If you’ve ever wanted to run your own website, set up a custom server, or just mess around in your own little slice of the internet, getting a VPS is a great place to start. A VPS (Virtual Private Server) gives you remote access to a private machine that lives in the cloud. It’s like taking a computer you own and putting it at someone else’s house, using their internet connection, and logging into it from anywhere else.
In this post, I’ll walk you through what a VPS is, why you would want one, and how to connect to it using SSH. This is aimed at beginners — if you’ve never touched a terminal before, you’re still in the right place.
What is a VPS and Why Would You Want One?
A VPS is kind of like renting an apartment in a giant digital skyscraper. The whole building is one big physical server, but your VPS is your own private unit inside it. Unlike shared hosting, you get your own environment to install software, run scripts or host a website. Anything you can think to do on a server can be done on a VPS. There is however a small caveat: the harder you play, the more you pay. In other words, you are probably not going to want to host a Jellyfin media server or backup server on a VPS. That would get expensive FAST! When you choose a VPS it is often based around CPU cores, RAM installed, storage space and bandwidth throughput. Then there are more charges for say access to a GPU, which Jellyfin is going to need. For the example of a backup server, the storage and throughput would likely rule out a VPS. These additions could easily put your monthly costs into the hundred or thousands of dollars. A VPS though is perfect for small services and generally only cost a few bucks a month you can have a real Linux machine out there on the internet. That opens up a ton of possibilities — hosting websites, running Docker containers, experimenting with automation, and more.
Picking a VPS Provider
There are a lot of VPS providers out there — RackNerd, DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, Hetzner, and even budget-friendly options like Oracle Cloud’s free tier. I will save you the deatils of which one (two) I have an account with as I have used all of those and all of them are reliable and easy to setup. Really it boils down to price, for me.
When you sign up, you’ll typically choose a location (closer to you or your audience is better), a plan (start with the smallest one unless you know you need more), and a Linux distribution (I went with Debian 12 — stable, fast, and well-documented).
Once you hit “Deploy,” you’ll get an IP address and login credentials. That’s your new server, ready for action.
So you have to login….. What is SSH?
SSH stands for Secure Shell, and it’s the way you’ll log into your VPS from your local machine. It opens a secure, encrypted, tunnel between your computer and your VPS, and gives you a terminal where you can run commands, install software, or configure services on that remote server. Don’t be startled, your VPS is not going to have a ‘desktop’ environment. No pretty icons and backgrounds here. We’re getting down into those weeds and everything is done 80’s hacking movie style!
Think of SSH like a secret passage to your server. Instead of sitting in front of the machine with a monitor and keyboard, you just pop open a terminal and connect to it from anywhere.
How to Connect to Your VPS Using SSH
Once your VPS is live, you’ll need two things: its IP address and your login credentials. Most providers will email this info to you right after you deploy the server.
On your local machine, open your terminal and type:
ssh [email protected]
For example:
ssh [email protected]
Windows, Mac and Linux all have a built in ‘SSH’ command to connect to remote machines. If it’s your first time connecting to this server, you’ll get a message asking if you trust the host. Just type yes or click accept. Then you’ll be prompted for your password. Enter it (nothing will show up as you type — that’s normal), and if it all goes well, you’ll be dropped into your VPS’s command line. Congrats — you’re in!
Securing Your VPS (Briefly)
Once you’re in, one of the first things you’ll want to do is create a new user with sudo privlages (see the first half of this post for getting sudo) and maybe set up SSH key authentication for added security. I won’t go deep into that here, but just know that leaving the default root login active with a password is risky, especially if your VPS is exposed to the internet. I will go over this in a slightly more advanced post later but for now just make sure that you use a really good password for the root, and any other, account on the system.
A Whole World Ahead
Getting your first VPS and logging into it with SSH feels a bit like stepping into your own little control room. Suddenly, you’ve got power …..and responsibility. From here, you can do almost anything: host a website, install WordPress, set up a game server, run cron jobs, try out Docker, build a portfolio — the list goes on.
It might seem intimidating at first, especially if you’re not used to working with the command line. But don’t worry. You’ll get used to it fast. And the best part is, every mistake is a chance to learn something.
So go ahead — rent that VPS, crack open your terminal, and start exploring. Your server is waiting.