# Hosting on shared servers

# From public to public_html

• On shared hosting servers (e.g. sinners.be), the default folder for your website is probably not named public, but public_html
• With the steps described below, you can reconfigure your Laravel application to use the folder public_html instead of public

# Rename the public folder

• Rename the public folder to public_html

# Update homestead

• Stop Vagrant: vagrant halt
• Open C:\vagrant\homestead\Homestead.yaml and change, under sites:, the public folder of your project to public_html.
  E.g. for vinyl_shop.test:

-   map: vinyl_shop.test
    to: /home/vagrant/code/vinyl_shop/public_html

• Start Vagrant with provisioning: vagrant up --provision

# Modify Laravel files

• Open public_html/index.php and add some code to overwrite the default public path

$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../bootstrap/app.php';
// overwrite the default public path with the path of the current folder
$app->bind('path.public', function() {
    return __DIR__;
});

• Open bootstrap/app.php and fix the path for Artisan scripts

$app = new Illuminate\Foundation\Application(
    $_ENV['APP_BASE_PATH'] ?? dirname(__DIR__)
);
// fix path for Artisan scripts
$app->bind('path.public', function() {
    return base_path().'/public_html';
});

# Modify Laravel mix

• Open webpack.mix.js
  • Set the public path to public_html
  • Change the output path for mix.js() to js and for mix.sass() to css

mix.setPublicPath('public_html');

mix.js('resources/js/app.js', 'js')
    .sass('resources/sass/app.scss', 'css');

# Solve the mixed content issue

• Mixed content occurs when a webpage is loaded over a secure HTTPS connection, but other resources are loaded over an insecure HTTP connection
  • Recently, browsers started checking whether there is no mixed content (i.e. both https:// and http://) on webpages
• Without any extra precautions, also Laravel suffers from this issue, e.g. on the login page/form:

• Open app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php
  • Add the following code to force all routes in production mode to use HTTPS

public function boot()
{
    if (App::environment('production')) {
        URL::forceScheme('https');
    }
}

# Put your website online

# Recompile your assets for production

• The assets app.css and app.js are not production ready and should be minified/optimized using the command npm run prod.
  See also Config -> Laravel Mix -> Recompile for production.

# Upload the files to your hosting provider

• Upload all folders, except .git, .idea, database, node_modules and tests
• Upload only the file .env

• Test the homepage of your online application

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]

# Update the remote .env file

• Upodate the REMOTE (not the local!) .env file

APP_NAME="The Vinyl Shop"
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=base64:e77jPGGcqZ4sNADHI5f/icC+LFnBw34hpRJKSf2ftnI=
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://vinylshop.sinners.be

• By setting APP_DEBUG=false, visitors will get a 500 | Server Error (instead of detailed error information) if something goes wrong

# Export/import the vinylshop database

• Open http://phpmyadmin.test/ (or http://homestead.test/phpmyadmin/)
  • Click on the vinylshop database, go to the tab "Exporteren" and click on "Starten"
  • Save the file vinylshop.sql to your desktop

• Create a new database on your hosting
  • Open your remote phpMyAdmin
  • "Importeer" (= the tab next to "Exporteren") vinylshop.sql (in your newly created database on your remote phpMyAdmin)
• Open the REMOTE .env file and update all DB_... variables
  • E.g. for sinners.be, the values of the DB_... variables can be found at the database page of the Sin Control panel:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=db.sinners.be
DB_PORT=3306                  # NOT port 33060 like in Homestead!
DB_DATABASE=xxxxx_vinylshop
DB_USERNAME=xxxxx
DB_PASSWORD=xxxxx

• Open one of the pages relying on the database (e.g. the shop master page) to test the remote database connection

# Configure a real mail server

• Your application (contact page, reset password page) needs a real outgoing mail server (SMTP server) to send out the emails. You have different options to establish this:
  

1. Use the SMTP server from your hosting provider
   • All paid hosting solutions have there own SMTP server(s)
   • Open the REMOTE .env file and update all MAIL_... variables, as specified in your control panel
     
     
2. Use your Office365 SMTP server
   • Open the REMOTE .env file and update all MAIL_... variables

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.office365.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=sxxxxxxx@student.thomasmore.be           # office365 login account
MAIL_PASSWORD=xxxxx                                    # office365 password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=name.surname@student.thomasmore.be   # office365 mail address
MAIL_FROM_NAME="The Vinyl Shop"                          
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls

3. Use your Gmail SMTP server
   • Limited to 500 emails a day
   • If you have a Gmail-account, you can use the following MAIL_... variables in the REMOTE .env file

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=xxxxx@gmail.com       # your gmail address
MAIL_PASSWORD=xxxxx                 # your gmail password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=xxxxx@gmail.com   # your gmail address
MAIL_FROM_NAME="The Vinyl Shop"                          
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls

# Updates and maintenance

• A Laravel application is a never ending story ...
  • When you add/update a file (Blade view, controller, ...), upload them individually to your remote host
  • When you delete a file, don't forget to delete the file from your remote host as well
  • When you update resources/js/vinylShop.js or resources/sass/app.scss, don't forget to upload the COMPILED files public_html/js/app.js and public_html/css/app.css
    IMPORTANT: Don't forget to recompile your assets for production before uploading!
  • When you update your composer packages (with composer update), it's best to delete the whole external vendor folder and upload it again