So after returning to my VPS after a very long absence, I found that my usual VestaCP completely died. All the basics were still available at the VestaCP Website. I was able to navigate to the original site, download the installation script, and install it. But when the panel came up, the content of my domain was unresponsive. No Web, No User, etc. So Plan B was to check out forks that had been developed. I had some experience with using Debian with a VestaCP Fork so found myself navigating to the discussion Forum of MyVestaCP to check whether everything was still alive and well, and it was:
https://www.myvestacp.com/install_generator.html
The above fork has been created and actively maintained by one of the former administrators of the original VestaCP, dpeca. He is managing a few servers with Debian using VestaCP, so he says it is in his interest to keep the panel script up to date and safe by frequently updating it. He only has time for working on Debian however, which meant of course I had to learn some basics, which after months of inactivity I had to brush up on. Fortunately I found some old notes of mine for how to install MyVestaCP installation script with guidelines on what to install on Debian to make the MyVesta script work.
apt install curl
curl -O http://c.myvestacp.com/vst-install-debian.sh
bash vst-install-debian.sh (plus my installation preferences as per the URL above)
After fumbling with Debian for a little while to get the hang of it (with plenty of help of Google), I was able to create MyVestaCP panel, and was most relieved when my old and familiar Panel made its appearance. It was then that I realized I hadn’t changed the Name Servers of my domain yet, so had to do that first before I continued with the installation of this WordPress site.
So again, MANY THANKS to dpeca for being so dedicated to keep the fork alive and very much up to date. Particularly now that the original VestaCP is no longer usable. When I checked in at dpeca’s discussion Forum I noticed we’re now onto Debian 11. So at some or other point I will need to upgrade my VPS OS again as the most up to date Debian OS on offer at my VPS Host for Open VZ is Debian 10. I know I have a tutorial somewhere for doing the upgrade manually on my VPS, so that may be an interesting project for later. Watch this space.