How to setup YunoHost at Oracle free tier VM (works on AMD and ARM servers)

yunohost-oracle-free-tier.md

0. Register for Oracle Cloud Free Tier
1. Create compute instance
   • change image to Canonical Ubuntu
   • confirm that a public IPv4 address is assigned
   • upload your public ssh key
   • leave everything blank in Boot volume
2. Enable Internet Access
   • Instances → Instance details → Subnet → Default Security List → Add Ingress Rules
   • HTTP: Stateless: Checked Source Type: CIDR Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0 IP Protocol: TCP Source port range: (leave-blank) Destination Port Range: 80 Description: Allow HTTP connections
   • HTTPs: Stateless: Checked Source Type: CIDR Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0 IP Protocol: TCP Source port range: (leave-blank) Destination Port Range: 443 Description: Allow HTTPs connections
3. Connect to your ubuntu machine via ssh: ssh ubuntu@<your public IPv4 address> and install firewall software
   • update apt list: sudo apt update
   • install firewalld: sudo apt install firewalld -y
   • enable HTTP connection through port 80: sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent
   • enable HTTPS connections on port 443: sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=https --permanent
   • reload the firewall: sudo firewall-cmd --reload
   • you can check that port is opened via sudo python3 -m http.server 80 and opening your public IPv4 address in a browser
4. Install debian using this script:
   • curl -fLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bohanyang/debi/master/debi.sh
   • chmod a+rx debi.sh
   • sudo ./debi.sh --version 11. If you have your public key uploaded somewhere (e.g., github), you can add --authorized-keys-url https://github.com/<github username>.keys to the command. Otherwise you can always upload it later via ssh-copy-id
   • sudo reboot
5. You need to wait around 5-7 minutes now.
6. Update known host authorization: ssh-keygen -R <your public IPv4 address>
7. Connect to newly created debian via ssh: ssh debian@<your public IPv4 address>
   • install some packages: sudo apt update && sudo apt install htop curl unzip tmux -y
   • start tmux session: tmux new -s yuno
   • become root: sudo -i
8. Install YunoHost:
   • run install script: curl https://install.yunohost.org | bash
   • open your public IPv4 address in a browser and proceed with the initial configuration
9. Note: next time you should connect to this machine via ssh admin@<your public IPv4 address> and use password from previus step. You can copy your public key later.
10. Optional For complete setup of YunoHost you need to open a couple more ports (5222, 5269, 25, 587, 993) the same way from second step. More info

P.S. I am not sure that third step is necessary.

Alternatively, you can also find a compatible Debian image and import it for free: https://www.datahoards.com/creating-debian-vm-oracle-cloud-free-tier/
I also recommend you enable IPv6 during instance creation because setting it up manually later is pretty hard.
If you, like me, are unable to log in after allowing YunoHost to manage your SSH server, you can enable "Password authentication" at YunoHost WebUI settings and log in to your server using ssh [email protected], where admin is the username you setup as admin of your YunoHost instance and 1.2.3.4 your Oracle instance IPv4 public IP address. Alternatively, you can go to the "OS Management" tab of your instance in Oracle Cloud and connect through the console there. In both cases, specify your YunoHost user password to log in.
During the Oracle instance creation, you downloaded the SSH private (.key) and public key (.key.pub) of the VM. You can open the .key.pub file with a text editor, copy its contents, and assign it to the YunoHost admin with the following command on your server:

sudo yunohost user ssh add-key username 'ssh-rsa AAAAB3... ssh-key-2025-11-04'

where ssh-rsa AAAAB3... ssh-key-2025-11-04 is your public key file contents.

You can now disable password authentication in your YunoHost WebUI settings and log in using your key only:

1. Create a ~/.ssh/config file in your local machine with the following content:

    Host 1.2.3.4
        HostName 1.2.3.4
        User admin
        IdentityFile ~/.ssh/ssh-key-2025-11-04.key
        UseKeychain yes  # To store the passphrase in the macOS Keychain

Where 1.2.3.4 is your Oracle instance IPv4 public IP address, admin is your YunoHost admin username specified during YunoHost WebUI installation, and ~/.ssh/ssh-key-2025-11-04.key is your Private Key.

2. Execute the following command on your machine to connect to your YunoHost instance: ssh [email protected], where admin is the username you set up as admin of your YunoHost instance and 1.2.3.4 is your Oracle instance IPv4 public IP address. You should be able to log in without specifying your YunoHost user password.