Last updated: May 1, 2026

VPS Setup Manual

This note contains basic instructions for a fresh Ubuntu server (Ubuntu 24.04 at the time of writing), a set of steps and commands to keep close for the next time I need to set it up manually.

Connect to the VPS

Connect to the server as root using SSH:

ssh root@ip     # replace ip with the server IP address

Package maintenance

apt update      # update the package list
apt upgrade -y  # update installed packages

reboot          
shutdown -r now # reboot now
shutdown -h now # shutdown now
shutdown -h +10 # shutdown in 10 minutes
shutdown -c # cancel a scheduled shutdown

Create a new user

In order not to use the root user for everyday server work, we need to create a new user and give them super user rights.

adduser normal_user               # add new user
usermod -aG sudo normal_user      # add the user to the sudo group

su - normal_user                  # switch to a new user
sudo whoami                       # check sudo access

exit

mkdir -p ~/.ssh                   # create .ssh directory for the new user                 
vi ~/.ssh/authorized_keys         # paste your public key

sudo ssh normal_user@ip           # login with the new user
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys  # change file permission

Once key login works, to disable root login, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config (as root):

PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
PubkeyAuthentication yes

Apply changes safely:

sudo sshd -t
sudo systemctl restart ssh

Test that the new user still works:

ssh normal_user@ip

Then check that root login is disabled:

ssh root@ip

Auth log

Ubuntu writes SSH logins, PAM sessions, and many sudo events to /var/log/auth.log.

sudo cat /var/log/auth.log
sudo tail -f /var/log/auth.log

Install `zsh`

sudo apt install zsh    # install zsh
chsh -s $(which zsh)    # set it as the default shell
vi ~/.zshrc             # customize the config
source ~/.zshrc         # apply the changes

Ghostty backspace/backslash quick fix

If some keys behave incorrectly in Ghostty on the VPS, it might help to set the terminal type manually.

Add this to ~/.zshrc on the VPS:

export TERM=xterm-256color