[CentOS] Please may you help me setup VPS

Tue Feb 21 17:52:59 UTC 2012
Wuxi Ixuw <w7u64xi7 at gmail.com>

A gentle reminder please :)

On 20/02/2012 12:06 AM, Wuxi Ixuw wrote:
> I am new to Linux so I do not have any special preferences.
> Yes I have a root access and the VPS is un managed.
> I am newbie to the Linux world.
> I will have a new website or maybe 3.
> I've found that un managed costs vary a lot, as I've found various 
> ways for settings ... some using Xen, others using OpenVZ, and other 
> using Virtuozzo and I found that it all vary regarding Ram allocations 
> for each VPS.
> Also afraid to stuck with some over sell VPS as I had it before with 
> shared hosting.
> For un managed hosting VPS will it be easy to secure the server from 
> being hacked? or it is an impossible job for a newbie guy like me?
> Also for later on regarding updates or patching ... will it be good as 
> well or not?
> Finally I've found most people using Ubuntu server LTS, so do you 
> advise of using it or any other distribution?
> I've read a lot of reviews that most are advising for using CentOS or 
> Debian, but I've found the majority are already using Ubuntu server.
> Thanks and too much appreciated your time reading and value your inputs.
>
> Note:
> After a lot of reading I've found that the steps should be as follow: 
> (the funny thing that I've read and know what I should do but each 
> time I am trying to run a command using PUTTY I get an error)
> - change root password to a secure one.
> - create another user with admin access with a strong password as well.
> - disable root remotely access.
> - use secure connection to the VPS by using PUTTY key instead of 
> username and password login .
> - change the port to a high one with unusual figure like 26127 or any 
> else
> - disable ftp and use another secure one.
> - install a fire wall, CSF firewall and Mod_security or anything else 
> equal or more.
> - keep the whole thing up-to-date.
> - secure the whole VPS as much as possible.
> - finally use a trusted script on the website and his why I will use 
> Drupal (mostly the core ones and nothing else without any modules).
>
> This is what I've got so far from reading many tutorials and still get 
> a lot of errors when I follow them (howtoforge.com) is one of the 
> famous websites I've visited.
>
> Sorry for being long ... But I am really hope if you here be able to 
> help or guide me.
>
> - Late Edit -
> I've forget to mention that some steps I've forget to mention are:
> - using back ed control panel (like ISP config, VirtualMin) is 
> facilitating the task but make VPS less secure, so using the command .