Setup WHM & cPanel on Google Cloud with Mod_PageSpeed

Lemacks Media Google Cloud WHM
Learn how to setup WHM & cPanel on Google Cloud Platform Compute Engine with Apache Mod_PageSpeed for website and application hosting!

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Setting up Google Cloud for WHM & cPanel

So you’re looking for the resources to setup WHM & cPanel on Google Cloud? Well, we have that as well as how to setup Mod_PageSpeed (read about PageSpeed Filters)! This is not an all encompassing article, there are some items omitted that require even more advanced skills. If you’re a business owner looking to save money but have no IT or Web experience, we can help you get started, or help your IT team, we do not recommend trying this on a production site unless you are confident in what you’re doing.
Skip to: Preparing Server | Installing WHM | Mod_PageSpeed Setup

Google Cloud Documentation: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/

Create Project

  1. Go to https://console.cloud.google.com/project and Sign In
  2. Click Create Project
  3. Type [PROJECTNAME]
  4. Click Create
  5. Add any other people you need to work on the project through IAM

Create Instance

  1. Click [PROJECTNAME]
  2. Click Menu (3 bars) >> Compute Engine
  3. Click Create Instance
  4. Enter the following:phg
    1. Name: [INSTANCENAME]
    2. Zone: (whatever is close to you)
    3. Machine Type: [MACHINETYPE]
    4. Click Change in Boot disk and choose:
      1. CentOS 7
      2. Boot disk type: SSD persistent disk
      3. Size: [DISKSIZE] (we recommend at least 80GB)
    5. In Firewall
      1. tick Allow HTTP traffic
      2. tick Allow HTTPS traffic
    6. Click Create
  5. Make a note of the IP address in the project variables list

Reserve IP Address

  1. Click Menu (3 bars) >> VPC network >> External IP addresses
  2. Click Ephemeral on the row that has VM instance [INSTANCENAME]
  3. Select Static
  4. In Name enter [INSTANCENAME]
  5. Click Reserve

Create Firewall Rules

  1. In Google Cloud click Firewall Rules
  2. Click CREATE FIREWALL RULE
    1. In Name enter cpanel
    2. In Source filter enter Allow from any source (0.0.0.0/0)
    3. In Allowed protocols and ports enter (you’ll want to close unused ports after setup): tcp:20; tcp:21; tcp:22; tcp:25; tcp:26; tcp:37; tcp:43; tcp:53; udp:53; tcp:80; tcp:110; tcp:113; tcp:143; tcp:443; tcp:465; udp:465; tcp:587; tcp:783; udp:783; tcp:873;udp:873; tcp:993; tcp:995; tcp:2073; tcp:2077; tcp:2078; tcp:2079; tcp:2080; tcp:2082; tcp:2083; tcp:2086; tcp:2087; tcp:2089; tcp:2095; tcp:2096; tcp:2525; udp:2525; tcp:3306; udp:50000-60000;tcp:50000-60000
    4. Click Create

Preparing Server on SSH

Update Root Password

  1. Click SSH button on the instance row
  2. sudo su -
  3. passwd
  4. Using a random password generator, generate a new password, copy it, and make a note of it
  5. Paste the password and press enter (it will look like there has been nothing pasted in, still press enter)
  6. Paste the password again and press enter
  7. Add the password to your password management

Installing screen

  1. yum install screen
  2. y

Change Hostname

  1. Change Hostname: hostname [SERVERNAME]

Create A Record

  • Add an A record to your DNS management system for [SEVERNAME] with the IP address which can be found on Google Cloud under your project instance

Installing Cloud Linux (Optional)

Buy Cloudlinux License

Downloading Cloudlinux

On SSH enter the following:

  1. wget https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/cln/cldeploy
  2. sh cldeploy -k [CLOUDLINUX KEY]

On completion, on SSH enter the following:

  1. reboot

Installing WHM

WHM Documentation: https://documentation.cpanel.net/

Buy WHM License from cPanel

Downloading WHM

On SSH enter the following (Step 2 will take a fair amount of time, be patient):

  1. screen
  2. cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest && sh latest
  3. Continue to Step 4 unless Step 2 failed, then:
    1. systemctl stop NetworkManager.service
    2. systemctl disable NetworkManager.service
    3. systemctl enable network.service
    4. systemctl start network.service
    5. Return to Step 2
  4. /usr/local/cpanel/cpkeyclt
  5. /usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkallsslcerts

