First Steps with Your New Dedicated Server

First steps with your new dedicated server — this guide walks you through the essential setup process after receiving access to a new dedicated server. Following these steps ensures a secure, optimized, and production-ready environment.

Step 1: Initial Access

Your hosting provider will send you an IP address, root password, and possibly a KVM/IPMI console link. Connect via SSH:

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

On first login, change the root password immediately:

passwd

Step 2: Update the Operating System

Before installing anything, bring the system up to date:

# Debian/Ubuntu
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# CentOS/AlmaLinux
dnf update -y

Reboot if the kernel was updated:

reboot

Step 3: Create a Regular User

Never use root for daily tasks. Create an administrative user:

adduser admin
usermod -aG sudo admin    # Debian/Ubuntu
usermod -aG wheel admin   # CentOS/RHEL

Test the new user:

su - admin
sudo whoami    # should output "root"

Step 4: Secure SSH

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

Port 2222                    # change default port
PermitRootLogin no           # disable root SSH login
PasswordAuthentication no    # after setting up SSH keys
MaxAuthTries 3

Set up SSH key authentication from your local machine:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519
ssh-copy-id -p 2222 admin@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Restart SSH:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

For more details, see Server Security Best Practices.

Step 5: Configure the Firewall

Set up UFW (Ubuntu) or firewalld (CentOS):

# UFW
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow 2222/tcp
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable

Step 6: Install Essential Tools

sudo apt install -y curl wget htop iotop net-tools \
  fail2ban unattended-upgrades git

Configure Fail2Ban for SSH protection:

sudo systemctl enable --now fail2ban

Step 7: Set Up Automatic Updates

# Ubuntu
sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades

This ensures security patches are applied automatically.

Step 8: Configure Hostname and Timezone

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname myserver
sudo timedatectl set-timezone UTC

Step 9: Set Up Monitoring

Install basic monitoring to track server health:

# Install htop for interactive monitoring
sudo apt install htop

# Set up disk space alerts (add to crontab)
# Check disk usage daily
(crontab -l; echo "0 8 * * * df -h | mail -s 'Disk Report' [email protected]") | crontab -

Step 10: Plan Your Backups

Before deploying any applications, set up a backup strategy. See backup best practices for detailed guidance.

Recommended Providers

PowerVPS offers dedicated servers with quick provisioning, root access, and a variety of OS options pre-installed, making these first steps straightforward.

Next Steps

After completing the initial setup, you are ready to:

Install a web server (Nginx or Apache)
Set up Docker for containerized deployments
Configure a database server (MySQL, PostgreSQL)