VPS Developer Cheatsheet

VPS Basics

Initial Server Setup

ssh root@SERVER_IP
adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy
passwd deploy
hostnamectl set-hostname app-server

apt update && apt upgrade -y
timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Kolkata
reboot

SSH & Access

nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl restart ssh

Firewall & Security

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 80
ufw allow 443
ufw enable
ufw status

apt install fail2ban -y
systemctl enable fail2ban
systemctl start fail2ban

Docker Essentials

docker build -t app .
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 app
docker compose up -d
docker compose down

Nginx Reverse Proxy

server {
  listen 80;

  server_name example.com;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
  }
}

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/app \
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

nginx -t
systemctl restart nginx

SSL with Certbot

apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
certbot --nginx -d example.com

certbot renew --dry-run
systemctl status certbot.timer

Monitoring & Logs

tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log
tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Process Management

systemctl start app
systemctl stop app
systemctl restart app
systemctl status app
systemctl enable app

# /etc/systemd/system/app.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server.js
Restart=always
User=deploy

Deployment Workflow

git pull origin main
npm install
npm run build
pm2 restart app

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d --build