Getting started with Ubuntu Server on your VPS

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Long Term Support) is the most widely used Linux distribution for VPS hosting. It has the largest community, the most tutorials, and excellent compatibility with control panels like aaPanel and HestiaCP. LTS releases are supported for 5 years.

Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-server-ip

Your root password (or SSH key) is in your VPS welcome email. If you have an SSH key, the connection will succeed without a password.

Update packages

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Ubuntu uses apt as its package manager. Run this immediately after provisioning and regularly thereafter.

Configure UFW firewall

# Install UFW (usually pre-installed)
apt install ufw -y

# Allow SSH first (before enabling, so you don't lock yourself out)
ufw allow ssh
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp

# Enable firewall
ufw enable

# Check status
ufw status verbose

Create a non-root user

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

This creates a user named deploy with sudo access. SSH in as this user for day-to-day tasks and use sudo for commands that need root access.

Install LAMP stack

# Apache web server
apt install apache2 -y

# MySQL database
apt install mysql-server -y

# PHP and common extensions
apt install php php-mysql php-fpm php-gd php-xml php-mbstring php-curl -y

# Optional: Nginx instead of Apache
apt install nginx -y

Enable services to start at boot:

systemctl enable apache2 mysql
systemctl start apache2 mysql

Visit http://your-server-ip in a browser-you should see the Apache default page confirming the web server is running.

Related: Linux and Windows operating systems for VPS-which to choose | How to choose the right operating system for your VPS | Manage VPS | VPS firewall | Install aaPanel

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