Sympl (original) (raw)

Easy to use self-hosting of websites and email on Linux servers.

Easy to understand

Configuration is done by creating directories and files, no complicated configuration editing needed, just upload and go.

Automatic Encryption

HTTPS is automatically enabled for all websites, using free Let's Encrypt certificates, which also secure email.

Full Email support

Support for IMAP and POP3 mailboxes, with forwarding, quotas, server-side message rules and user password changes.

Works with you

Configurations are all built from templates, and you're free to make custom changes, which Sympl won't overwrite.

Secure by Design

Sympl automatically updates configurations to match best practices, and is backed by security updates from the Debian project.

Reduced Management

Spend less time looking after your server - Sympl automatically checks for any problems with the server and self-heals.

Sympl is a collection of open-source scripts and templates which allow you to automatically and efficiently configure your website and email on a server running the industry-standard Debian Linux.

Configured by creating files in directories via SSH or SFTP, it uses template-based configurations following best-practices and decades of system administration experience to make configuring and maintaining full Web Hosting 'LAMP' and Email stacks trivial.

Forked from Symbiosis by a System Administrator who supported it across hundreds of servers for multiple years, it maintains the easy to understand configuration methods of its parent but adds features and functionality you'd expect from modern hosting packages, with a focus on security and maintainability.

Sympl benefits from the security updates from the Debian Security team, and automatically applies security updates daily, with Long Term Support from Debian for 5 years or more, and if it comes to it, it's easy to migrate your website and email to a new server.

Finally, Sympl is under continuous development, and has an active, supportive, community, and even updates itself automatically, providing new functionally as time goes on.

It's available now for Debian Stretch, Buster and Bullseye at no cost, and will run happily on Dedicated or Virtual servers, and even the Raspberry Pi.

Sympl Includes:

Web Server

Web hosting on the industry-standard Apache, with a stable version of PHP with full security updates and optional log analysis.

Database Server

MariaDB database server, fully compatible with (and from the developers of) MySQL, along with phpMyAdmin for administration.

PHP and CGI

PHP support from the Debian project, who maintain a stable version and back-port any security fixes, meaning you don't need to keep updating.

Free SSL Certificates

Free HTTPS certificates from Let’s Encrypt, automatically retrieved and applied so you don’t need to do anything.

IMAP and POP3 Mailboxes

Email via the popular Exim and Dovecot, with secure Email by default, spam filtering and anti-virus, as well as webmail and mail filtering rules.

SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Easy to use support for cryptographically signing email using DKIM to significantly improve your email deliverability.

FTP Server

Full support for per-site FTP access, easy to use optional file quotas and other features, all through Pure-FTPd.

Firewall

An easy to use firewall, ensuring your system is safe by default.

Self Monitoring

Continuous local monitoring of the server, which automatically self-repairs any problems it detects, keeping things running.

Automatic Updates

Sympl automatically updates itself as security improvements are released.

The great thing about Sympl is that it works so well. Month in, month out, the system carries on working with no issues, no fuss, no problems. I expect we could manage without Sympl, but I’m certain that we’d not want to!

Iain

[Sympl is] remarkably resilient considering how much I’ve messed around adding bits of my own, while the basic functionality of Sympl just keeps running.

Anahata

Treewind Music and Technical Services

We host several hundred sites on multiple servers using Sympl. We’re primarily a web design and development agency, and our team members can create new sites, create databases, and get the site set up with an SSL certificate in seconds.

Symbiosis started out really well but [...] in the Sympl guise things have been more stable and kept up to date in good time. I prefer it to any overblown cPanel based setup by a country mile.

Phill Luckhurst

Sympl is a good choice if you want to host websites and emails for clients without needing in-house system administration.