Getting started
First-login guides for a new VPS: connect over SSH, create a sudo user, reinstall from the control panel, and start on Debian, FreeBSD or Windows Server.
5 guides
GLWS · KNOWLEDGE BASE
A little knowledge.
A better command.
Practical Linux guides for your first server and the projects that follow, from Docker and databases to local AI. Written for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and AlmaLinux 9.
Start with your first VPS.
A practical route from your first login to a domain with HTTPS. Follow one distribution's commands, verify each checkpoint and keep a tested recovery route.
Nine lessons take you from SSH access to a domain with HTTPS and a tested backup.
Follow the learning pathBrowse by topic
Linux basics
Plain-English Linux fundamentals for VPS owners: the directory layout, file permissions and ownership, and editing configuration files with nano.
4 guides
System administration
Keep a Linux VPS healthy: install and update packages, switch on automatic security updates, add swap and move to a bigger plan without losing data.
4 guides
Security
Secure a Linux VPS step by step: SSH key login, a firewall that will not lock you out, Fail2ban, SSH tunnels for private services and more.
4 guides
Server administration
Run services properly on a Linux VPS: manage them with systemd, install Docker and Compose, update containers safely and run a Node.js app as a service.
5 guides
Kubernetes
Run Kubernetes on a single VPS with K3s: install it, deploy an app with HTTPS and persistent storage, fix Pending and CrashLoopBackOff pods, and deploy from Git with Flux.
4 guides
Troubleshooting
Diagnose problems on a Linux VPS: slowness, full disks, Nginx 502 and 504 errors, packet loss, HTTPS renewal failures and getting back in after a lockout.
10 guides
Monitoring
Watch a Linux VPS: check CPU, memory and disk use, set up uptime and disk-space alerts, and benchmark a server with YABS and read the results fairly.
3 guides
Networking
Networking for VPS owners: DNS and IP basics, IPv6 setup, a WireGuard VPN, reverse DNS, SPF and DKIM, and diagnosing packet loss with mtr.
4 guides
Web hosting
Host websites on your own Linux VPS: install a web server, connect a domain, use Nginx or Caddy as a reverse proxy, get HTTPS, run WordPress and deploy from Git.
7 guides
Data and storage
Protect your data on a Linux VPS: back up files, run MariaDB or PostgreSQL, automate encrypted off-server backups with restic and prove that a restore works.
4 guides
AI and LLMs
Self-host AI on a Linux VPS: run local models with Ollama, agents such as OpenClaw, Hermes and OpenCode, an MCP server and a LiteLLM gateway, and keep it all secure.
15 guides
Self-hosting
Replace cloud services with your own: install Nextcloud for files and calendars, or Immich for photos, then plan storage, updates, backups and recovery.
2 guides
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72 guides
Connect to your VPS with SSH
Open your first secure terminal session, check the server identity, and understand common connection errors.
Read guide →Navigate Linux files and directories
Learn paths, directory navigation, and safe copying with a small practice folder in your home directory.
Read guide →Understand and change Linux file permissions
Read owner, group, and other permissions, then practice sensible file and directory modes without changing system files.
Read guide →Create and edit text files with nano
Use nano to edit a practice file, save changes, search text, and recover from common write-permission problems.
Read guide →Install software and apply Linux updates
Identify your distribution, install software from its repositories, and review updates before applying them.
Read guide →Create a Linux user with sudo access
Create a separate administrator account, grant the correct group membership, and test access before changing root login.
Read guide →Set up SSH key authentication
Generate a key on your computer, install its public half, and verify a fresh login before changing authentication settings.
Read guide →Configure a VPS firewall without losing SSH
Allow the SSH port you actually use before enabling UFW or firewalld, then test access from another terminal.
Read guide →Manage Linux services with systemd
Understand status, start, enable, reload, and restart so you can manage services without unnecessary interruptions.
Read guide →Find useful Linux logs with journalctl
Filter the system journal by boot, service, time, and priority, then preserve a small useful excerpt for troubleshooting.
Read guide →Check CPU, memory, and disk usage
Read the basic resource indicators on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and AlmaLinux 9, then identify where to investigate a slowdown.
Read guide →Understand networking and DNS basics
Separate interface, routing, name-resolution, and listening-port problems without changing your server's network configuration.
Read guide →Install a basic Apache web server
Install Apache, publish a small test page, and confirm local HTTP service on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or AlmaLinux 9.
Read guide →Back up files and test a restore
Create a compressed archive of your own project, verify it, and extract a test copy without overwriting the original files.
Read guide →Schedule and verify a cron job
Install the correct scheduler, add a user-level task with explicit paths, and verify execution through a local log.
Read guide →Connect a domain to Apache and enable HTTPS
Point apex and www DNS records at your VPS, add a named Apache site, obtain a certificate and check automatic renewal.
