How to set up a VPS

• Log in as root via ssh
• add line to /etc/hosts
• dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
• create user account, add to sudoers:

useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash myuser
usermod -aG sudo myuser

• apt install emacs-nox nmap ntp postfix mailutils logwatch unzip zip
• update ssh to listen on a different port by editing /lib/systemd/system/ssh.socket, then restart ssh.

and (carefully) to deny root access

• set up firewall
• set up backups
• apt-get install nginx mysql-server supervisor
• install docker-compose: http://docs.docker.com/compose/install/
• fix mysql, create mysql databases and app accounts
• schedule nightly database snapshots
• set up sites in /etc/nginx/sites-available and activate in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
• set up apps in /etc/supervisor/conf.d

after setting up DNS name

• update hostname in /etc/hosts, /etc/hostname, run "hostname -F /etc/hostname"
• configure postfix
• make sure you receive nightly log messages