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Viewing articles tagged 'vpsservermanagement'

A First-Year VPS Checklist What to do, and when, in the first twelve months.DAY ONEChange root password, set up SSH keys,... A Maintenance Routine for a VPS What to do, and how often.WEEKLYApply security updates Check disk space Check backups ran and... A Service Will Not Start The most common operational problem.THE FIRST COMMANDsystemctl status for the service. It reports... Applying System Updates The single most important ongoing maintenance task.WHYMost server compromises exploit known... Automating Backups Backups you have to remember do not happen.THE COMPONENTSA script or tool that dumps databases... Automating Routine Tasks with Cron Scheduling work on a server you control.WHAT TO AUTOMATEBackups Log rotation, if not handled by... Automating Server Setup Making a rebuild repeatable.THE PROBLEMA server configured by hand over two years cannot be... Backup Strategy for a VPS On a VPS, backups are entirely your responsibility unless you have bought them.WHAT TO BACK... Caching on a VPS Multiple layers, each solving a different problem.OPCODE CACHINGOPcache stores compiled PHP so it... Choosing Between a VPS and a Dedicated Server When a slice of a machine is not enough.THE DIFFERENCEA VPS is a portion of a physical server,... Choosing VPS Specifications Sizing a server for what you actually run.START FROM THE WORKLOADA single WordPress site with... Common VPS Mistakes The ones that cause real damage.NOT SECURING IT BEFORE GOING LIVEAutomated attacks find new... Configuring a Firewall Controlling what can reach your server.THE PRINCIPLEDeny everything by default, then permit only... Connecting to Your VPS Over SSH Getting a command line on your server.FROM MACOS OR LINUXOpen a terminal and connect using the... Containers and Whether You Need Them Docker and similar, on a VPS.WHAT THEY DOPackage an application with its dependencies so it runs... Control Panels for a VPS Whether to install one, and which.WITH A CONTROL PANELcPanel and WHM, or an alternative, gives... Cost Management for a VPS Keeping spending proportionate.WHAT YOU PAY FORThe server itself Any control panel licence Backup... Creating Users and Managing Permissions Not everything should run as root.WHY IT MATTERSRoot can do anything, including destroying the... Decommissioning a VPS Safely Shutting down a server properly.BEFORE ANYTHING ELSETake a final full backup and verify it opens... Deploying Applications to Your VPS Getting code onto the server reliably.THE APPROACHESManual upload by SFTP. Simple, error-prone,... Diagnosing a Slow Server Finding the actual bottleneck.START BY MEASURINGIs the server slow, or is the application slow?... Diagnosing Network and Connectivity Problems When the problem is between systems rather than on one.BASIC TESTSping tests whether a host... Disaster Recovery Planning for a VPS What you do when the server is gone.THE SCENARIOSHardware failure A compromise requiring a... Disk Full: Emergency Response Everything breaks at once and nothing indicates why.CONFIRM ITdf -h. A filesystem at 100 per cent... Disk Space and Inode Management Disks fill silently and break everything at once.WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A DISK FILLSApplications... Do You Actually Need a VPS? Most people asking do not, and some genuinely do.YOU PROBABLY DO IFYou need root access or custom... Documenting Your Server Setup The thing nobody does until they wish they had.WHAT TO RECORDOperating system and version... Editing Configuration Files Safely Changes to configuration are how servers break.BEFORE EDITINGCopy the file first. A dated copy... Essential Linux Commands for Server Work The small set that covers most of what you do.MOVING AROUNDpwd shows where you are ls lists... Finding What Is Using Disk Space or Memory Diagnosing resource consumption.DISK SPACEdf -h shows usage by filesystem, which tells you... Firewall Rules Worth Having A practical baseline.THE DEFAULTDeny all incoming. Permit all outgoing, unless you have a reason... Getting Support for a VPS What we help with, and what is yours.WITH AN UNMANAGED VPSWe are responsible for the... Handing Over a VPS to Someone Else Transferring operational responsibility.WHAT THE NEW OWNER NEEDSDocumentation of what runs and... Handling Traffic Spikes Sudden load, planned