Read guide →Install Docker and Docker Compose on your VPS
Add Docker's official repository, install the engine and Compose plugin, run a test container and avoid the published-port firewall trap.
Read guide →Harden SSH and block repeated logins with Fail2ban
Turn off password and root logins with a drop-in file, test it safely, then install Fail2ban to ban addresses that keep guessing.
Read guide →Add swap space to a small VPS
Create a swap file, make it permanent, tune swappiness and understand when swap helps and when you simply need more memory.
Read guide →Install MariaDB or PostgreSQL and create a database
Install a database server, keep it private to the VPS, create an application user and database, and take a restorable dump.
Read guide →Put an app behind Nginx with a free HTTPS certificate
Proxy a domain to an app on a local port, issue a Let's Encrypt certificate with Certbot and confirm automatic renewal.
Read guide →Get back into a server you have locked yourself out of
Use your provider's console to repair SSH settings, a firewall mistake or a lost password, with a boot-menu fallback for a forgotten account password.
Read guide →Run a local language model with Ollama on a CPU-only VPS
Install Ollama, pull a small quantised model, measure its real speed on your plan and keep the API private to the server.
Read guide →Self-host Open WebUI with Ollama using Docker Compose
Run a private ChatGPT-style interface and Ollama in one Compose project, publish it on localhost only and lock down sign-ups.
Read guide →Choose a VPS size for a local AI model
Work out how much memory, disk and CPU a quantised model needs, then test on a small plan and measure before you upgrade.
Read guide →Secure Ollama, Open WebUI and other AI services on a public server
Keep AI services off the open internet: bind to localhost, avoid the Docker firewall bypass, add authentication and verify from outside.
Read guide →Automate encrypted off-server backups with restic
Back up to a second server over SFTP with restic, encrypt everything, schedule it with a systemd timer and prove you can restore.
Read guide →Run a Node.js app as a systemd service
Install Node.js, run an app under its own user with automatic restarts and sandboxing, read its logs and put it behind Nginx.
Read guide →Install WordPress with Nginx, PHP and a database
Set up Nginx, PHP-FPM and MariaDB, download and verify WordPress, secure its files and finish with HTTPS.
Read guide →Set up a WireGuard VPN on your VPS
Create a WireGuard server and a client, route traffic through the VPS, open one UDP port and test that nothing leaks.
Read guide →Monitor your server with Uptime Kuma, htop and disk alerts
Watch resource use with htop, run Uptime Kuma to check your sites and get disk-space alerts from a small scheduled script.
Read guide →Turn on automatic security updates
Configure unattended-upgrades on Ubuntu and dnf-automatic on AlmaLinux, decide about automatic reboots and check that updates really happen.
Read guide →Move to a bigger plan without losing data
Back up first, work out whether your disk grows automatically, extend the partition and filesystem, or migrate to a new server with rsync.
Read guide →Reinstall your server's operating system from the control panel
Back up before an operating-system reinstall, handle the new SSH host key and secure the fresh system.
Read guide →Reverse DNS, SPF and DKIM: before you send email from a VPS
Check reverse DNS, test whether outbound mail ports are open, publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and decide between a mail server and a relay.
Read guide →Windows Server first steps: Remote Desktop, updates and firewall
Connect with Remote Desktop, change the administrator password, restrict RDP to your address, install updates and add a standard admin account.
Read guide →First steps on Debian and FreeBSD servers
Update, create an admin user, set up SSH keys and a firewall on Debian and on FreeBSD, with the differences from Ubuntu and AlmaLinux explained.
Read guide →Use hosted AI APIs from your VPS without leaking keys or costs
Keep API keys out of code, load them through systemd, set timeouts, retries and spending limits, and rotate a key that leaks.
Read guide →Run a small AI chatbot as a systemd service
Write a short Python service that answers questions through a local Ollama model, run it as a protected systemd service and call it safely.
Read guide →Self-host n8n for automation and AI workflows
Run n8n in Docker on localhost, keep its data in a volume, reach it over a tunnel or Nginx and connect it to a local Ollama model.
Read guide →Run a private vector database with Qdrant or pgvector
Store and search embeddings on your own server with Qdrant in Docker or the pgvector extension, keep it private and test with a tiny dataset.
Read guide →Answer questions about your own documents with a local model
Split text files into chunks, embed them with Ollama, find the closest chunks to a question and answer from them, all on your server.
Read guide →Transcribe audio on a CPU VPS with whisper.cpp
Build whisper.cpp, download a small speech model, convert audio to the right format and measure how long transcription takes on your plan.
Read guide →Why is my VPS slow? CPU steal, memory, swap and disk
Tell CPU steal, memory pressure, swapping and slow disk apart with a few commands, then collect evidence before you ask support or upgrade.
Read guide →Benchmark your VPS with YABS and read the results
Run Yet Another Bench Script, understand its CPU, disk and network figures, compare servers fairly and know what benchmarks cannot tell you.
