation directory for aaPanel data and SSL certificates.

The application is installed using a combination of an official installer script and system configuration steps:

System Preparation: The installer ensures all package locks (apt, dpkg) are released to prevent conflicts during dependency installation.
Installer Execution: An official installation script is downloaded from the developer's repository: https://www.aapanel.com/script/install_7.0_en.sh.
Service Initialization: The bt service (aaPanel) is enabled and started via systemd.
Security Configuration:
The panel port is set to 3000.
Default credentials are updated to:
Username: aaPanel
Password: aaPanel123

Firewall: Ensure ports 80, 443, and 3000 are open in the system firewall.
SSL/TLS: If a custom domain is used, SSL certificates are issued via Certbot and applied to the panel's internal service to ensure secure communication between the proxy and the application.

The deployment utilizes a Docker container to manage Nginx and automated SSL certificate renewals through a reverse proxy setup.

Container Name	Image	Ports/Network	Volumes	Environment Variables	Restart Policy
`nginx-nginx-1`	`jonasal/nginx-certbot:latest`	`host` mode	`nginx_secrets:/etc/letsencrypt`, `/data/nginx/user_conf.d:/etc/nginx/user_conf.d`	`[email protected]`	`unless-stopped`

The deployment performs several automated configuration steps beyond the standard installation:

Panel Port & Credential Reset: A script executes the bt command-line utility to programmatically change the default port, username, and password for immediate security.
SSL Certificate Management:
If a custom domain is present, the system uses Certbot in standalone mode to obtain certificates.
The obtained certificates are automatically moved from /etc/letsencrypt/ to the aaPanel SSL directory (/www/server/panel/ssl/) to enable native HTTPS support for the panel interface.
Nginx Reverse Proxy Configuration: A configuration is generated to proxy traffic from port 443 (HTTPS) to the internal application running on port 3000.

To update the main application, follow these steps:

Log in to the server via SSH.
Use the built-in panel management tool by running the command:
```
bt
```
Follow the on-screen prompts to select the update option provided by the aaPanel interface.

Port	Usage
`3000`	Direct access to aaPanel (Internal/Unencrypted)
`443`	Secure HTTPS access via Nginx Proxy (Custom Domains)
`80`	HTTP redirection and ACME challenges

The application service can be managed using the following commands: