Securing and configuring your Self Managed VPS

Now that cPanel/WHM has been installed on your VPS, it’s important that you take the time to appropriately configure your VPS. It is critically important that you secure it sufficiently to minimize the potential for it to be compromised; by doing so you are protecting both your data and our network from malicious use.

If you’re unsure about the steps below, please contact the VentraIP technical team via eTicket who can secure and configure your VPS with the purchase of a Server Management Job.

Some of the steps you should take to secure your VPS include:

• Install a firewall; for cPanel servers consider CSF/LFD.
• Lockdown non-essential ports using CSF.
• Set a strong password, also consider disabling password root logins in favor of SSH-key access only
• Disable root password logins to FTP.
• Configure your web server (Apache/LiteSpeed/Nginx) and PHP appropriately using EasyApache in WHM.
• Update your kernel and all RPM’s
• Run the Security Advisor tool in WHM.
• Configure your DNS service on the VPS, set up your name server DNS A records on your VPS, and create your domain name child name servers (Registry hosts/Glue Records).

These are just a few of the steps you should take, but there are many more – such as enabling mod_security, disabling specific background tasks and configuring services.

Out of your depth?

If you’re unfamiliar with securing a VPS and you need help, please contact the VentraIP Technical Team who can secure and configure servers where cPanel/WHM has been purchased.

It does come at the cost of a Server Management Job, but the piece of mind that your VPS is as secure as possible is essential.