VPS Installation Guide

Deploy rengine on cloud providers like DigitalOcean, AWS, or Azure

Last updated: July 11, 2024
Detailed Installation Your First Scan

VPS Installation Guide

Deploy rengine on cloud Virtual Private Servers (VPS) for scalable reconnaissance. This guide covers deployment on popular cloud providers.

Why Use a VPS?

Benefits of cloud deployment:

  • Scalable resources - Upgrade CPU/RAM as needed
  • Better network connectivity - Faster scans and downloads
  • 24/7 availability - Run long reconnaissance tasks
  • Geographic distribution - Deploy closer to targets
  • Cost effective - Pay only for what you use

Cloud Provider Recommendations

Recommended Droplet sizes:

Droplet Type vCPUs RAM Storage Price/month Use Case
Basic 2 2GB 50GB $12 Testing/Small scans
General Purpose 2 4GB 80GB $24 Standard use
CPU-Optimized 4 8GB 160GB $48 Heavy scanning

AWS EC2

Recommended instance types:

  • t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) - Standard use
  • c5.large (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) - CPU-intensive tasks
  • m5.large (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM) - Memory-intensive tasks

Azure

Recommended VM sizes:

  • Standard_B2s (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) - Burstable performance
  • Standard_D2s_v3 (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM) - General purpose

DigitalOcean Deployment

Step 1: Create Droplet

Using doctl CLI 
# Install doctl
curl -OL https://github.com/digitalocean/doctl/releases/download/v1.94.0/doctl-1.94.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xf doctl-1.94.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv doctl /usr/local/bin

# Authenticate
doctl auth init

# Create droplet
doctl compute droplet create rengine-server \\
  --image ubuntu-22-04-x64 \\
  --size s-2vcpu-4gb \\
  --region nyc1 \\
  --ssh-keys YOUR_SSH_KEY_ID

Step 2: Connect to Droplet

SSH Connection 
# Get droplet IP
doctl compute droplet list

# Connect via SSH
ssh root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP

Step 3: Initial Server Setup

Server Hardening 
# Update system
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Create non-root user
adduser rengine
usermod -aG sudo rengine

# Configure SSH key for new user
mkdir -p /home/rengine/.ssh
cp /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/rengine/.ssh/
chown -R rengine:rengine /home/rengine/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/rengine/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/rengine/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 4: Install rengine

Switch to the rengine user and install:

Install rengine 
# Switch to rengine user
su - rengine

# Install rengine
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yogeshojha/rengine/master/install.sh | bash

Step 5: Configure Firewall

Setup UFW Firewall 
# Enable firewall
sudo ufw enable

# Allow SSH
sudo ufw allow ssh

# Allow rengine web interface
sudo ufw allow 8000

# Check status
sudo ufw status

AWS EC2 Deployment

Step 1: Launch Instance

Using AWS CLI:

Launch EC2 Instance 
# Configure AWS CLI first
aws configure

# Launch instance
aws ec2 run-instances \\
  --image-id ami-0c02fb55956c7d316 \\
  --count 1 \\
  --instance-type t3.medium \\
  --key-name your-key-pair \\
  --security-group-ids sg-your-security-group \\
  --subnet-id subnet-your-subnet

Step 2: Configure Security Group

Allow required ports:

Security Group Rules 
# Allow SSH
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \\
  --group-id sg-your-security-group \\
  --protocol tcp \\
  --port 22 \\
  --cidr 0.0.0.0/0

# Allow rengine web interface  
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \\
  --group-id sg-your-security-group \\
  --protocol tcp \\
  --port 8000 \\
  --cidr 0.0.0.0/0

Step 3: Connect and Install

Connect to EC2 
# Connect via SSH
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-instance-ip

# Install rengine
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yogeshojha/rengine/master/install.sh | bash

Security Configuration

SSL/TLS Setup

For production deployments, configure HTTPS:

Install Nginx and Certbot 
# Install nginx
sudo apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Configure nginx reverse proxy
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/rengine
Nginx Configuration 
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.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;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}
Enable Site and SSL 
# Enable site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/rengine /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

# Get SSL certificate
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Firewall Configuration

Production Firewall Rules 
# Allow HTTP/HTTPS only
sudo ufw delete allow 8000
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw allow ssh

# Limit SSH connections
sudo ufw limit ssh

# Check rules
sudo ufw status numbered

Performance Optimization

Resource Monitoring

Install Monitoring Tools 
# Install htop and iotop
sudo apt install htop iotop netdata

# Configure netdata (optional)
sudo systemctl enable netdata
sudo systemctl start netdata

Auto-scaling Configuration

For AWS, configure auto-scaling:

CloudWatch Monitoring 
# Install CloudWatch agent
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/amazoncloudwatch-agent/amazon_linux/amd64/latest/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.rpm
sudo rpm -U ./amazon-cloudwatch-agent.rpm

Backup and Maintenance

Automated Backups

Backup Script 
#!/bin/bash
# /home/rengine/backup.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/home/rengine/backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup database
docker exec rengine_postgres pg_dump -U rengine rengine > $BACKUP_DIR/db_backup_$DATE.sql

# Backup configuration
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/config_backup_$DATE.tar.gz /home/rengine/rengine/.env

# Remove old backups (keep last 7 days)
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.sql" -mtime +7 -delete
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete
Schedule Backups 
# Make script executable
chmod +x /home/rengine/backup.sh

# Add to crontab
crontab -e
# Add line: 0 2 * * * /home/rengine/backup.sh

System Updates

Update Script 
#!/bin/bash
# /home/rengine/update.sh

cd /home/rengine/rengine

# Pull latest changes
git pull origin master

# Rebuild containers
docker-compose build --no-cache

# Restart services
docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d

# Run migrations
docker-compose exec web python manage.py migrate

Cost Optimization

Reserved Instances (AWS)

For long-term deployments, consider reserved instances for 30-60% savings.

Spot Instances

For non-critical workloads, use spot instances:

Launch Spot Instance 
aws ec2 request-spot-instances \\
  --spot-price "0.05" \\
  --instance-count 1 \\
  --type "one-time" \\
  --launch-specification '{
    "ImageId": "ami-0c02fb55956c7d316",
    "InstanceType": "t3.medium",
    "KeyName": "your-key-pair",
    "SecurityGroupIds": ["sg-your-security-group"]
  }'

Scheduled Scaling

Automatically stop instances during off-hours:

Scheduled Stop/Start 
# Stop instance at 6 PM
0 18 * * * aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-your-instance-id

# Start instance at 8 AM
0 8 * * * aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-your-instance-id

Troubleshooting

Common VPS Issues

Out of memory errors:

Add Swap Space 
# Create 2GB swap file
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

# Make permanent
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Disk space issues:

Clean Docker Resources 
# Remove unused Docker resources
docker system prune -a --volumes

# Clean APT cache
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt autoclean

Network connectivity issues:

Network Diagnostics 
# Check DNS resolution
nslookup google.com

# Test connectivity
curl -I https://google.com

# Check listening ports
netstat -tulpn

Next Steps

With rengine deployed on your VPS:

  1. Configure your first scan →
  2. Set up automated scanning →
  3. Configure monitoring →

Deployment Complete!

Your rengine instance is now running on a VPS. Remember to regularly update the system and backup your data.

Need help? Check our VPS troubleshooting guide or ask the community.

Detailed Installation Your First Scan