VPS Initial Setup Guide

After deploying your VPS, follow these steps to set up a secure and well-configured server.

Connect to Your Server

Use SSH to connect to your server with the credentials provided in your welcome email:

ssh root@your-server-ip

Update the System

First, update all system packages:

apt update && apt upgrade -y (Ubuntu/Debian) yum update -y (CentOS/RHEL)

Create a New User

Create a non-root user for daily operations:

adduser yourusername usermod -aG sudo yourusername

Configure SSH Security

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config to disable root login and password authentication. Use SSH keys instead.

Set Up a Firewall

Configure UFW to only allow necessary ports:

ufw allow 22/tcp ufw allow 80/tcp ufw allow 443/tcp ufw enable

Install Essential Software

Install the software you need for your project (web server, database, etc.).

Set Up Monitoring

Configure basic monitoring to track server health and receive alerts for issues.

Next Steps

Check out our other VPS guides for advanced configuration, security hardening, and performance optimization.