How to host a Laravel App in a cheap VPS.

Introduction:

In the world of web development, Laravel stands out as one of the most popular PHP frameworks. Once you've developed a Laravel application, the next step is to make it accessible to users by hosting it on a server. While there are various hosting options available, this article will guide you through the process of hosting your Laravel app on a budget-friendly cheap Virtual Private Server (VPS).

Use Latest Server

Always use the latest web server, such as Nginx. If you're currently using Apache, consider transitioning to Nginx or another modern web server. This switch can significantly enhance your server's performance, yielding improvements ranging from 40% to 50%.
Database Configuration

Database configuration plays a crucial role in achieving optimal performance. To ensure proper performance, it is recommended to review and adjust the MySQL database configuration. Utilizing a lightweight command-line tool like MySQL Tuner can simplify this process. It retrieves and presents current configuration variables and status data in a concise format, accompanied by fundamental performance suggestions. This tool proves invaluable for making adjustments that enhance both performance and stability.
Server Monitoring

Server monitoring is a crucial aspect for optimizing applications and identifying issues for debugging and resolution. In this context, leveraging tools like Laravel Debugbar, Laravel Telescope, or Laravel Pulse can greatly assist. These packages are designed to facilitate monitoring and debugging of applications, aiding in the identification and resolution of issues to enhance overall application performance.
Update Slow Queries

Optimizing slow queries is essential for achieving better performance in your application. Utilizing proper indexing is a key strategy for optimizing slow queries. By ensuring that your database tables are appropriately indexed, you can significantly enhance query execution times. For debugging slow queries in a Laravel application, tools like Laravel Debugbar and Laravel Telescope prove invaluable. These tools offer insights into the execution of queries, allowing you to identify and analyze slow queries efficiently.
Application Caching

Optimizing your Laravel application for production is crucial for achieving better performance and efficiency. Caching configurations, routes, views, and events, as well as optimizing vendor files, are excellent practices. Laravel provides a helpful guide on deployment and optimization, and I appreciate your emphasis on referring to the official documentation.
```
  php artisan optimize:clear
  php artisan config:cache
  php artisan route:cache
  php artisan view:cache
  php artisan event:cache

  php artisan composer --optimize-autoload --no-dev
```
Production Environment

Setting up the production environment properly is crucial for ensuring optimal performance in your application. Here are some recommendations:
1. Environment Configuration: Always set the APP_ENV variable to 'production' in the .env file to indicate that your application is in a production environment.
```
   APP_ENV=production
```
  1. Debug Mode: Disable the debug mode by setting APP_DEBUG to 'false' in the .env file. This is important for preventing the application from generating logs on each request, which can impact performance.
```
APP_DEBUG=false
```
    Disabling debug mode in production is a security best practice as well, as it prevents sensitive information from being exposed.