{"id":512,"date":"2024-05-16T12:41:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T12:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.hostinger.io\/support\/2024\/05\/16\/9336092-how-to-use-the-discourse-vps-template\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T06:45:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:45:50","slug":"9336092-how-to-use-the-discourse-vps-template","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/9336092-how-to-use-the-discourse-vps-template\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use the Discourse VPS Template"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"no-margin\">Discourse is a modern, open-source discussion platform built for the next decade of the Internet. It offers a range of features, including real-time updates, robust moderation tools, and a flexible plugin system. The <b>Ubuntu 24.04 with Discourse VPS template<\/b> on Hostinger comes with <b>Docker <\/b>and the Discourse setup script <b>pre-installed<\/b>. This guide will walk you through accessing your VPS via SSH and completing the Discourse setup process.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><div class=\"intercom-interblocks-callout\" style=\"background-color: #d7efdc80;border-color: #1bb15733\">\n<p class=\"no-margin\">If you are looking for a new VPS, make sure to check the options available here: <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/vps\/discourse-hosting\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"intercom-content-link\">Discourse VPS hosting<\/a> &#128640;<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><h2 id=\"h_b0f654f0db\">Accessing Your VPS via SSH<\/h2><ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Open your <b>terminal <\/b>(or use an SSH client like PuTTY if you&rsquo;re on Windows)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Connect to your VPS by entering the following command:<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><pre><code>ssh root@[your-vps-ip]<\/code><\/pre><p class=\"no-margin\">Replacing <b>[your-vps-ip]<\/b> with the <b><a href=\"\/support\/5139756-how-to-find-your-vps-ip-address\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"intercom-content-link\">actual IP address of your VPS<\/a><\/b>.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">For more detailed steps, check this guide: <b><a href=\"\/support\/5723772-how-to-connect-to-your-vps-via-ssh\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"intercom-content-link\">How to Connect to Your VPS via SSH<\/a><\/b>.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><h2 id=\"h_a83ca57af9\">Running the Discourse Setup Script<\/h2><p class=\"no-margin\">Once logged in via SSH, the Discourse setup will launch automatically.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><div class=\"intercom-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/05\/2ec4f581-ab5d-4178-a8b0-2d3cca7c2c03.jpg\"><\/div><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">The script will ask you for different configuration details. Respond to the questions as follows:<\/p><ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\"><b>Hostname<\/b> for your Discourse &ndash; Enter the <b>domain name or subdomain<\/b> you want to use for your Discourse installation<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\"><b>Email address<\/b> for admin account &ndash; Provide an email address to be used for the Discourse <b>admin account<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\"><b>SMTP server<\/b> address &ndash; Enter the address of the SMTP server that Discourse will use for sending emails. If you don&rsquo;t have set up an email server on your VPS, you can consider a <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/business-email\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"intercom-content-link\">Hostinger Business Email<\/a><\/b> plan<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">SMTP <b>username<\/b> &ndash; Provide the username for your SMTP server<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">SMTP <b>password<\/b> &ndash; Provide the password for your SMTP server<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\"><b>Let&rsquo;s Encrypt<\/b> email &ndash; Enter an email address for Let&rsquo;s Encrypt SSL setup and notifications (optional)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\"><b>Maxmind <\/b>license key &ndash; If you have a Maxmind license key (optional) for reverse IP lookups, enter it here<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><p class=\"no-margin\">The script will then download and configure the necessary components. This might take a few minutes.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><h2 id=\"h_95f80929b0\">Accessing Your Discourse Installation<\/h2><p class=\"no-margin\">Once the setup script finishes, open your web browser and navigate to the domain name you entered during setup. Click on the <b>Register<\/b> button:<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><div class=\"intercom-container intercom-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/05\/f0e58213-35ac-4e0a-bff9-dcb2f707a291.jpg\" width=\"550\"><\/div><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">Next, follow the on-screen instructions to create your admin account and complete the setup.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><h2 id=\"h_a6119a696f\">Configuring Discourse<\/h2><p class=\"no-margin\">Use the admin account credentials you created to log in to the Discourse admin panel.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><div class=\"intercom-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2024\/05\/f267de45-63a4-42d3-98b6-cfa938ea00db.jpg\"><\/div><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\"><b>Customize your Discourse instance<\/b> by configuring settings such as categories, user permissions, and site appearance. You can also enhance your Discourse instance by installing plugins available from the Discourse community.<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><h2 id=\"h_7ffdf90fcd\">Additional Tips<\/h2><ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Make sure to set up regular backups for your Discourse data. You can do so on the admin panel under <b>Backups<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">If you didn&rsquo;t configure SSL initially, you can do so later by following the instructions in the <b><a href=\"https:\/\/meta.discourse.org\/t\/set-up-https-support-with-lets-encrypt\/40709\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"intercom-content-link\" rel=\"noopener\">Discourse SSL guide<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">Monitor the performance and health of your Discourse instance using tools like <b>htop<\/b> and <b>docker stats<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><p class=\"no-margin\">Now that you have deployed and configured Discourse on your VPS, you can make use of its powerful features to create an engaging community!<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\">\n<\/p><p class=\"no-margin\"><b>Additional Resources<\/b><\/p><ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"no-margin\">For more detailed information and advanced configurations, refer to the official <b><a href=\"https:\/\/meta.discourse.org\/c\/documentation\/10\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"intercom-content-link\" rel=\"noopener\">Discourse documentation<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting started with the Discourse VPS template<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":581,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"include_on_kodee":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vps-os-and-templates"],"hreflangs":[{"locale":"en-US","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/9336092-how-to-use-the-discourse-vps-template\/","default":1}],"include_on_kodee":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/581"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2452,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/2452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}