If you’re reading this, then you’re probably looking to buy Windows VPS or you have a new one and you want to learn more about it. This major jump from shared hosting may be intimidating, but it’s far from that. As a matter of fact, it’s a relatively easy move. That being said, learning how to set up your new Virtual Private Server can be a bit challenging, especially if this is a completely brand-new experience for you.

But worry not—we aim to help you every step of the way. In this article, we’ll help guide you through all the steps as we teach you how to set up your new VPS so that it’s ready for use.

Why Should You Configure Your New VPS?

But before we dive right into the nitty gritty technicalities, we first want to explain why it’s important to configure your VPS. When you pay for a membership to a basic hosting plan, your provider will typically set everything up for you. Let’s take shared hosting, for instance: you’ll probably be able to gain access to a control panel immediately.

These control panels are important because they offer you everything you need to configure your account. However, most of the time, you won’t gain the opportunity to tinker around with the server’s settings because many other people are also using it other than you.

It’s a completely different story when you’re using a VPS, however. For one thing, the virtual server will be all yours and you won’t have to share it with anyone. This means you can tweak the server’s actual settings however you want. For the most part, your host will only set up the basic software needed like Nginx or Apache. However, you’ll be responsible for setting up the rest.

In this case, you have to go through a couple of steps first before your new server will be fully ready to use. These steps include:

  • Deciding when you should begin to use the new server.
  • Learning how to connect to the server and send out commands.
  • Learning how to install the new and necessary software.
  • Tweaking the settings of new user accounts if or when needed.
  • Putting up a firewall.

Step-by-Step Guide to Configuring Your VPS

Log Into Your New VPS Through Secure Shell Access

There are various methods you can follow if you want to connect to a website other than via a browser. For instance, there’s the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that lets you edit, upload, and download files on your server. Even though the FTP can come in handy, it doesn’t allow you to issue commands to your server.

As such, you’ll need to use Secure Shell (SSH) access. This is a different type of protocol that allows you to gain access to servers that are remote. This way, you can easily issue commands with no problem. After signing up for your own VPS, your host will provide you with credentials, such as a username, password, and your server’s IP address.

Update Your Server’s Packages

After logging in, you should see a dialogue box informing you whether there are any updates available for you to download. “Packages” are also known as software, so it’s important that all its components are always up to date.

If your server is outdated in any way, you’re potentially opening up your server to susceptibilities. Besides, updates typically come with improved performance and new features, so it’s always a good idea to keep updating.

Create a New User

When you first sign up for a VPS, you typically start off using a root user account. However, it’s recommended that you create another user account with superuser privileges. The main reason for this is that the root user account is incredibly important, and if you tinker around with it and make a single mistake, you could end up causing some severe damage to your system.

By creating a new user account, you can use this to experiment and tweak some settings. To create a new user account, you just have to enter this command:

adduser yourusername

Make sure to replace “yourusername” with the username you want to use. From there, type in this command to ensure it has superuser privileges:

# usermod -aG sudo yournewusername

You can then set up a password for this account.

Allow Public Key Authentication

If you want to set up a much stronger and more secure password, we recommend you use public key authentication. Using this technique, you can set up a ‘public’ and a ‘private’ key. Your server will keep your public key safe and use it to authenticate or verify the private key.

Put Up a Firewall

At this point, you’ve learned a lot about configuring your new VPS, and you’re almost done. Now, the last step you need to do is ensure your server remains safe and secure. As such, you need to set up a firewall for your server. To do this, you need to use the iptables program. This enables you to put up restrictions and rules so that you can control the traffic that goes in and out of your server.

Conclusion

Upgrading your server from shared hosting to VPS may be intimidating, especially if it’s your first time and you’re not exactly sure what to do. There are so many features you can tinker with and experiment on, so it’s important that you stay grounded on the basics first because you start tweaking.

As soon as you sign up for your own Virtual Private Server, it’s important that you configure it right away so that it’s ready for use as soon as possible. Feel free to refer to or review this article if you need any assistance in the configuration of your new VPS. Once you’re more comfortable with your new system, feel free to tinker around and experiment as much as you want—just make sure you set up a new user account so that you don’t mess up the root user account.