Read guide →Fix "No space left on device" on Linux
Tell a full disk from exhausted inodes, find what is using the space, clean up logs, packages and Docker data safely and stop it returning.
Read guide →Update Docker Compose applications safely
Pin image versions, back up persistent data, pull and check an update, and roll back to the previous version if it fails.
Read guide →Troubleshoot Nginx 502 and 504 errors
Follow a request from Nginx to your application, read the error log, check ports, services, SELinux and timeouts and fix the common causes.
Read guide →What can you run on a 1 GB VPS?
Plan a memory budget for a 1 GB server, see which workloads fit, which need more, and how to measure and trim what you run.
Read guide →Host several applications with Caddy and automatic HTTPS
Install Caddy, give each application its own domain and local port, let Caddy obtain certificates and check the result.
Read guide →Reach private applications through an SSH tunnel
Use SSH port forwarding to open databases, dashboards and admin tools from your computer without exposing them to the internet.
Read guide →Diagnose packet loss and slow downloads
Measure latency, loss and throughput with ping, mtr and iperf3, read the results correctly and gather useful evidence for a support ticket.
Read guide →Set up IPv6 on your VPS
Check whether your server has IPv6, configure the address and route, update the firewall, publish AAAA records and test connectivity.
Read guide →Back up PostgreSQL and prove you can restore it
Take custom-format dumps, save roles separately, schedule backups with retention and restore into a test database to check them.
Read guide →Troubleshoot HTTPS certificate renewal failures
Find why Let's Encrypt renewal fails: check the timer, DNS and AAAA records, port 80, redirects, reverse proxy rules and rate limits.
Read guide →Deploy your website from a Git repository with rollback
Use a read-only deploy key, release folders and an atomic symlink switch to deploy a site from a private repository, restart safely and roll back.
Read guide →Self-host Nextcloud and maintain it properly
Run Nextcloud with a database and Redis in Docker Compose, plan storage, set up cron, publish it with HTTPS, then update, back up and restore it.
Read guide →Self-host Immich and protect your photo library
Size a server for Immich, install it with the official Compose files, keep it private, update it deliberately and back up photos and database.
Read guide →Run OpenClaw on your VPS
Install OpenClaw as an unprivileged user, run its gateway as a service, keep the control interface private and limit who and what the assistant can reach.
Read guide →Self-host Hermes Agent on a Linux VPS: step by step
Install Hermes Agent, choose a model, connect a messaging gateway, run it as a boot-time service and control who is allowed to use it.
Read guide →Build and securely host your first MCP server
Write a small MCP server in Python with a read-only tool, run it over stdio and over HTTP, and publish it behind HTTPS and token authentication.
Read guide →Create an AI API gateway with LiteLLM
Run the LiteLLM proxy with Docker Compose, keep your provider keys in one place, issue limited virtual keys and put the gateway behind HTTPS.
Read guide →Run an AI coding agent with OpenCode on a VPS
Install OpenCode, connect a model provider, keep it inside a project with permission rules, work from tmux and use headless mode safely.
Read guide →Install Kubernetes on a VPS with K3s
Check requirements, install a single-node K3s cluster, set up kubectl safely, open only the ports you need and learn the first commands.
Read guide →Deploy an application on K3s with HTTPS and persistent storage
Install cert-manager, create a Let's Encrypt issuer, then deploy an app with a persistent volume, a service and an HTTPS ingress and prove the data survives.
Read guide →Troubleshoot Kubernetes: Pending, CrashLoopBackOff, ImagePullBackOff
Read pod status, events and logs to find why a pod is Pending, crashing or cannot pull its image, and fix each cause.
Read guide →Deploy Kubernetes applications from Git with Flux
Bootstrap Flux into a K3s cluster from a GitHub repository, add an application with a Kustomization, and update or roll back by committing to Git.
Read guide →Fix Cloudflare errors 521, 522, 525 and 526
Tell origin-down, timeout and TLS errors apart, test your origin directly, open the firewall for Cloudflare and fix certificates and SSL mode.
Read guide →Why was my Linux process "Killed"? Diagnose out-of-memory failures
Confirm an out-of-memory kill in the kernel log, find what used the memory, and fix it with limits, swap, tuning or a bigger plan.
Read guide →Troubleshoot SSH "Permission denied" errors
Read the verbose output, then check the user name, key offered, file permissions, server settings and logs to fix publickey and password failures.
Read guide →Keep long-running SSH tasks alive with tmux
Start work in tmux so it survives a dropped connection, reattach later, split panes, scroll back, and know when to use a service instead.
Read guide →Upload and synchronise website files with SFTP and rsync
Use SFTP for ad hoc transfers and rsync to sync a site safely, with dry runs, correct ownership and an optional locked-down upload account.
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