Deploying Gin App to Ubuntu VPS

Here's how to deploy a Gin app to vps once you've initated and ssh in a VPS running Ubuntu 14.04.

Installing Nginx & Dependencies

Install some libraries that most environments require.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libyaml-dev libreadline-dev openssl curl git-core zlib1g-dev bison libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libsqlite3-dev sqlite3 mysql-common mysql-client libmysqlclient-dev mysql-server python-software-properties

Enter mysql password when install mysql.

After that, intall Nginx. The version on official apt-get repository is a little outdated, so we should install its stable version from another custom source.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nginx/stable
sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y install nginx

It should automatically start when installed.

Configuring Nginx

Configure Nginx with:

sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

and find the line:

server_name _;

Replace the _ with your ip or domain name. And find the location / part. Write:

location / {
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_pass https://127.0.0.1:3000;
}

It should direct all requests from / to post 3000. And restart Nginx every time you change this file:

sudo service nginx restart

Setting up Go Environment

You can install Go by following the official documentation. Or here is a short version for installing the latest stable version:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-lxc/lxd-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install golang

Finally, open the .bashrc and add:

export GOROOT=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOROOT/bin

Type go version and you should see the version.

Serve the Gin Application

Upload the project you've done, and follow the go pattern to put it in the correct directory. For example, my program should be put in:

~/go/src/github.com/adler/gin

When your development on the application is done. Make sure it listens to port 3000 as we set in the nginx configuration. Enter the directory and compile the program with:

go build -o gin main.go

Move the whole project to somewhere you want to host it:

sudo cp -r ~/go/src/github.com/adler/gin /var/www

Run the program:

cd /var/www
./gin

You should see the message that Gin is running. Open the browser and enter the public IP. Your index page should be there.

Running Server in Background

Use nohup command to run the process and do not let it terminated by the signal sighup sent to all processes by leaving the current process, usually by closing the terminal window.

nohup ./gin & disown

You can terminate the process by ctrl + z when in the process. If you've closed the window, find the PID in the list.

ps -ef | grep ./gin

Replace the ./gin with your program name. Find the PID and kill it.

kill -9 your_pid