Installing AcelleMail on DigitalOcean

Prerequisites#

• DigitalOcean account
• Domain name with DNS access
• AcelleMail license

Step 1: Create the Droplet#

In the DigitalOcean dashboard, create a new Droplet:

• Image: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• Size: 4 GB RAM / 2 vCPUs (minimum for production)
• Region: closest to your subscribers
• Authentication: SSH key (recommended)

Step 2: Install the LEMP Stack#

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y nginx mysql-server php8.2-fpm \
  php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-curl php8.2-gd \
  php8.2-mysql php8.2-zip php8.2-bcmath php8.2-intl \
  unzip git supervisor redis-server

Step 3: Secure MySQL#

sudo mysql_secure_installation
sudo mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE acellemail; \
  CREATE USER 'acelle'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword'; \
  GRANT ALL ON acellemail.* TO 'acelle'@'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

Step 4: Deploy AcelleMail#

cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/acellemail/acellemail.git
cd acellemail
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
cp .env.example .env && php artisan key:generate
# Edit .env: DB credentials, APP_URL, MAIL settings
php artisan migrate --seed
php artisan storage:link
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache

Step 5: SSL with Let's Encrypt#

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d mail.yourdomain.com

Point your domain A record to the Droplet IP, then run the certbot command. SSL will auto-renew via cron.