Prepare a server

A Linux server is all you need — a cloud server or a NAS at home both work. This page uses Aliyun ECS as the example.

Set the login password

1. Sign in at aliyun.com and click Console at the top right.
2. Search for ECS and open Elastic Compute Service.
3. In the left menu, open Instances and find the server you bought.
4. On its row, open the ⋯ menu and click Reset password. Set a password you will remember and confirm.
5. Restart the instance when the console asks — a new password only works after a restart.

You will type this password into the deployment in the next step, so keep it to hand.

Open two ports

The server sits behind a firewall, and two ports have to be opened before anything can reach it.

1. Still on the instance page, click Network and Security Group → Security groups in the left menu.
2. Find the security group this server uses and click Configure rules.
3. On the Inbound tab, click Add rule.
4. Fill the first rule in: protocol Custom TCP, port range 80/80, source 0.0.0.0/0, then save.
5. Add a second rule the same way for 8443/8443.

Port 80 is what issues the HTTPS certificate later; 8443 is the port the service itself will use.

Note the public IP

Copy the public IP address from the instance page; the deployment asks for it.

Next chapter: Deploy a server.