Initial WHM Setup

  1. Navigate to http://[SERVERNAME]:2087 (you might have to initially navigate to https://[SERVERIP]:2087 , just note your IP in Google Cloud Engine)
  2. Login using root as the username
  3. Step 1: Click I Agree/Go To Step 2
  4. Step 2:
    1. Enter your chosen email as the Server Contact Email Address (e.g. sys@[SERVERTLD])
    2. Enter 8.8.8.8 as the Primary Resolver
    3. Enter 8.8.4.4 as the Secondary Resolver
    4. Enter 1.1.1.1 as the Tertiary Resolver (optional)
  5. Click Save & Go to Step 3
  6. Click Skip This Step and Use Default Settings
  7. Click Save & Go to Step 5
  8. Click Skip This Step and Use Default Settings
  9. Click Finish Setup Wizard
  10. Click Go to WHM
  11. Click Save Settings

Configuring WHM & cPanel Settings

Configure Apache

  1. Go to https://[SERVERNAME]:2087 and login as root
  2. Go to Software >> EasyApache 4
  3. Click Customize
  4. Make sure the following is ticked.
  5. Click Apache Modules
    • mod_bwlimited
    • mod_cache
    • mod_cache_disk
    • mod_cache_socache
    • mod_cgi
    • mod_cpanel
    • mod_data
    • mod_dav (optional)
    • mod_dav_fs (optional)
    • mod_deflate
    • mod_env
    • mod_expires
    • mod_file_cache
    • mod_headers
    • mod_imagemap
    • mod_mime_magic
    • mod_mpm_prefork
    • mod_proxy
    • mod_proxy_fcgi
    • mod_proxy_ftp
    • mod_proxy_html
    • mod_proxy_http
    • mod_proxy_scgi
    • mod_proxy_wstunnel
    • mod_security2
    • mod_socache_memcache
    • mod_ssl
    • mod_suexec
    • mod_suphp
    • mod_unique_id
    • mod_version
  6. Click PHP Versions
    1. php56 (Optional, don’t use if you don’t have any 5.x sites currently)
    2. php70
    3. php71
    4. php72
  7. Click Php Extensions ( Make sure to tick all versions of each extensions )
    • libc-client
    • pear
    • php-bcmath
    • calendar
    • cli
    • common
    • curl
    • devel
    • fileinfo
    • fpm
    • ftp
    • gd
    • iconv
    • imap
    • ioncube10
    • litespeed (optional for LSWS)
    • mbstring
    • mcrypt
    • mysqlnd
    • pdo
    • posix
    • soap
    • sockets
    • xml
    • zendguard
    • zip
    • intl
    • runtime
  8. Click Review
  9. Save as Profile (for use in deploying another server later, or restoring the current one)
  10. Click Provision
  11. Click Done

Apache Config File Optimizations

  1. Go to Service Configuration >> Apache Configuration
  2. Click Include Editor
  3. Under “Post VirtualHost Include” select “All versions” from the dropdown
  4. In the text area paste the following code:
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
 # Enable expirations
 ExpiresActive On
 # Default directive
 ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 month"
 # My favicon
 ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 year"
 # Images
 ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 month"
 ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 month"
 ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 month"
 ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 month"
 # CSS
 ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
 # Javascript
 ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 year"
 # PDF
 ExpiresByType application/pdf "access plus 1 month"
 # Flash
 ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"
</IfModule>
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
## ENABLE GZIP COMPRESSION ##
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
 # Compress HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Text, XML and fonts
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/vnd.ms-fontobject
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-opentype
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-otf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-truetype
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-ttf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/opentype
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/otf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/ttf
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/svg+xml
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/x-icon
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
 # Remove browser bugs (only needed for really old browsers)
 BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
 BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
 BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
 Header append Vary User-Agent
</IfModule>
## ENABLE GZIP COMPRESSION ##
  1. Click Update
  2. Click Restart Apache

Configuring PHP

  1. Go to Software >> MultiPHP INI Editor
  2. Under Select PHP Version go through each version and configure the following:
  3. allow_url_fopen = Enabled
  4. Ignore: max_execution_time = 360
  5. Ignore: max_input_time = 180
  6. Ignore: memory_limit = 512M
  7. Ignore: upload_max_filesize = 256M
  8. Ignore: In “Editor Mode” post_max_size = 256M
  9. In “Editor Mode” always_populate_raw_post_data = -1
  10. Click Save

