Installing BHPanel

BHPanel installs on a server running AlmaLinux 9, x86_64 or ARM64.

The server must be fresh: a new AlmaLinux 9 with nothing else set up on it. BHPanel installs and manages the web server, PHP, databases, mail, DNS and the firewall itself, so it cannot share a server with another control panel, or with websites, databases or mail servers already set up by hand — they would clash. Reinstall the operating system first if the server has been used.

Moving from another panel? Install BHPanel on a new server and bring the accounts over: see Moving accounts in.

What you need

The disk is mostly for your customers: a Light install itself uses about 5 GB with the operating system. If the server has no swap, the installer adds swap the size of its RAM, so a 2 GB server copes with a memory spike instead of stopping something. (A container VPS gets its swap from the host.)

• A server with AlmaLinux 9 and root, or a user who can use sudo.
• Your free license key from BiswasHost (optional at first: without one the panel works fully for 14 days).

Before you install

Three steps on a fresh server save most of the problems people run into. The commands are shown for a user who can use sudo; as root, leave sudo out.

1. Give the server a real hostname

Pick a name such as server.example.com and add an A record for it (and an AAAA record if the server has IPv6) that points to the server's IP address. Then set it on the server:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname server.example.com

Check that the name resolves to this server before you go on:

getent ahosts server.example.com

The installer uses this name for the panel's own Let's Encrypt certificate, so the administrator, resellers and customers can sign in over a real, trusted https:// address instead of clicking past a browser warning. The same name is what your mail server introduces itself with, so a real name also helps mail arrive.

No hostname, or DNS not ready yet? The install still finishes, and the panel opens on the server's IP address — https://SERVER-IP:2087 — with a self-signed certificate, so the browser shows a warning you have to click past. Once the name resolves, open Domains › SSL and press Issue a certificate now.

2. Update the operating system

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum upgrade -y

This brings in the latest kernel and security fixes before anything else is installed.

3. Reboot, then install

sudo reboot

Sign in again once the server is back, and run the installer below. Rebooting first means the server is running the new kernel, so the installer does not set up disk quota and firewall rules against a kernel that is about to be replaced.

Light or Full

Not sure? Choose Light. Every component in Full has an install button on the panel's Services page later, and it runs the same step the installer would.

Install

One line, as a user who can use sudo:

curl -fsSL https://releases.bhpanel.net/install.sh | sudo BHP_LICENSE=YOUR-KEY bash -s -- --beta --light

As root, leave sudo out:

curl -fsSL https://releases.bhpanel.net/install.sh | BHP_LICENSE=YOUR-KEY bash -s -- --beta --light

For Full, use --full instead of --light. Without either, the installer asks. No key yet? Leave BHP_LICENSE=YOUR-KEY out and add the key later in the panel under Server › License.

--beta takes the newest beta release: BHPanel is in public beta. Every release is signed; before anything runs, the command checks the signature against the BHPanel release key, the download's checksum and every file in the archive, picks the build for your server's processor, and then starts the installer. The release stays unpacked in /root/bhpanel-install/.

Put BHP_LICENSE=... after sudo: written before it, sudo drops it. You can also pass the key as --license=KEY, but then it shows in the process list while the installer runs.

Options

Disk quota (one restart on most servers)

Each account's disk limit is enforced by the kernel's disk quota. On most AlmaLinux servers /home sits on the main XFS disk, and quota there needs one boot setting and one restart. The installer makes the setting itself, then stops and asks:

Quota is set up. It starts working after ONE restart of the server.
...
Restart the server now? [y/N]

Answer y, wait 1-2 minutes, log in again and run the same install command you ran first - the installer printed it just above, with your own options. It carries on where it stopped and finishes with Done. It never restarts the server without your y (and never with -y: then run reboot yourself).

If it stops for disk quota

Only if the automatic setting did not work - the installer then says so and points here. Everything below is typed on the server as root (with sudo in front if you log in as another user).

Step 1 - see which case your server is

findmnt -no TARGET,FSTYPE -T /home

It prints two words. Find yours:

Case A - / xfs (one restart needed)

Run these three, one after the other:

1. Add the quota setting (this only changes a boot setting; nothing restarts yet):

bash "$(ls -td /root/bhpanel-install/bhpanel-*/ | head -n 1)installer/bhpanel-install.sh" quota-bootstrap --grub

(That picks the release the install command just unpacked.) It ends with Reboot required.

2. Restart the server:

reboot

Your SSH window closes. Wait 1-2 minutes, then log in again.

3. Run the same install command you ran first, for example:

curl -fsSL https://releases.bhpanel.net/install.sh | BHP_LICENSE=YOUR-KEY bash -s -- --beta --light

It carries on where it stopped and finishes with Done.

Case B - /home xfs

The installer has already written the setting. /home only has to be mounted again:

umount /home && mount /home

If it answers target is busy, run reboot instead and log in again after 1-2 minutes. Then run the same install command again.

Case C - ext4

The installer turns quota on by itself. If it still stops, run the same install command once more; if it stops again, the last lines it printed say what is in the way.

Check that quota is on

After the install finishes:

bhpanelctl system.info | grep '"enforced"'

It shows "enforced": true. If your server is a container (OpenVZ, LXC, Virtuozzo) quota cannot be turned on at all - BHPanel needs a VM (KVM, VMware, Hyper-V) or a dedicated server.

When it finishes

The installer prints a one-time token. Open the admin panel in your browser and use the token to set the administrator's password.

• Administrator and resellers: https://your-server:2087
• Customers: https://your-server:2083

Turn on two-factor sign-in for the administrator straight away.

Lost the token?

The token is only needed until the administrator has a password. If it scrolled away, or the window was closed, make a new one on the server as root:

sudo bhpanel-web-admin setup-token bhpadmin

It prints a fresh token for the administrator bhpadmin (use the name you gave with --admin-user, if you changed it). Open https://your-server:2087 and enter it. A new token replaces the one before it, and it is deleted automatically once the account is created.

Once the administrator exists, setup is closed and no new token can be made. To set a new password for an existing administrator instead:

sudo bhpanel-web-admin add bhpadmin

It asks for the new password twice. sudo bhpanel-web-admin list shows the administrator logins that exist.

Checking where it stands

sudo bash /root/bhpanel-install/bhpanel-*/installer/bhpanel-install.sh status

It reports what is done and what is not, and changes nothing.

Which address to use

BHPanel has two sign-in pages on two ports, plus webmail. Replace your-server with your server's hostname, such as server.example.com.

Hostname not pointed at the server yet? Use the server's IP address instead - for example https://203.0.113.10:2087. It works the same; the browser only warns about the certificate, because a certificate is issued for the hostname, not the IP. Once the hostname's DNS record points at the server, switch to the hostname.

• Resellers sign in on 2087, with their own username and password. The panel sees they are a reseller and shows them only their own customers and plans.
• Customers sign in on 2083. A team member a customer invited also signs in there, with their email address.
• http://your-server:2095 only sends visitors on to webmail at 2096.
• All four ports are opened in the firewall by the installer.