Your First 10 Minutes on a New VPS

Immediate Steps After Provisioning

When you spin up a new Breeze, these first steps secure and configure it for production use.

1. Update the System

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Create a Non-Root User

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

3. Set Up SSH Keys

# On your local machine
ssh-copy-id deploy@your-server-ip

# On the server — disable root login
sudo sed -i 's/^PermitRootLogin yes/PermitRootLogin no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl restart sshd

4. Configure the Firewall

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow http
sudo ufw allow https
sudo ufw enable

Tip Always allow SSH before enabling UFW, or you'll lock yourself out.

5. Set the Timezone

sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

6. Set the Hostname

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname my-server

7. Enable Automatic Security Updates

sudo apt install -y unattended-upgrades
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades

8. Install Essential Tools

sudo apt install -y curl wget git htop vim nano ufw fail2ban

9. Configure Fail2Ban

sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
sudo systemctl enable fail2ban
sudo systemctl start fail2ban

10. Take a Snapshot

Before making further changes, take a snapshot in your Kazepute portal. This gives you a clean restore point.

Quick Verification Checklist