Are you paying hundreds of euros, pounds, or dollars in fees to professional companies for hosting your web sites and mail server? Have you ever considered the practicality of managing your own hosting?
Two years ago, I retired from a career as a freelance software developer. I needed to get my costs down and realised I could save 700 Euro per annum by managing my own web and mail servers on a cheaply rented VPS.
This is how I did it:
- Searched for information and instructions on the internet (I didn't even use AI)
- Rented a VPS on cheap monthly payments
- Set up servers
Simple? Wrong! Two major problems. Firstly, I experienced a nightmare of confusing configuration issues with certificates for HTTPS web sites. Secondly, my mail server was set up so incautiously, with security added too late, that my rented ip address was blocked by Microsoft mail!
Please understand that Google searches and AI will give you information but will lack the human experience and judgement to know what is important and what is not, what steps must be done first, what vital security precautions must be taken early, and so on.
Accordingly I wrote two "cookbook" manuals, based on my VPS customisation experiences, which give step-by-step instructions for a fully secure VPS-based web and mail server on Linux. Purchase details (pdf or e-book) can be found on my author web site at: Unusual Mysteries - Cookbook
This blog is intended to contain entries supplementing the advice in those manuals. You don't need to purchase the manuals, although they are very cheap so why wouldn't you? They will certainly pay for themselves in time saved. The blog will provide useful free advice and examples of problem-solving, for anyone who is setting up, or who has already set up, web and mail servers on a VPS.
