How To Install DirectAdmin – Updated Dec 2024

Before installing DirectAdmin let us see which operating system does it supports.

System Requirements

Red Hat Enterprise
Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivatives – CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux.
Debian.
Ubuntu.

Partition scheme

We suggest a simple partition structure of:

Partition	Size
/boot	500 MB
swap	2 x RAM but no more than 16 GB
/	Rest of drive

Begin the installation!

bash <(curl -fsSL https://download.directadmin.com/setup.sh) 'Provided license key should go here'

OR

bash <(curl -Ss https://www.directadmin.com/setup.sh) auto

After the setup is completed you can access your DirectAdmin control panel using port 2222

http://server.ip.address:2222

Steps to Follow Post DA Installation:

Remove DA limited notice on login page if you are using Legacy License. https://forum.directadmin.com/threads/directadmin-1-664.70784/page-2#post-376159
Install CSF
Install CloudLinux and enable Cagefs
Install Imunify 360
Install Softaculous: https://www.softaculous.com/docs/admin/installing-softaculous-in-directadmin/

1. Install SSL for your Hostname

cd /usr/local/directadmin/scripts
./letsencrypt.sh request_single `hostname` 4096

2. Install Ion Cube

cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
./build update
./build set ioncube yes
./build ioncube

3. Run Scripts / Harden PHP

Go to DA custom build scripts. Run PHP Hardening and Install Spamassassin.

4. CSF Settings

You don't need to install CSF with imunify, however, if you do you can open these common ports and also allow some scripts to run by editing process ignore list inside CSF
TCP_IN = 35000:35999,20,21,22,25,53,853,80,110,143,443,465,587,993,995,2222,4085,4083, 2087, 2086
TCP_OUT =20,21,22,25,53,80,110,113,143,443,465,587,853,993,995,2222,8443,44445,55556,7770:7800,4085,4083, 2087, 2086

###############################################################################
# Copyright 2006-2019, Way to the Web Limited
# URL: http://www.configserver.com
# Email: sales@waytotheweb.com
###############################################################################
# The following is a list of executables (exe) command lines (cmd) and
# usernames (user) that lfd process tracking will ignore.
#
# You must use the following format:
#
# exe:/full/path/to/file
# user:username
# cmd:command line
#
# Or, perl regular expression matching (regex):
#
# pexe:/full/path/to/file as a perl regex[*]
# puser:username as a perl regex[*]
# pcmd:command line as a perl regex[*]
#
# [*]You must remember to escape characters correctly when using regex's, e.g.:
# pexe:/home/.*/public_html/cgi-bin/script\.cgi
# puser:bob\d.*
# pcmd:/home/.*/command\s\to\smatch\s\.pl\s.*
#
# It is strongly recommended that you use command line ignores very carefully
# as any process can change what is reported to the OS.
#
# For more information see readme.txt

exe:/bin/dbus-daemon
exe:/sbin/ntpd
exe:/usr/bin/dbus-daemon
exe:/usr/bin/dbus-daemon
exe:/usr/bin/dbus-daemon-1
exe:/usr/bin/lsmd
exe:/usr/lib/polkit-1/polkitd
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/anvil
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/imap
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/pop3
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/stats
exe:/usr/libexec/gam_server
exe:/usr/libexec/hald-addon-acpi
exe:/usr/libexec/hald-addon-keyboard
exe:/usr/local/directadmin/dataskq
exe:/usr/local/directadmin/directadmin
exe:/usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap
exe:/usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
exe:/usr/local/libexec/dovecot/pop3
exe:/usr/local/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login
exe:/usr/local/mysql-5.1.54-linux-x86_64/bin/mysqld
exe:/usr/sbin/chronyd
exe:/usr/sbin/exim
exe:/usr/sbin/exim
exe:/usr/sbin/hald
exe:/usr/sbin/httpd
exe:/usr/sbin/mysqld
exe:/usr/sbin/mysqld_safe
exe:/usr/sbin/named
exe:/usr/sbin/nscd
exe:/usr/sbin/ntpd
exe:/usr/sbin/proftpd
exe:/usr/sbin/sshd
exe:/usr/sbin/apache2
exe:/usr/sbin/mysqld
exe:/lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd
exe:/usr/local/bin/freshclam
exe:/sbin/rngd
exe:/usr/sbin/mariadbd
exe:/usr/bin/dbus-broker-launch
exe:/usr/bin/dbus-broker

# Some additional entries that you might want to ignore on DirectAdmin
# servers.
# However, be aware of the security implications under "Process Tracking" in
# the csf readme.txt when using these:
#
#cmd:/bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe
#cmd:/bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --basedir=/usr
#pcmd:MailScanner:.*
exe:/bin/gzip
exe:/bin/tar
exe:/opt/netdata/bin/bash
exe:/opt/netdata/bin/srv/netdata
exe:/opt/netdata/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/apps.plugin
exe:/opt/netdata/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/go.d.plugin
exe:/usr/bin/clamd
exe:/usr/bin/curl
exe:/usr/bin/freshclam
exe:/usr/bin/rspamd
exe:/usr/bin/wget
exe:/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/indexer
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/indexer-worker
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/lmtp
exe:/usr/libexec/dovecot/managesieve-login
exe:/usr/local/bin/lsphp
exe:/usr/local/bin/pureftpd_uploadscan.sh
exe:/usr/local/bin/redis-server
exe:/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld
exe:/usr/sbin/atd
exe:/usr/sbin/nginx
exe:/usr/sbin/proxyexec
exe:/usr/sbin/pure-ftpd
exe:/usr/sbin/rsyslogd
exe:/usr/sbin/unitd
exe:/usr/selector/lsphp
exe:/usr/selector/php
exe:/usr/selector/php-cli
exe:/usr/share/cagefs-skeleton/usr/selector/lsphp
pexe:/opt/alt/php../usr/bin/lsphp
pexe:/opt/alt/php../usr/bin/php
pexe:/opt/alt/php../usr/bin/php-cgi
pexe:/usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd.*
pexe:/usr/local/php../bin/lsphp..
pexe:/usr/local/php../bin/php-cgi..
pexe:/usr/local/php../bin/php..
pexe:/usr/local/php../bin/php_uploadscan.sh
pexe:/usr/local/php../sbin/php-fpm..
pexe:/usr/local/safe-bin/fcgid...sh
user:mysql
user:netdata

pexe:/opt/alt/php.*/usr/bin/lsphp

exe:/var/ossec/bin/ossec-monitord
exe:/var/ossec/bin/ossec-analysisd
exe:/var/ossec/bin/ossec-remoted

Import Reseller Plans

Here is the text to be imported for above-mentioned reseller plans.

DA Reseller Plans Download

Here are some regular shared hosting plans which you can import in DA account.

Here is the text to be imported for the above-mentioned user plans.

DA User Packages Download

Tweaks Under Admin Section

Timeout (seconds) & Session Timeout (minutes)
change to 300
Max Request / Upload Size to 2 GB
Max Username Length 25
Blacklist IPs for excessive DA login attempt to change to 5 from 20
Prevent 127.0.0.1 from being Blacklisted check it
Remove an IP from the blacklist after & Remove an IP from the BF blacklist after to 0
Scan for WordPress attacks on all

Allow PHP Disabled Functions Using Cloudlinux’s PHP Selector

Read how to enable users to change disable_functions settings in DirectAdmin

Update Logs

12.02.2024 – Added diable_functions guide

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