or otherwise.BEFORE A PLANNED SPIKEConfirm caching is working, and that... Handling Traffic with a Reverse Proxy Nginx in front of an application server.WHAT IT DOESReceives requests, serves static files... Hardening SSH Access The service most attacked on any server.THE ESSENTIAL CHANGESDisable password authentication once... How VPS Resources Are Allocated Understanding what you are buying.CPUMeasured in cores or virtual cores. Your allocation is... Installing a Web Server Apache or Nginx, and what each suits.APACHEMature, widely documented, and supports .htaccess... Installing and Securing a Database Server MySQL or MariaDB on your own machine.INSTALLINGInstall the package, then run the secure... Installing PHP and Required Extensions Getting the application runtime in place.CHOOSING A VERSIONUse the newest version your... Installing SSL Certificates on a VPS Securing sites on a server you manage.WITH A CONTROL PANELAutoSSL or an equivalent handles issue... Is a VPS Still Right for You? A question worth revisiting annually.THE HONEST QUESTIONSAre you applying updates promptly, or is... Isolating Client Sites on a VPS Hosting for other people on a server you manage.WHY ISOLATION MATTERS MORE HEREYou are... Isolating Sites and Applications Preventing one compromise becoming several.THE PROBLEMIf every site on your server runs as the... Keeping Software Patched on a VPS The discipline that prevents most compromises.WHAT NEEDS PATCHINGThe operating system and its... Load Balancing and High Availability Basics Keeping a service running when one machine fails.THE CONCEPTSLoad balancing distributes requests... Log Files and What They Tell You Where the answers usually are.THE IMPORTANT LOGSWeb server access log: every request, with status... Managed Versus Unmanaged VPS The most important decision you will make about a VPS.UNMANAGEDYou get the machine and root... Managing DNS on Your Own Server Running nameservers yourself.SHOULD YOUUsually not. DNS hosted by your registrar or a specialist... Managing Memory and Swap The resource that most often causes trouble.WHY MEMORY MATTERS MOSTWhen memory is exhausted, the... Managing Multiple Servers When one server becomes several.WHAT CHANGESConfiguration drift: servers that started identical... Managing Packages and Software Installing, updating and removing software.THE PACKAGE MANAGERSapt on Debian and Ubuntu dnf on... Managing Server Credentials Safely Who holds what, and how.WHAT EXISTS ON A VPSRoot password SSH private keys Control panel... Managing Services with systemctl Starting, stopping and checking the programs that run your server.THE COMMON OPERATIONSsystemctl... Migrating to a New VPS Moving from one server to another.PLANNINGBuild the new server fully before touching the old one... Monitoring for Intrusion Noticing a compromise rather than being told by someone else.WHAT TO WATCHFailed and successful... Monitoring Your VPS Knowing the state of your server before someone else tells you.WHAT TO MONITORAvailability: is... Moving From a VPS Back to Shared Hosting Sometimes the right decision.WHEN IT MAKES SENSEThe maintenance burden exceeds the benefit You... Operating System Choices for a VPS Which Linux distribution, and why it matters less than people think.THE COMMON CHOICESAlmaLinux... Ordering and Provisioning a VPS What happens between paying and having a server.BEFORE ORDERINGDecide managed or unmanaged Decide... Out of Memory Errors and Process Kills When the kernel starts killing things.WHAT HAPPENSWhen memory is exhausted, the kernel selects a... Pointing Domains at Your VPS Getting traffic to arrive.WHAT YOU NEEDYour server's IP address Access to wherever your domain's... Preparing for Someone Else to Cover Your Server What happens when the person who knows the server is unavailable.THE RISKOn most small business... Protecting Against Brute-Force Attacks Automated password guessing against every exposed service.WHAT IS TARGETEDSSH, control panel... Reading and Filtering Logs from the Command Line Finding the relevant line among thousands.WATCHING LIVEtail -f on a log file shows lines as they... Recovering From a Compromised VPS The hardest situation to handle well.IMMEDIATE ACTIONSIsolate the server. Restrict network... Recovering From a Failed Update When an update leaves the system broken.FIRSTIf you took a snapshot before the update, restore... Restarting