Getting Started with FsckVPS

FsckVPS is an DIY (unmanaged) hosting service.

I chose them for several reasons:

Although the old Dell I have under my bed has more guaranteed CPU and RAM, the internet connection at my apartment isn't reliable enough to be hosting sites for clients.
They're cheap $10/month for 384/768(burst) RAM
Someone on my local ruby list recommended them
They give me what I need (a box with connection to the www)
They don't give me what I don't (restrictions, hassle)

The sign-up process is a little confusing as they use several software packages.

This is what you can expect to go through:

E-mail sales to get a discount code if you are

a student
going to release some or all of your software open source

Choose OpenVPN or Xen

choose a location (subject to availability)
get a discount by paying at least 3 months up front
claim your discount code from sales
make your payment via credit card / paypal

You will get e-mails with the following information

VAServe Account - this is created right away
VPS CP Account - this is created during business hours
eSupport Account - when you sign up for it

Your VM gets set up during working business hours

Wait a few hours to get the e-mail in which you'll find your ip address
You may need to wait until the next business day

Once you have your VPS CP account

Change your OS as you wish, wait 30 minutes
Put in a ticket through eSupport to notifying that you've changed your OS
Alternatively, if you're using Ubuntu or Debian this may work for you:
#/etc/network/interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto venet0
iface venet0 inet static
  address 127.0.0.1
  netmask 255.255.255.255
  broadcast 0.0.0.0
  up route add -net 192.0.2.1 netmask 255.255.255.255 dev venet0
  up route add default gw 192.0.2.1

auto venet0:0
iface venet0:0 inet static
  address X.X.X.X
  netmask 255.255.255.255
  broadcast 0.0.0.0

Setup DNS

Buy a domain from Google
Change your @ and www addresses to the VPS VM's IP address
I don't know about setting up DNS on FsckVPS. I know you can do it, but I don't know how yet

And at this point you should be all set to go.

Fsck Anatomy

FsckVPS - home page
eSupport - knowledgebase, support tickets
VAServe - customer account, billing
VPS Control Panel (broken ssl) - VM management

P.S. To get my Ubu-box up to a more useable status I do this:

apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade
# EDIT don't use ufw, it's not compatible with OpenVZ
# EDIT 2 I submitted a ticket and they changed the settings such that ufw's firewall rules work
apt-get install ufw

ufw allow ssh/tcp

ufw allow http/tcp

ufw allow https/tcp

/etc/init.d/ufw restart

ufw enable

#iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport ssh -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport www -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport https -j ACCEPT

#create an admin user

adduser my_user_name

usermod -a -G sudo my_user_name

visudo # uncomment %sudo ...

# test ssh and disable root ssh

ssh my_user_name@ip-addr

# Don't do this, in case you need serial console login

# sudo passwd root -l

sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

#set PermitRootLogin No

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