Getting Started with your VPS at one.com

Unlike shared hosting, a VPS (Virtual Private Server) gives you full control over your environment. This also means you’re responsible for setting up and managing the server - but don’t worry, we’ll show you how to get started.

Step 1 - Access your VPS
Step 2 - Secure your VPS
Step 3 - Install software
Step 4 - Point your domain
Step 5 - Keep your VPS safe and healthy
Need help?

Step 1 - Access your VPS

Log in to your one.com Control Panel.
Go to VPS and select your new server.
Check the VPS dashboard for your server’s IP address. Your username and password were sent to you by email when you placed the order.
Use an SSH client (like PuTTY on Windows or Terminal on macOS/Linux) to connect:

ssh root@your-server-ip

Step 2 - Secure your VPS

For security, we strongly recommend:

Changing your root password:

passwd

Creating a new user and disabling root login.

It’s best practice not to log in as root for everyday use. Instead, create a new user with admin rights.

# Create a new user (replace 'newuser' with your chosen name)
adduser newuser

# Add the new user to the sudo group so they can run admin commands
usermod -aG sudo newuser

Now you can log in as your new user:

ssh newuser@your-server-ip

After confirming the new user works, you can disable direct root login in the SSH config file (/etc/ssh/sshd_config) by setting:

PermitRootLogin no

Then restart SSH:

systemctl restart ssh

Setting up SSH keys instead of password login.

On your local computer, generate a key pair (if you don’t already have one):

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

Copy your public key to the server:

ssh-copy-id newuser@your-server-ip

Test logging in with your key:

ssh newuser@your-server-ip

Once confirmed, disable password login in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PasswordAuthentication no

Then restart SSH:

systemctl restart ssh

Keeping your system updated with:

apt update && apt upgrade

(Commands above are for Ubuntu/Debian. If you chose a different OS, use the package manager for that system.)

Step 3 - Install software

Web server - Apache, Nginx.
Database - MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL.
Programming languages - PHP, Python, Node.js.
Control panels (optional) - to manage websites and email more easily.

Example (Ubuntu + Apache + PHP + MariaDB):

apt install apache2 mariadb-server php php-mysql

Tip: If you’re interested in Docker, check out our guide here:
Installing Docker on a one.com VPS

Step 4 - Point your domain

To make your website accessible, update your domain’s DNS records to point to your VPS IP address.

Log in to the one.com Control Panel.
Go to DNS settings for your domain.
Add or edit the A record to point to your VPS IP.

Step 5 - Keep your VPS safe and healthy

Since this is an unmanaged VPS, you are responsible for:

Regular software updates and security patches.
Backups of your data.
Monitoring server performance.

Need help?

Because this is an unmanaged VPS, our support can assist with access issues, but we cannot configure or manage your server for you.

If you’re new to VPS, we recommend checking out tutorials and community resources, such as:

Related articles:

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