Set up server or Cloud

Hello

It is necessary to set up a high-performance, secure, and scalable server for the ViarArt.pl website (photo processing, fast page loading, future AI integration).  Backend language:  Laravel. 

Redis or Memcached — for cache acceleration (if the site supports caching)

 1. Server type and OS:

• VPS or dedicated server (at Hetzner, Contabo, or OVH — upon agreement)

• OS: Ubuntu Server LTS (preferably 22.04) — due to stability and support.

• Ability to scale (CPU, RAM, disk space).

 2. Image processing:

• Install ImageMagick and/or GD Library

• Support for working with large images and conversion to WebP

• Prepare image storage directory (separate temporary/processed)

• Configure static file caching via Nginx

 3. AI and ML preparation:

• Install support for Python 3.10+

• Set up a virtual environment (venv) for Python projects

• Install libraries: numpy, pillow, opencv, torch (if using PyTorch)

• Optional — Docker + Docker Compose (for isolating ML services)

 4. Security:

• Configure firewall (ufw) and fail2ban

• SSH access: disable root access, login only via keys

• Protect web server from DDOS (rate-limiting in Nginx)

• Set up regular automatic backups (site data and database)

• Install and configure SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt)

5. Storage:

• SSD disk

• Partitioned into /var/www (site files), /var/log, /home, /tmp

• Ability to connect external cloud storage (e.g., Backblaze, S3) for backups

6. Monitoring and logging:

• Install monitoring tools:

  • htop, iotop, vnstat

  • Netdata or Grafana + Prometheus (if scaling is planned)

• Configure log rotation, send notifications on failures (e.g., via UptimeRobot or Pushbullet)

7. Control panel :

• Install a panel like HestiaCP, CyberPanel, Plesk, or RunCloud

8. Performance:

• Enable Gzip compression on the server

• Install and configure optimal cache-control for images, JS, CSS

• Configure image optimization on upload (if implemented on the site)

• Support for HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 to speed up loading

9. Deployment preparation:

• Configure Git repository and automatic deployment (if used)

• Specify directory for production code

• Prepare a separate subdomain staging.domain.pl for testing

10. Email:

•  Configure outgoing mail using SMTP (via Mailgun/Zoho/Brevo)

•  Configure email reception — via external mail service or locally

• Configure SPF, DKIM, DMARC, PTR records in DNS

•  Configure SSL (port 465/587) for secure sending

• Check deliverability via https://mail-tester.com

• Test: emails should not go to spam (Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook)

Receiving emails on corporate email: //

• For outgoing mail (forms/notifications) — use external SMTP (e.g., Mailgun, Brevo, Sendgrid)

• For receiving — Zoho Mail (free up to 5 addresses) or use external mailboxes (e.g., Gmail via SMTP)

✅ Additionally (by agreement):

• CDN integration (Cloudflare) — for faster content delivery across Poland and the EU

• Support for multi-domain setup, if other language versions are added in the future

• Setup of cron jobs for optimization and garbage collection