How To Set up a VPS Game Server: A Step-By-Step Guide
If you need web hosting for your business, brand, or even just to play games, you might be wondering how to set up a VPS server and how it can benefit you. While setting up a VPS server might seem obvious to some, it can be difficult to know how to do it if this is your first time working with a command line interface.
This guide will cover step by step in simple terms how you can set up a VPS game server for all your gaming needs.
Purchase the Plan
Before you begin setting up a VPS game server, you need to get a VPS hosting plan. Make sure you review hosting plans before choosing one as you want to ensure they have good customer support, affordable pricing, and good security features.
Some VPS hosting services even have an AI assistant where you can get basic questions answered and have easy troubleshooting done.
Log Into Your VPS Hosting Service
Once you have the hosting plan purchased, you can log into the VPS hosting service. Most plans will require that you log in using Secure Shell which is also known as SSH.
After you first install the VPS hosting service, it should give you instructions on how to launch the VPS hosting service and give you a root password which is what you will use when you first log in.
After this, you can change the password to something easier for you to remember, but make sure it’s still secure and not easy to hack.
After you have logged into the VPS, it’s recommended you change all the default SSH settings as these are easy to hack into and many cyber hackers know the credentials so they can easily get into your network.
Update the VPS
Sometimes when a VPS is first installed, the software might be out of date. This allows hackers to easily get into your servers and have access to all your information.
There are a few easy commands you can run to ensure the VPS is up to date including apt update and apt upgrade.
Keep in mind if there are many updates, it can take several hours for the VPS to get back up and running. The time it takes to update also depends on your internet speed.
Once the updates are completed, you want to reboot the software. If you do not reboot, some of the updates are more likely to experience glitches which can make it harder for your website to get up and running.
Make a New User
As the main user of the VPS, you want to make sure you have all the right privileges to be able to change and update software as needed. If you keep the privileges as is, your VPA is more likely to get hacked and experience errors.
Keep in mind that if other users have access to too many privileges, they can change all the settings which can make your VPS very vulnerable.
The easier command to use is “sudo apt update.” This means the system will ask for login credentials every time a change needs to be made which allows you to have better security.
To make yourself the main user, you can enter “add username.” Where it says “username” you will put in the username you want to use when you log into the VPS each time.
Next, put in the command “# usermod -aG sudo username.” Again, you want to put the username that you selected when you log in.
It should then ask you to enter the password you want to use. If you want to add more users, you can repeat the steps as needed above.
Enabling Public Key Authentication
This step is very important because it ensures that you have better VPS security and it makes your SSH connection more secure. With this step, you will give the VPS a public key that it then uses to protect the private key. Only certain users can access the private key.
Here are the basic steps for setting up the public and private keys:
- Open the PuTTYgen application
- Next, configure the settings that you want to change like the bit size and the key type
- Click Generate
- The PuTTYgen will then take a few minutes to generate the new keys. As it’s doing this, you can move around your computer mouse or cursor so that the key pairs become more randomized
- You now enter the password or the key passphrase
- Make sure to click the option for saving the key before exiting so that none of the information or the passwords get lost
Make a Firewall
The last major step is to make a firewall for the VPS. A firewall acts as a filter for all the traffic coming into and going out of the website. Setting up a firewall is important because if you do not have one, hackers are able to see all the traffic on your website and they can use it to get private information.
You will want to configure your own firewall and then give it a name so it’s easy for you to find and log into. You can change the incoming traffic rules as you see fit. You can even test them yourself to ensure you made the settings correctly.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, setting up your own VPS hosting service for gaming is pretty straightforward, but there are some steps and commands that make it a little complicated for some. However, having a VPS hosting server as a gamer is crucial if you want to ensure all your information is secure and that you are not at risk for any hacking or other cybersecurity issues.
This will allow you to make it easier to play with other gamers because you monitor all the traffic on your VPS.