Introduction

Mastodon is an open-source social network platform that allows users to create their own communities. It is decentralized, providing users with the ability to communicate across different servers. This guide will walk you through the installation of Mastodon on Ubuntu 22.04, which can be effectively hosted on a Windows VPS UK for optimal performance and scalability.

Prerequisites

• A server running Ubuntu 22.04 with root access
• Basic knowledge of Linux commands
• PostgreSQL and Redis installed for the database and caching
• Node.js and Yarn installed for asset management
• Ruby installed for the backend

Step 1: Update Your System

Begin by updating your package index and upgrading any existing packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

Install the necessary packages for Mastodon:

sudo apt install -y git curl gnupg2 build-essential libssl-dev libreadline-dev libyaml-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libffi-dev zlib1g-dev libpq-dev

Step 3: Install PostgreSQL

Install PostgreSQL to manage your database:

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib

Create a PostgreSQL user and database for Mastodon:

sudo -u postgres createuser --superuser mastodon
sudo -u postgres createdb -O mastodon mastodon_production

Step 4: Install Redis

Install Redis for caching:

sudo apt install -y redis-server

Start Redis and enable it to run at boot:

sudo systemctl start redis-server
sudo systemctl enable redis-server

Step 5: Install Node.js and Yarn

Install Node.js and Yarn using the following commands:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
sudo npm install --global yarn

Step 6: Install Ruby and Bundler

Install Ruby using rbenv and Bundler:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv-installer/raw/main/bin/rbenv-installer | bash
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
rbenv install 3.0.0
rbenv global 3.0.0
gem install bundler

Step 7: Clone Mastodon Repository

Clone the Mastodon repository from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon.git ~/mastodon

Navigate to the Mastodon directory:

cd ~/mastodon

Step 8: Install Dependencies

Install the required gems and npm packages:

bundle install
yarn install

Step 9: Configure Mastodon

Copy the example configuration file and edit it:

cp .env.production.sample .env.production
nano .env.production

Update the configuration file with your domain name and database settings.

Step 10: Precompile Assets

Precompile assets for production:

RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails assets:precompile

Step 11: Start Mastodon Services

Finally, start Mastodon services:

RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails db:migrate
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails server

Step 12: Access Mastodon

You can now access your Mastodon instance by navigating to http://your_domain.com in your web browser.

Step 13: Conclusion

You have successfully installed the Mastodon social network on Ubuntu 22.04. This installation provides a robust platform for managing your own social media network. This setup can greatly benefit from being hosted on a Windows VPS. For additional options, explore various VPS UK Windows solutions, including Windows Virtual Private Server Hosting and Windows VPS Hosting UK for optimal performance.