Buying a Server

Although the phrase “Buying your own server” sounds intimidatingly complex, in reality today renting a server is just as easy as registering an email account. 

• First of all, it should be said right away that you will not have to go anywhere and buy physical hardware. Everything is much simpler: you rent it directly in the data center without leaving your home. 
  
  
• Secondly, there is no need to be afraid that a server is a technically complex and expensive device. Yes, it is as complex as your smartphone, but in fact it is quite easy to use.
  
  
• Thirdly, you absolutely do not need to buy or rent an entire physical server right now. Modern technologies allow providers to split one real server into many virtual ones. This gives a huge advantage: we can rent a virtual server for next to nothing. And most importantly, later we will be able to easily scale its resources as the business grows. That’s just great!

So, first you need to choose a data center. There are quite a lot of them, but we recommend choosing large and time-tested ones. As an example, we will look at renting a server from the well-known company DigitalOcean. This company is so technologically advanced that it has several dozen data centers around the world!

Step 1

Go to the company website: https://www.digitalocean.com and click the "Sign Up" button to register.

Select the option "By signing up below, I agree..." and click the "Sign Up with Google" button. This means registration using your Google account. Of course, you can choose other methods as well, but we recommend this one as the simplest and most secure.

You will be taken to the Google website, where you will be asked to confirm the action, click the "Continue" button. After that, you will be registered on DigitalOcean, and in the future you will need to click the "Sign In" button (or "Log In") to access your account.

Next, you will immediately enter the welcome menu, where you are asked what exactly you want to create:

Your task is to choose the first option "Droplet" (yes, that is what a virtual server is called here) and click the "Get Started" button. If for some reason this menu did not appear or you accidentally closed it, no problem. Just find the "Create" section in the menu on the left or at the top and choose "Droplets" there.

Step 2

So, a window will open where you can choose the location and configuration of your server. Remember: server resources can be increased over time, so there is no point in choosing expensive options at the beginning. On the contrary, we will show how to launch Melbis Shop for a minimal cost.

First of all, you need to choose the "Choose a datacenter region" parameter, that is, the country and the data center in it. I usually choose the one closer to my audience, for example, let it be "Amsterdam AMS3".

The next section is "Choose an image", where we need to select the base operating system that will be preinstalled on the server. For stable and proven operation, we recommend Ubuntu. Choose the latest version, currently it is Ubuntu 24.04 (LTS) x64.

The next section is "Choose a Droplet Plan", where you need to define the initial server configuration. As I said before, we will deliberately choose a reasonable minimum. 

On the "Basic" tab, in the "CPU Options" parameter, select "Regular Disk" (or SSD) and the $6 per month plan: "vCPU: 1, RAM: 1 GB, Disk: 25 GB". 

If you are ready to get a more powerful server right away, we recommend "Premium Intel" for $8 per month: "vCPU: 1, RAM: 1 GB, Disk: 35 GB". 

The selected configuration will be displayed in the invoice on the right.

The next item is server data backup "Backups". There is no need to explain why this is important for a working project. However, at the testing stage you can save money, especially since backups can be enabled later as well. If you still choose them now, you will need to specify the backup frequency and schedule.

The next important section is "Authentication" (the authorization method on the server). Here we choose the "Password" option; for now this is the simplest and most convenient choice. Next, you will need to come up with a password for the main superuser of the system — "root". The password must be strong (the system itself will not allow a weak one). This is your first key to the business. Be sure to save it!

Another useful section that we recommend enabling is "Monitoring". This is a free option that allows you to track the server’s “health” status. It will definitely come in handy for you in the future!

The next section is "Give your Droplet a name". Here you need to assign a name to the server. By default, the tariff plan name is entered there, but we advise replacing it with something more understandable, for example, the name of your project (it is better to use hyphens instead of dots).

You are ready to order your Droplet (virtual server). Click the "Add Payment Method and Create Droplet" button in the invoice.

Step 3 

At this stage, all that remains is to choose a payment method and enter your payment details, for example, your bank card information.

That’s all! After successful payment, your server will be created within a few minutes and should appear in the list.

Please note: next to your server, its status and IP address (four numbers separated by dots) will be displayed. This is your second key to the business. Be sure to save it, you will need it very soon. However, you can always find it in this panel.

The server purchase is now complete. Congratulations on successfully completing the first step! Now you can proceed to domain registration.