Short guides for people who want to understand their own infrastructure.

5 July 2026  ·  10 min read

Locking it down: the basic security layers every server needs

A plain-English tour of the core security layers for a self-managed server: firewall (UFW), fail2ban, CrowdSec, and where tools like Snort and Suricata fit in.

4 July 2026  ·  8 min read

Setting up SSH securely: the first tasks on a new VPS

A new VPS arrives with a root account and a password. Here is the order of operations to fix that: a proper sudo user, a strong password, and SSH locked down properly.

29 June 2026  ·  15 min read

From zero to hardened VPS: a day-by-day timeline

A practical, day-by-day guide covering SSH key setup, firewall configuration, fail2ban, automatic updates, SSL certificates, Apache, and Docker. Every command included.