Set up Rapsberry Pi as a public server with a domain
Documenting the steps I took to set up a custom domain that points to a Raspberry Pi server.
Requirements
- You have a Raspberry Pi that’s accessible via other devices on the network
- You own a domain that you can use to point to the Raspberry Pi server e.g www.mydomain.com
Static IP
Setting up a static IP makes things a bit easier. Follow a
guide. You basically have to add the
following lines to /etc/dhcpcd.conf. This is just an example
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.0.84/24
static routers=192.168.0.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1
where eth0 is the network interface, ip_address is the static IP address we want the device to
have, routers is the gateway IP address and the domain_name_servers is the DNS server which is
usually just the router’s address.
NGINX Server
We’ll use NGINX as the web server. Install and run NGINX via
sudo apt install nginx
systemctl start nginx
Go to https://<static_ip_address> and you should see the NGINX test page.
DNS configuration
First we need a DNS configuration that will forward all *.mydomain.com requests to the Raspberry
Pi’s current IP address.
Using Google Domains, go to DNS->Synthetic records and create a new
Dynamic DNS record for *.mydomain.com.
DEPRECATED I use ddclient instead.
Download this script and fill in credentials/hostname and run the script. The script basically grabs the IP address and updates the DNS in Google Domains so the domain points to the IP address.
#!/bin/bash
USERNAME=""
PASSWORD=""
HOSTNAME=""
# Resolve current public IP
IP=$( dig +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com )
# Update Google DNS Record
URL="https://${USERNAME}:${PASSWORD}@domains.google.com/nic/update?hostname=${HOSTNAME}&myip=${IP}"
curl -s $URL
echo
Port Forward
You’ll need to forward ports 80 and 443 to the Raspberry Pi device. The instructions depend on the router you’re using.
Test Domain
You should be able to go to https://www.mydomain.com and see the NGINX test page.