VPS

A VPS (virtual private server) is a slice of a big server that you rent from a provider and that behaves like a whole computer for you, switched on day and night and connected to the internet. It's for keeping running whatever has to be available at all times: a website, a service that looks after customers, an AI agent or automated tasks that can't depend on your computer being on.

The word "virtual" is what throws people. Several VPS belonging to different customers share the same physical machine, but each one has its own operating system, memory and disk reserved, and you don't see the others. It differs from traditional web hosting in that here you're in charge: you install whatever you want. The flip side is that it's also up to you to maintain it, update it and protect it, because as soon as it's on the internet it starts receiving break-in attempts. A VPS isn't difficult, but you can't just leave it alone.

I have an external network of 6 VPS, plus an internal network of 8 servers, and each does different things. The full setup is in "How I'm working with artificial intelligence", and I break it down across several articles: why I have some inside and others outside, how I set up a VPS, Linux or Windows, which harnesses run on each machine and whether, in the end, it's worth it.