How to install an IPFS node on a VPS server

Web 3.0 is coming, and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is one of its fundamental pillars. If you want to contribute to the network or simply want to host your files in a decentralized way, installing an IPFS node on a server is a great starting point.

In this guide we will see how to install go-ipfs (the Go implementation of IPFS) on a VPS with Ubuntu 18.04.

Prerequisites

• A VPS with Ubuntu 18.04 (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, etc.)
• Access via SSH
• Basic knowledge of the terminal

1. Download and Install

First, access your server via SSH. Then download the latest version of ipfs (check on the official site for updates):

wget https://dist.ipfs.io/go-ipfs/v0.4.23/go-ipfs_v0.4.23_linux-amd64.tar.gz

Extract the archive:

tar -xvzf go-ipfs_v0.4.23_linux-amd64.tar.gz

Run the installation script:

cd go-ipfs
sudo bash install.sh

Check that the installation was successful:

ipfs --version

2. Initialize the Node

Now initialize the node. It is important to do this as the user who will run the process, not necessarily root (better to create a dedicated user).

ipfs init

This command generates the key pair for your node (PeerID) and the configuration folders in ~/.ipfs.

3. Run as Service (Systemd)

To ensure that IPFS starts automatically upon checking and stays active, we create a systemd service.

File: /etc/systemd/system/ipfs.service

[Unit]
Description=IPFS Daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
User=root
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/ipfs daemon
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable ipfs
sudo systemctl start ipfs

Check the status:

sudo systemctl status ipfs

4. Open Ports (Optional)

If you use a firewall (UFW), remember to open the ports necessary for IPFS:

• 4001/tcp (Swarm)
• 4001/udp (Swarm)
• 5001/tcp (API - Be strict with this, do not open it to the public!)
• 8080/tcp (Gateway)

sudo ufw allow 4001/tcp
sudo ufw allow 4001/udp
sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp

Security Warning: Never open port 5001 to the public internet unless you know exactly what you are doing. It gives full control over your node.

Conclusion

Your IPFS node is now active and part of the network! You can add files with ipfs add filename and view them through any IPFS gateway using the returned hash.

Welcome to the distributed web.