Welcome to this guide on hosting .NET 6 applications on Linux. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up your Linux environment, deploy a .NET 6 application, and provide you with key insights along the way. By the end of this article, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to confidently host your .NET 6 applications on Linux.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• A Linux machine (physical or virtual) running a compatible distribution (e.g., Ubuntu, CentOS, or Debian)
• .NET 6 SDK installed on your Linux machine (can be downloaded from the official .NET website)
• Basic familiarity with Linux command-line interface (CLI)

Setting up the Linux Environment

Let’s start by setting up your Linux environment for hosting .NET 6 applications:

1. Ensure that your Linux distribution is up to date by running the appropriate package manager commands (e.g., apt-get update for Ubuntu).
2. Install the .NET 6 SDK on your Linux machine by following the installation instructions provided by Microsoft for your specific distribution:

wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y aspnetcore-runtime-6.0

Creating and Publishing a .NET 6 Application

Once your Linux environment is ready, let’s create and publish a .NET 6 application:

1. Open a terminal on your Linux machine.
2. Use the dotnet new command to create a new .NET 6 application project.
3. For example, to create a console application

dotnet new console --name MyDotNetApp

Navigate to the project directory using the command: cd MyDotNetApp.
Build the application using the command: dotnet build.
Publish the application for deployment using the dotnet publish command:

dotnet publish --configuration Release --output ./publish

Deploying the .NET 6 Application to Linux

Now, let’s deploy the published .NET 6 application to your Linux machine:

1. Transfer the published application folder (located in ./publish) to your Linux machine using a secure file transfer method like SCP or SFTP.
2. On your Linux machine, navigate to the application directory using the terminal.
3. Make the application executable by running the following command: chmod +x MyDotNetApp
4. Finally, execute the .NET 6 application by running: dotnet run

Congratulations! You have successfully hosted and executed your .NET 6 application on Linux.

Conclusion

In this guide, we covered the essential steps to host a .NET 6 application on Linux. We started by setting up your Linux environment, creating and publishing a .NET 6 application, and finally deploying and executing it on Linux. With .NET 6 and Linux, you have a powerful combination for building and hosting robust and scalable applications on a reliable and open-source platform. Explore further by leveraging the vast capabilities of .NET 6 and Linux to create innovative solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Enjoy your journey of hosting .NET 6 applications on Linux!