Services Safely Knowing what a restart does before you do it.RELOAD VERSUS RESTARTReload re-reads configuration... Restoring From Backup The part people practise least and need most.BEFORE RESTORINGUnderstand what will be lost.... Running Databases for Multiple Applications Keeping applications separated.THE PRINCIPLEOne database and one database user per application,... Running Mail on Your VPS The most demanding service to run well.WHAT IT INVOLVESAn MTA for sending and receiving An IMAP... Scaling Your VPS Adding capacity when you genuinely need it.BEFORE SCALINGConfirm the constraint. Adding CPU when... Scheduling and Checking Cron Jobs Making sure scheduled work actually happens.VIEWING EXISTING JOBScrontab -l for the current user.... Securing Mail on a VPS If your server sends or receives mail, it needs particular attention.THE RISKAn open relay, a... Securing Your Web Applications on a VPS The server is only as secure as what runs on it.WHY THIS MATTERS MORE ON A VPSOn shared hosting,... Setting the Hostname, Timezone and Locale Small settings that cause confusion when wrong.HOSTNAMESet a fully qualified hostname, such as... Setting Up SSH Key Authentication Replacing passwords with keys, which is both more secure and more convenient.WHYPasswords can be... Setting Up Staging on Your VPS Testing before production.THE OPTIONSA subdomain on the same server, with its own document root,... Setting Up Virtual Hosts for Multiple Sites Running several websites on one server.THE CONCEPTThe web server uses the hostname in each... Snapshots Versus File Backups Two different tools for different situations.SNAPSHOTSA point-in-time image of the entire server.... The Server Is Slow: Systematic Diagnosis Working through it rather than guessing.ESTABLISH WHERE THE TIME GOESLoad a static file directly.... Transferring Files to and from Your Server Getting data on and off.SCPCopies files over SSH. Simple and available everywhere. Good for... Tuning Your Database The most impactful tuning on most servers.THE KEY SETTINGFor InnoDB, the buffer pool size... Tuning Your Web Server Configuration that matches your resources.APACHEThe main tuning is the process or thread model... Two-Factor Authentication on Server Access Adding a second factor where passwords remain.WHERE IT APPLIESControl panel logins: cPanel, WHM... Understanding File Permissions and Ownership Who can read, write and execute what.THE THREE SETSOwner, group and others. Each has read, write... Understanding Load Average and CPU Usage Reading the numbers correctly.LOAD AVERAGEThree numbers: the average over one, five and fifteen... Using a CDN with a VPS Offloading traffic from your server.WHAT IT GIVES YOUStatic files served from locations near... Using IPv6 on Your VPS The addressing system alongside IPv4.WHAT IT GIVES YOUAn address space large enough that scarcity... Using Screen or Tmux for Long Tasks Preventing a dropped connection from killing a running job.THE PROBLEMA long-running command over... VPS Pricing and What Affects Cost What you are paying for.THE COMPONENTSAllocated CPU, memory and disk Storage type, with NVMe... VPS Security Fundamentals The basics, in priority order.THE ESSENTIALSSSH keys rather than passwords, with root login... VPS Terminology You Will Encounter A glossary for the terms that appear in documentation and support tickets.ROOTThe administrative... VPS Versus Reseller Hosting Both offer more than a single shared account. They solve different problems.RESELLER HOSTINGA WHM... What a VPS Actually Is A virtual private server is a slice of a physical machine, allocated to you alone.HOW IT WORKSA... What Changes When You Move to a VPS The differences that surprise people.WHAT YOU GAINRoot access and the ability to install anything... When to Reboot, and What to Check Afterwards Reboots are sometimes necessary and always slightly risky.WHEN A REBOOT IS NEEDEDAfter a kernel... Working with Environment Variables and Paths Why a command works for you and not in a script.THE PROBLEMYour interactive shell loads a profile... Your First Hour With a New VPS Do these before anything else.THE ORDERLog in and change the root password to something long and... Your Server Is Unreachable: What to Check Nothing responds. Working out why.FIRST, ESTABLISH SCOPECan you ping the address? A reply means...
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