DirectAdmin is a graphical user interface (GUI) and also a control panel that helps you install and manage a full stack of web servers. This is possible on a wide variety of modern distributions and operating systems.

Purchase a valid license for DirectAdmin

A valid license is required to run the GUI. You can also get acquainted with the 60-year trial version and choose the license that will suit you based on your requirements on this page

Installing DirectAdmin

At this step you need to install the required packages (as root user)

# apt install wget gcc g++ make flex bison openssl libssl-dev \
perl perl-base perl-modules libperl-dev libperl4-corelibs-perl \
libwww-perl libaio1 libaio-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev libcap-dev cron \
bzip2 zip automake autoconf libtool cmake pkg-config python \
libdb-dev libsasl2-dev libncurses5 libncurses5-dev libsystemd-dev \
bind9 dnsutils quota patch logrotate rsyslog libc6-dev libexpat1-dev \
libcrypt-openssl-rsa-perl curl libnuma-dev libnuma1

Next, download and run the DirectAdmin installation script:

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

Further actions after installing

Navigate to the new DirectAdmin server on port 2222 to start the configuration. Replace the example IP address (192.0.1.111) with your own

http://192.0.1.111:2222

Turn on Let’s Encrypt SSL for secure internet, mail and FTP access

$ /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/letsencrypt.sh request_single your_server.example.com 4096

Redirect non-SSL requests to the newly created SSL-protected hostname:

$ /usr/local/directadmin/directadmin set ssl_redirect_host yourserver.example.com
$ service directadmin restart

Add following PHP functions to the disable_functions list:

$ cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
$ ./build update
$ ./build secure_php

Ensure that complex passwords are respected in your directadmin.conf file:

$ echo 'enforce_difficult_passwords=1' >> /usr/local/directadmin/conf/directadmin.conf