Help center

Create your account, choose a distribution and log in to your first server.

• Create your VPSNine account — Sign up at my.vpsnine.com, pick a password that passes the checks, and confirm your email. Accounts and orders open at launch.
• Confirm your email address — How the confirmation link works, why it asks you to log in and press a button, how long it lasts, and how to get a new one if it expired.
• What happens when you order a server — The steps from choosing a plan to your first SSH login, and what VPSNine does in between. Orders open at launch.
• Connect to your server with SSH — How to log in to a Linux VPS over SSH from Linux, macOS or Windows, with the SSH key you picked when you ordered it.
• Use SSH keys instead of a password — Create an Ed25519 key, add it to your account and to running servers, and keep SSH password logins switched off.
• Choose a Linux distribution — How to pick between Ubuntu LTS, Debian and other distributions for your VPS, and why we suggest an LTS release for most people.

Choose a plan, then set up swap, Docker, nginx, backups, snapshots and monitoring.

• Your server's first hour: a checklist — Ten things to do on a new Linux VPS before you put anything on it, in order, with commands for Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 12.
• Add a swap file — Create a swap file on Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12, make it permanent, and tune swappiness so it is used only when needed.
• Install Docker — Install Docker Engine and the Compose plugin from Docker's official apt repository on Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12, and keep ports private.
• Serve a site with nginx and HTTPS — Install nginx, point a domain at your server, and get a free Let's Encrypt certificate that renews itself, on Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12.
• Choose a plan — How to match Budget, Standard or Extreme to what you plan to run, and how to check whether a server you already have is too small or too big.
• Back up your server — Set up your own off-server backups with rsync or BorgBackup, include your databases, run them nightly, and prove you can restore them.
• Monitor your server — Check CPU, memory, disk and logs with htop, df and journalctl, and set up a small uptime check that emails you when your site stops answering.
• Use the serial console — Reach your server's console from the browser when SSH won't connect, log in with a password, and fix the usual lockouts.
• Snapshots — Keep up to three copies of a server's disk, go back to one if a change goes wrong, and why the server is down for about a minute each time.

IPv6, reverse DNS, sending email and testing your network.

• Check that IPv6 works — Every server gets one IPv6 address, set up on its first boot. How to check it works from inside and outside, and what to do if a config change broke it.
• Set reverse DNS for your server — What reverse DNS (PTR) records are, when you need one, how to set one in the panel or with vps9, and how to check it with dig.
• Sending email: port 25 — Outbound port 25 is blocked by default on new servers. Why, how to test it, and how to ask for it to be opened for a real mail server.
• Test your server's network — Measure latency, packet loss and throughput between your computer and your server with ping, mtr and iperf3, and what to send us if it looks wrong.

Firewalls, SSH hardening, updates and what to do after a break-in.

• Use the panel firewall — Filter traffic before it reaches your server: allow and deny rules, a default policy, how it fits with ufw, and how to undo a mistake.
• Set up a firewall with ufw — Turn on ufw without locking yourself out, open only the ports you use, and check the rules, on Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12.
• Block brute-force attempts with fail2ban — Install fail2ban, ban addresses that keep failing SSH logins, and check and lift bans, on Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12 with ufw.
• Install security updates automatically — Use unattended-upgrades on Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12 to install security fixes every day, reboot when needed, and check that it runs.
• SSH hardening checklist — A short list of SSH settings worth changing on a new server, with one drop-in file for Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 12 and a safe way to apply it.
• What to do if your server is compromised — Signs that someone else is on your server, what to check first, how to contain it, and why rebuilding from a clean image is the safe fix.

Payment methods, renewals, the money-back guarantee and cancelling.

• Payment methods — How you pay for a VPSNine server. Bitcoin at launch through our own payment server, priced in US dollars; card and PayPal follow later.
• What happens if a renewal isn't paid — The dates from a server's renewal invoice to its deletion. Reminders, a suspension 3 days after the due date, and deletion of the server and its disk after 14.
• The 14-day money-back guarantee — Ask for a refund within 14 days of paying for your first order. What the guarantee covers, what it doesn't, how to ask, and how the money comes back.
• Cancel a server — Cancel a VPSNine server at the end of its paid month or delete it now, what to back up first, and what happens to your data and billing afterwards.

Your password, two-factor login, SSH keys, sessions and API tokens.

• Turn on two-factor authentication — Add a 6-digit code from an authenticator app to every login, save your 10 recovery codes, and what to do if you lose your phone.
• Change or reset your account password — Change your panel password while logged in, reset it with an emailed link if you forgot it, and how that differs from a server's root password.
• See where you are logged in and recent activity — Check your active panel sessions, sign out a lost device or everywhere else at once, and read the activity log of logins and security changes.
• Add SSH keys to your account — Save your public SSH keys in the panel so they are ready for new servers at launch. Which key types work, and how to check fingerprints.
• Create and use API tokens — API tokens let scripts and the vps9 CLI use the API as you. How to create one with the right scope and expiry, store it safely and revoke it.
• API quickstart — Call the VPSNine API with curl and a bearer token. Check who you are, manage SSH keys, reboot a server, and read the errors it returns.
• Install the vps9 command-line tool — Download vps9 for Linux, macOS or Windows, check it against SHA256SUMS, log in with an API token, and run your first commands.