How to Deploy Your HTML Website on a Linux Server (Apache + SFTP)

Launching a simple HTML website on your own Linux server is easier than you might think. Whether you're sharing a static landing page or integrating HTML into a backend system like Flask, here’s a complete hands-on guide you can follow.

🔥 Method 1 — Deploying Directly to Apache Web Server

Apache by default serves files from the directory: 
/var/www/html

Step-1: Create/Verify the HTML Folder

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html
cd /var/www/html

Step-2: Upload Your HTML File

Use SFTP tools like FileZilla, WinSCP, or sftp command-line to copy cortex.html (or your HTML file) from your local machine to /var/www/html.
💡 You may need folder permissions from your server admin.

Step-3: (Optional) Create/Edit HTML Directly in Server

sudo vim /var/www/html/cortex.html

Common Vim commands:
:wq  Save and exit
:q!  Exit without saving
:w   Save only (don’t exit)

Step-4: Set Correct Permissions

sudo chmod 644 /var/www/html/cortex.html
sudo chmod 644 /var/www/html/index.html

Step-5: Fix File Naming (optional)

sudo mv /var/www/html/Cortex.html /var/www/html/cortex.html

Step-6: Confirm Apache DocumentRoot

DocumentRoot "/var/www/html"

Step-7: Restart Apache

sudo systemctl restart httpd      # CentOS/RHEL
sudo systemctl restart apache2    # Ubuntu/Debian

Your page should now load at:
http://<server-ip>/ or http://<server-ip>/cortex.html


Method 2 — Serve HTML Inside a Flask App on Custom Port (81)

Sometimes, we want to deploy HTML via a Flask application running behind Apache on a different port, e.g. 81.

Folder Structure

/var/www/flaskapp/
└── templates/
    ├── index.html
    └── se.html   <- (optional subpage)

Step-1: Copy the HTML into Flask Template

sudo cp /var/www/html/cortex.html /var/www/flaskapp/templates/index.html

Step-2: Add Apache VirtualHost for Port 81

<VirtualHost *:81>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/flaskapp
    WSGIScriptAlias / /var/www/flaskapp/flaskapp.wsgi
</VirtualHost>

Step-3: Restart Apache

sudo systemctl restart httpd

Open in browser:
http://<server-ip>:81/

Updating HTML Pages Later

Upload new version using SFTP to /var/www/ and then run:

sudo cp /var/www/cortexV3.html /var/www/flaskapp/templates/index.html
sudo systemctl restart httpd

Adding New Pages

sudo cp /var/www/cortexV4.html /var/www/flaskapp/templates/se.html
sudo chmod 644 /var/www/flaskapp/templates/se.html
sudo systemctl restart httpd

Open page at: http://<server-ip>:81/se

Summary

Task                   Command (Linux)
Create HTML folder     sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html
Upload via SFTP        Use FileZilla/WinSCP or sftp
Edit file              vim /var/www/html/filename.html
Set permission         sudo chmod 644 file.html
Restart Apache         sudo systemctl restart httpd
Copy to Flask app      sudo cp source destination

Final Thoughts

With just a handful of commands and SFTP access, you can deploy static HTML pages directly with Apache or plug them into a Python-based Flask app running on a custom port. This manual method gives you full control over your deployment — perfect for learning, testing, or lightweight production websites.