lila-cruft/README-install.md

HOWTO Set up Your Own Chess Server

This document shows how to install a chess server. The free software application Lila, written by the fine developers at https://lichess.org, will be used.

Overview

System will be built from these main parts listed below. You don't need to know all of these, but knowing some system administration will help.

• OVH ISP.

• Debian stable (Bullseye/11).

• Lila.

• Lila-ws.

• Apache.

• MongoDB.

• Redis.

• Scala.

• Java.

• SBT.

• Yarn.

• Python.

• Git.

• Node.

• Certbot.

• DNS.

• All the way down to GRUB and below...

Upstream

The best current upstream document describing the process is here:

https://github.com/ornicar/lila/wiki/Lichess-Development-Onboarding

Main upstream repos:

• https://github.com/ornicar/lila
• https://github.com/ornicar/lila-ws

Pre-Installation Setup

First, you need to have a location to host the server. You will want a server with a minimum of 4 gigs of RAM. When the server is running, usage is low, but it takes awhile to compile, so more CPU/RAM will speed that up.

For this example, we'll set up at OVH, which is the same Internet company that lichess.org uses.

You will also need a domain and someone providing domain name service (DNS). OVH provides this service (presumably?) or I recommend Njalla.

Register DNS

Since it takes awhile to spread across the Internet, it is best to first register your domain so that process can happen in the background while you are setting up the server.

For this example, we'll use the domain mychestserver.org with the final example server URL being:

• https://www.mychestserver.org

Go to your registrar, and register your domain, such as:

• https://njal.la/

Register at ISP

Go to OVH (or ISP of your choice) and create an account to host your server. OVH may have regional websites as well:

• https://ovh.com/

Set up Workstation SSH Keys

To connect to the server, you will need SSH keys. They'll be needed at time of server creation, so we'll make them now. This is an example how to create keys on a Debian stable workstation, where the username is "debian" and the workstation name is "workstation". For OVH, we're creating ecdsa keys, which is inferior to ed25519 keys. Last I tested, OVH doesn't accept the latter.

# Run command to create keys.
# Note the location where you saved the key.
# Just hit "enter" for a passphrase.

debian@workstation:~$ ssh-keygen -t ecdsa
Generating public/private ecdsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/debian/.ssh/id_ecdsa): /home/debian/.ssh/id_ecdsa-chess
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again: 
Your identification has been saved in /home/debian/.ssh/id_ecdsa-chess
Your public key has been saved in /home/debian/.ssh/id_ecdsa-chess.pub
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:M2qUpyl31CCUcn3t2+vM6Cn4JaZIVvnFJICtTQiTQmY debian@workstation
The key's randomart image is:
+---[ECDSA 256]---+
| .E oo.*.  .     |
| o. oo= +.. .    |
|   . o.+.....    |
|      .o.+ +.    |
|      o S . oo   |
|     . B + .. .  |
|    . O ..+ .  . |
|     * o.o.o =.  |
|      . ...o+.+  |
+----[SHA256]-----+

Upload SSH key to ISP

Take SSH the key you just created above and upload it to OVH. Go to Public Cloud, then near the bottom left column, under Project Management click SSH Keys. Under the new SSH Keys window, click Add and SSH Key button. Paste the PUBLIC key created above, ending with .pub extension, into the Key section of the Add an SSH key popup window.

Take this output and paste into that form in the browser:

cat /home/debian/.ssh/id_ecdsa-chess.pub

It should look like a tangled mess like this (note, the debian@workstation field at the end is informational and can be something depending on your user/workstaion):

ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBC16EdTLECoLqSnmM/aSKrskLYN5ygu2dVvSAfiu4SAHPElrY6wqgUq6kzzsbbnko+VqyGzZ4tTWMml/AlBrQaw= debian@workstation

In the Name field, enter mychestkey.

Click Add to save the key at OVH. You should now see it in the list.

Create Virtual Machine at ISP

OVH sells dedicated "bare metal" servers called the Bare Metal Cloud. They also sell virtual machine instances under the Public Cloud. The bare metal servers can be better, but they are generally more expensive, a bit more complex to set up and maintain. So for this example, we will set up a virtual machine in the Public Cloud.

In OVH Dashboard click on Public Cloud, then in left column near the top under Compute, click Instances". Then under the new Instanceswindow, clickCreate an Instance`.

• Select a Model: Discovery tab, then select D2-8. There are some options with 4 gigs of RAM and fewer CPUs, which could be used, but kind of slow. This option is ~$20USD/month.

• Select a Region: The https://lichess.org server is in various data centers around Norther France, such as Gravelines (GRA). If you want to be close to that for some reason, you can select that. Or you could select a server that is regionally close to you and your users in another part of the world. For this example, we'll select Gravelines GRA3. Click Next.

• Select an Image: Under Unix Distributions tab, select Debian 11.

• Select an Image: Under SSH key at the bottom of the section, select the mychestkey you created and uploaded above. Click Next

• Configure your instance: Just one instance. We'll use mychestserver for the name, use yours as appropriate. We won't do any of Post-installation script, Private Networks, or Backups, although they could be used. Click Next.

• Billing Period: As you like. This is just a test, so here just using Hourly at $0.03886/hour. Click Create an instance to create the virtual computer, which also starts billing.

• OVH will say Launching Instance and a few minutes later, your server should be ready and in Activated status when viewed under the Instances tab under Public Cloud.

Forward DNS Configuration

Set up forward DNS with the new IP address OVH gave you for your instance. Look at the Public IP of your new server Activated server instance. In this example, it is 147.135.193.212. That is the network address of your new server. We want to add it to DNS, so add it to OVH (?) or Njalla's records. For this example, this URL was used:

• https://njal.la/domains/mychestserver.org/

Click Manage for the domain, then + Add Record.

• Type: Use A record.

• Name: Use www.

• IPv4 Address: Use the Public IP OVH gave you for your instance. In this example, 147.135.193.212.

• TTL: Lets do something short for now, use 5m. Click Add.

That will take anywhere from a few seconds to an hour to be picked up by nameservers around the world. It is best if you *don't` query it for now (wait ~15+ minutes) or servers may cache a negative answer, which you'll have to outwait.

Reverse DNS Configuration

Set up reverse DNS with the new IP address OVH gave you for your instance. Look at the Public IP of your new server Activated server instance. In this example, it is 147.135.193.212.

In the OVH Dashboard under your Instances, click on your instance, such as the example mychestserver. On the right hand side under Networks in the IPv4 section there is a button with three dots. Click it and select Change reverse DNS. Find your Public IP address in the list, our example 147.135.193.212. In the Reverse DNS column, click the edit pencil box icon. Enter your full domain name, such as our example www.mychestserver.org and click the check mark to save it.

Set up SSH on Workstation

Back on your workstation, set up your SSH configuration with the key you created and the new

Installation

Configuration

Usage

Lila

• https://github.com/ornicar/lila

lila-ws

• https://github.com/ornicar/lila-ws

vim ./src/main/resources/application.conf
# set
csrf.origin = "https://deepcrayon.fish"

Misc

Potentially include items such as:

• Local firewall.

• Securing ssh.

• Locking down system overall.