The goal of this comprehensive tutorial is to build a secure and productive Linux server that can run web applications or other services.
We start with the basics. All you need to complete the tutorial is a computer with internet access.
Requirements for this tutorial
- Computer with internet access
- approximately $5 per month for server rent and domain
This is not a “Hello World” guide, so you will need to rent an actual server.
The tutorial is designed to produce a server that is ready for practical use. Therefore, IT security is a particular focus. In this context, it is also possible to argue about how approaches and principles should be implemented. The techniques used here are explained and justified. Whether you want to follow them or prefer a different solution is, of course, up to you.
Your operating system makes little difference. The relevant steps cover Windows, macOS and Linux. Because most of the work takes place on the server, only a few steps are platform-specific.
The examples use the domain linuxserversetup.com, the server IP address 116.203.69.89 and the username tom. Be sure to replace these values with your own where appropriate.
For email addresses, I intentionally misspell the domain (linuxservrsetup.com) to protect my server from spam.
We start with chapter 1.1 Rent a cloud server.