racknerd + easypanel: self-hosting tips

Originally drafted as a personal email response, I thought some folks might find this info useful.

my setup

I currently have a 3.5GB RAM, 80GB KVM server that I got for $38.88/year during a Black Friday deal three years ago. I pay yearly for this server. I also have another 2 GB, 30 GB KVM server that I use just for script management.

current racknerd deals

Check out their New Year deals at racknerd.com/NewYear/ or racknerd.com/BlackFriday/. There are a couple of options available, and their pricing is cheaper than what you'd pay for a beefy Vultr or DigitalOcean VPS configuration.

ackchyually, that's not the cheapest...

ackchyually, there's no absolute right or wrong here. You can always go down the rabbit hole and find even cheaper VPS configurations if you want. I'd recommend checking out reviews on LowEndTalk or other community forums to get a broader perspective.

easypanel considerations

Easypanel is strict about RAM requirements. It will always crash if the memory is below 2GB.

misc: control panel limitations

If you decide to use Easypanel, note that you cannot install other control panel apps within that server. This applies to almost every other server control panel as well.

misc: things you can do

You can do almost anything with Easypanel. Besides using service templates, you can even bring your own containerized apps from Git. You can easily spin up PostgreSQL databases + DbGate (DB manager) and more.

security and maintenance

  1. SSH: RackNerd sends plain-text passwords for SSH login. You’ll need to:

    • Enable key-based login manually after first login
    • Disable password-based logins
    • Consider changing the SSH port from 22 to something else for added security
    • Follow this guide for setting up SSH keys: How to Set Up SSH Keys on Ubuntu

  2. docker maintenance: Run this command occasionally to clean up unused resources:

    ⚠️ docker system prune --all --volumes --force

    You can Google or ask ChatGPT what this command does to understand it better.

note

I've had one brief downtime in three years, which was resolved quickly. It did break my automation because I didn't enable an auto-restart for my services. Overall, for budget-conscious developers and hobbyists, this is a solid solution. Happy self-hosting.