Set up a VPS

Setting up a new VPS means leaving it secure and ready before putting it to work: logging in for the first time, creating your own user instead of using the administrator one, logging in with keys instead of passwords, enabling a firewall (the filter that decides which connections get in), bringing updates up to date and scheduling backups. Only after that do you install whatever is going to run on it.

The typical mistake is doing it the other way round: renting the server, installing the application in a rush and leaving security "for later". A newly created VPS has a public address and starts receiving automated access attempts very soon, so that "later" may come too late. You don't need to be a sysadmin either: they're well-known, well-documented steps, and an AI can guide you through each one if you tell it what system you have. What matters is always following them, in the same order, and writing them down.

With several VPS running, I keep a list of what I do on every new machine so I don't rely on memory. That step-by-step, with the provider, what I always install, the mistakes I made and how long it really takes, I explain in "How I set up a new VPS". The checklist I use is there too, in case it helps as a starting point for yours.