Web Hosting (Nginx)

This page documents how to self-host this MkDocs site on a Linux server with Nginx.

The recommended approach is:

1. Build the site into a dedicated public directory (e.g. /var/www/robotics-course).
2. Let Nginx serve static files from that directory on port 80.
3. (Optional) Open port 443 now and add HTTPS later.
4. Run an automated daily update at 12:00 to pull from GitHub and rebuild.

Prerequisites

• A Linux server with internet access
• This repository cloned on the server
• A working Python virtual environment (robotics_course_venv) and MkDocs dependencies installed

Install Nginx

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y nginx
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Prepare the site directory

Use a dedicated directory for static files:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/robotics-course
sudo chown -R $USER:www-data /var/www/robotics-course
sudo chmod -R 0755 /var/www/robotics-course

Build and deploy the site

This repository provides an update-and-build script:

• update_and_build.sh

Run a first build:

cd /home/hachimi/project/robotics-course
DEPLOY_DIR=/var/www/robotics-course ./scripts/update_and_build.sh

Configure Nginx (HTTP only)

A minimal Nginx site config template is provided:

• robotics-course.conf

Install the config:

sudo cp /home/hachimi/project/robotics-course/deploy/nginx/robotics-course.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/robotics-course
sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/robotics-course /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/robotics-course
sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

If you have a domain, edit server_name in /etc/nginx/sites-available/robotics-course.

Firewall (allow only 22/80/443)

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status verbose

Daily auto-update at 12:00

Option A: systemd timer (recommended)

Templates are provided:

• robotics-course-update.service
• robotics-course-update.timer

Install and enable:

sudo cp /home/hachimi/project/robotics-course/deploy/systemd/robotics-course-update.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo cp /home/hachimi/project/robotics-course/deploy/systemd/robotics-course-update.timer /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now robotics-course-update.timer
sudo systemctl list-timers | grep robotics-course || true

Option B: cron

A crontab line is provided:

• robotics-course.cron

Add it to root's crontab:

sudo crontab -e

Validation

• Confirm Nginx is listening on port 80:

ss -lntp | grep ':80' || true

• Fetch the homepage from the server:

curl -I http://127.0.0.1/