143 lines
6.4 KiB
HTML
143 lines
6.4 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang=en>
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<head>
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<title>Get a Server – diyhosting.bhh.sh</title>
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<!--# include file=".nav.html" -->
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</head>
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<body>
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<header><h1>Get a Server</h1></header>
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<nav></nav>
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<main>
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<p>
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Once you have a <a href=domain.html>domain name</a>, you'll need a server to host all your website files on.
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In general, a server is just a computer that is constanly broadcasting some services on the internet.
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</p>
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<p>
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Servers connected to the internet can be extremely useful with or without proper websites attached to them.
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You can be your own website, email, file-sharing service and much more.
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</p>
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<h2>Getting a VPS</h2>
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<p>
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A Virtual Personal Server (VPS) is a very cheap and easy way to get a
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web server. Without you having to buy expensive equipment. There are a
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lot of online businesses that have massive server farms with great
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internet connection and big power bills that allow you to rent a VPS in
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that farm for pocket change.
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</p>
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<p>
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A VPS usually costs $5 a month. Sometimes slightly more, sometimes slightly less.
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That's a good price for some internet real-estate, but in truth, you can host a huge number of websites and services on a single VPS, so you get a lot more.
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I might have a dozen websites, an email server, a chat server and a file-sharing services on one VPS.
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</p>
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<p>
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The VPS provider that I'll be using for this guide is Vultr, since that is what I use.
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Vultr provides a free one-month $100 credit to anyone who starts an account through <a href="https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8384069-6G">this referral link of mine</a>
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so you can play around with their services with impunity.
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</p>
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<h2>Starting your server in two minutes or less</h2>
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<p>
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<a href="https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8384069-6G">Start an account on Vultr</a> and let's get started.
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</p>
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<p>
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Vultr (and other VPS providers) usually give you a choice in where and what exactly your VPS is.
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</p>
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<h4>Server Location</h4>
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<p>
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In general, it doesn't <em>hugely</em> matter what physical location
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you have your server in. You might theoretically want it close to
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where you or your audience might be, but if you host a server in
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Singapore for an American audience, they won't have to be waiting a
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perceptibly longer time to load the site.
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</p>
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<a href="pix/server-location.png"><img src="pix/server-location.png" alt="Pick your servers's locatio"></a>
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<p><strong>Some locations might have different abilities and plans than others.
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For example, in Vultr, their New York location has optional DDOS protection and also has some cheaper $3.50 servers.</strong></p>
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<h4>Operating System/Server Type</h4>
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<a href=pix/server-type.png><img src="pix/server-type.png" alt="server type"></a>
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<p>
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I especially recommend <strong>Debian 10</strong> for an operating system for your server.
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Debian is the "classic" server OS and as such, <strong>I make my guides on this site for Debian 10</strong>.
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If you use another OS, just know that your millage may vary in terms of you might need to change some instructions here minorly.
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</p>
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<h4>Server size</h4>
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<a href=pix/server-size.png><img src="pix/server-size.png" alt="server size"></a>
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<p>
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You finally have a choice in how beefy a server you want.
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On Vultr, I recommend getting the cheapest option that is not IPv6 only.
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</p>
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<p>
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Web hosting and even moderately complicated sites do not use huge amounts of RAM or CPU power.
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If you start doing more intensive stuff than hosting some webpages and an email server and such,
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you can always bump up your plan on Vultr without data loss (it's not so easy to bump down).
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</p>
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<h4>Additional features</h4>
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<a href=pix/server-features.png><img src="pix/server-features.png" alt="additional features"></a>
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<p>
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On Vultr, there are some final checkboxes you can select additional options.
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<strong>You will want to check <em>Enable IPv6</em> and also <em>Block Storage Compatible</em>.</strong>
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</p>
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<p>
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We will be setting up IPv6 because it's important for future-proofing your website as more of the web moves to the IPv6 protocol.
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Block storage is the ability (if you want) to later rent large storage disks to connect to your VPS if desired.
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You just might want that as an option, so it's worth activating now.
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</p>
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<h3>Done!</h3>
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<p>
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Once you select those settings, your server will automatically be deployed.
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Momentarily, you will be able to see your server's IP addresses which will be used for the next brief step:
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</p>
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<span class=prev><a href="domain.html">Previous: Get a domain name.</a></span>
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<span class=next><a href="dns.html">Next: Connect Your Domain and Server.</a></span>
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<hr>
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<h2>More info</h2>
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<h3>VPS vs. Self-hosting</h3>
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<p>
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It is very possible instead of using a VPS, hooking up an old computer to the internet and attempting to host a website from that.
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That can be a valid option if you can do it if you have a great internet connection and can do so without draining your power bill.
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I don't recommend it because I don't (and can't) do it given my bandwidth needs.
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For newbs, there are also some extra steps you have to take care of with DNS and setting up static IPs and such.
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</p>
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<p>
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I might write a guide on this in the future, but I don't do it myself.
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</p>
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<h3>Backups</h3>
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<p>
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Vultr and other VPS providers often provide the ability to make backup snapshots of your server in case of dataloss or their own error.
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Backups on Vultr are free right now.
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When we learn how to use <code>rsync</code>, I will recommend you to also keep your own backup of your site, or at least an offline version of it.
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There's a low chance of their whole system collapsing or something, but I say it's a good idea to be hyper-precautious.
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</p>
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</main>
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<!--# include file=".footer.html" -->
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</body>
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</html>
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