Setting Up Your Own VPS: A Secure Starting Point

Every self-hosted project I run starts the same way: a brand new VPS and about twenty minutes of setup before I install a single application. That twenty minutes is what separates "my server" from "someone else's crypto miner." A fresh box with a public IP starts getting probed within minutes, and the default configuration on most images is built for convenience, not safety. This is the secure baseline I set up on every new server, before Docker, before n8n, before anything else. It is also the starting point our production n8n guide assumes you already have. Every command below was checked against current Ubuntu LTS documentation, and I flag the parts that genuinely need a real server to verify. Key takeaways Never do daily work as root. Create a sudo user and log in as that instead. Use an SSH key and turn password login off, but only after you confirm the key works. Deny everything at the firewall by default, then open only the ports you actually use. Turn on automatic security updates so patches land while you sleep. If you plan to run Docker, remember that published ports skip UFW. Bind them to 127.0.0.1 . Prerequisites A VPS running a current Ubuntu LTS. Both 24.04 "Noble Numbat" and 26.04 "Resolute Raccoon" work well. I run long-lived boxes on Hostinger VPS hosting , which is also what powers the n8n guide. An SSH key pair on your own machine. If you do not have one yet, Step 3 creates it. A terminal, and a note of your provider's recovery console. Most hosts, Hostinger included, give you a browser based console in their control panel. That is your way back in if you ever lock yourself out, so find it before you start. Disclosure: some links in this guide, including the Hostinger link above, are referral or affiliate links. If you sign up through them we may earn account credit or a commission, at no extra cost to you. We only point at tools we actually run. Step 1: Log in and update the system Right after the server boots, log in with the credentials your pr