Disable Compiler

  1. Go to Security Center >> Compiler Access
  2. Click Disable Compilers

Configure open_basedir Fix

  1. Go to Security Center >> PHP open_basedir Tweak
  2. Tick Enable php open_basedir Protection.
  3. Click Save

Configure Shell Fork Bomb Protection

  1. Go to Security Center >> Shell Fork Bomb Protection
  2. Click Enable Protection

Disable Traceroute

  1. Go to Security Center >> Traceroute Enable/Disable
  2. Click Disable

Allow SMTP on Port 2525

  1. Go to Service Configuration >> Service Manager
  2. Tick both boxes next to Exim Mail Server (on another port) to 360
  3. Change Allow exim to listen on a port other than 25. to 2525
  4. Click Save

Install ClamAV and Munin

  1. Go to cPanel >> Manage Plugins
  2. Click Install ClamAV for cPanel
  3. Click Install Munin for cPanel

Default Show All on List Accounts

  1. Go to Server Configuration >> Tweak Settings
  2. Click Display
  3. Number of accounts per page to display in “List Accounts”. = All
  4. Click Save

Prevent “nobody” from sending mail & Disable Horde and Squirrel

  1. Go to Server Configuration >> Tweak Settings
  2. Click Mail
  3. Prevent “nobody” from sending mail = On
  4. Enable Horde Webmail = Off
  5. Enable Mailman mailing lists = Off
  6. Enable Roundcube webmail = Off
  7. Enable SquirrelMail webmail = Off (removed from WHM/cPanel in version 78)
  8. Click Save

Restrict Spam on Server

  1. Go to Service Configuration >> Exim Configuration Manager
  2. Under the RBLs section:
    1. Click On for RBL: bl.spamcop.net
    2. Click On for RBL: zen.spamhaus.org
  3. Under the Apache SpamAssassin™ Options section
    1. Click On for Apache SpamAssassin™: Forced Global ON
    2. Click On for Scan outgoing messages for spam and reject based on the Apache SpamAssassin™ internal spam_score setting
    3. Click On for Do not forward mail to external recipients if it matches the Apache SpamAssassin™ internal spam_score setting
  4. Click Save

Change hostname

  1. Go to Networking Setup >> Change Hostname
  2. In New Hostname enter: [FQDN] (your fully qualified domain name)
  3. Click Change

Edit cPanel default Quota Plan

  1. Go to Packages >> Edit a Package
  2. Click default
  3. Click Edit
  4. Change the following:
    1. Disk Quota (MB): 5000
    2. Monthly Bandwidth (MB): 100000
    3. Max FTP Accounts: 5
    4. Max Email Accounts: 0
    5. Max Email Lists: 0
    6. Max Databases: 1
    7. Max Subdomains: 5
    8. Max Parked Domains: 5
    9. Max Addon Domains: 5
    10. Maximum Hourly Email by Domain Relayed: 250
    11. Maximum percentage of failed or deferred messages a domain may send per hour: 250
    12. Click Save Changes

Graceful Server Reboot

  1. Go to System Reboot >> Graceful Server Reboot
  2. Click Proceed

Mod_PageSpeed Setup

On SSH enter the following:

  1. yum install rpm-build cpio ea-apache24-mod_version
  2. wget https://github.com/pagespeed/cpanel/raw/master/EA4/ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed-latest-stable.src.rpm
  3. rpmbuild --rebuild ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed-latest-stable.src.rpm
  4. rpm -ivh /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed*.rpm
  5. /etc/init.d/apache2 restart or service httpd restart

Note: 1- if you get following error on Step 3 :
“RPM build errors:
File must begin with “/”: %{_httpd_moddir}/*.so
File must begin with “/”: %{_httpd_modconfdir}/*.conf”

Just create a file named “macros.apache2” in ‘/etc/rpm/ directory and paste the below content into that and then restart from step 3.

%_httpd_mmn 20120211x8664
%_httpd_apxs /usr/bin/apxs
%_httpd_dir /etc/apache2
%_httpd_bindir %{_httpd_dir}/bin
%_httpd_modconfdir %{_httpd_dir}/conf.modules.d
%_httpd_confdir %{_httpd_dir}/conf.d
%_httpd_contentdir /usr/share/apache2
%_httpd_moddir /usr/lib64/apache2/modules

The installation script will copy “pagespeed.conf” file into ” /usr/local/apache/conf/ ” or ” /etc/apache2/conf.modules.d” on your server. Documentation for Mod_PageSpeed can be found here.

Our article on .htaccess Mod_PageSpeed filters can be found here.

Check back with us for more updates, and the videos coming wednesday! https://lemacksmedia.com

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