Tag: vps security

🛡️ KernelCare vs Manual Kernel Updates: What’s Best for Your VPS Security?

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When it comes to securing your VPS, keeping the Linux kernel up to date is one of the most critical but often overlooked tasks.

At HostEONS, we’re frequently asked:

Should I use something like KernelCare or stick with manual kernel updates?

Here’s a clear breakdown to help you decide what works best — especially if you’re managing your own VPS.

🔧 What Is KernelCare?

KernelCare is a live patching service for Linux systems. It applies security updates to the kernel without requiring a reboot, making it perfect for environments where uptime is essential.

Benefits include:

  • 🔄 Automatic patching of kernel vulnerabilities
  • ⏱️ No downtime or reboot required
  • ☁️ Ideal for high-availability or production systems

🔁 What Are Manual Kernel Updates?

Manual updates are the traditional way of updating your Linux kernel:

  1. Check for kernel updates (yum, apt, etc.)
  2. Install updates
  3. Reboot to apply the new kernel

While it’s free and gives you full control, there are trade-offs.

Pros:

  • 💰 No additional cost
  • 🧰 Ideal for non-critical or dev environments
  • 🔍 Full visibility over what’s being installed

Cons:

  • ⚠️ Requires scheduled reboots
  • 🕒 Vulnerable during the patch gap
  • 🔁 Easy to forget if not automated

⚔️ KernelCare vs Manual Updates – A Quick Comparison

FeatureKernelCareManual Updates
Reboot Required❌ No✅ Yes
Setup Effort✅ Minimal⚠️ Moderate
Ideal Use Case24/7 live systemsDevelopment or staging VPS
Cost💲 Paid service✅ Free
Downtime Risk❌ Zero⚠️ Possible downtime

🏆 What Does HostEONS Use?

While we don’t offer KernelCare as an addon for VPS customers, we do use KernelCare internally on our shared hosting infrastructure.

Why? Because it lets us:

  • Maintain 100% uptime on shared servers during security updates
  • Keep customers safe without surprise reboots
  • Respond faster to critical kernel vulnerabilities

🔐 What Should VPS Users Do?

Since HostEONS VPS plans are unmanaged, kernel security is your responsibility. We recommend:

  • Use Manual Updates if you’re comfortable managing reboots and scheduling updates
  • Set Reminders or use tools like unattended-upgrades (for Debian/Ubuntu) or yum-cron (for CentOS)
  • Always reboot after a kernel update to stay protected

🧠 Bonus Tip

If you’re running mission-critical apps on your VPS and want live patching, you can install KernelCare yourself. It supports most mainstream distros and is easy to manage — just make sure to review the licensing and fees on their official site.

💬 Final Thoughts

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but the key is not to skip kernel updates. Whether you patch manually or use a service like KernelCare, staying updated protects you from vulnerabilities that attackers love to exploit.

🖥️ VPS Hosting by HostEONS:

  • Budget VPS: https://hosteons.com/kvm_vps.php
  • Ryzen VPS: https://hosteons.com/ryzen_premium_vps.php
  • VDS (7950X): https://my.hosteons.com/store/ryzen-7950x-based-hybrid-dedicated-server

Why You Should Use a Private VPN on Your Own VPS While Traveling

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When you’re traveling — whether for work, study, or leisure — using public Wi-Fi networks is often unavoidable. Airports, hotels, cafes, and coworking spaces all offer connectivity, but often at the cost of privacy and security.

While many people turn to commercial VPNs to protect their connection, the best and most secure option is to run your own private VPN on a VPS.

In this post, we’ll explain why that matters and how you can get started using a VPS from Hosteons.

🔐 Why Privacy Matters More When You Travel

When you use public networks, your data is at risk from:

  • 🕵️‍♂️ Network sniffing and man-in-the-middle attacks
  • ❗ Fake Wi-Fi hotspots
  • 👁️ ISP or network logging and censorship
  • 🚫 Location-based content restrictions

VPNs solve this by encrypting your traffic and routing it through a trusted server — but who controls that server matters a lot.

🤔 The Problem with Public/Commercial VPNs

While commercial VPNs are better than nothing, they come with some caveats:

  • ❌ Shared IPs — may be flagged, banned, or blacklisted
  • ❌ Limited trust — you’re trusting a third-party company with your traffic
  • ❌ Logs and data retention — not all “no-log” policies are actually enforced
  • ❌ Performance throttling — many commercial VPNs limit speeds or locations
  • ❌ Overcrowded servers — inconsistent speeds and high latency

In short, you’re still handing over your traffic to someone else.

✅ Why a Private VPN on Your VPS is Better

Setting up a VPN on your own VPS solves most of these issues — and gives you full control.

✨ Benefits of Running a VPN on Your Own VPS:

  1. Full Control
    • You own and configure the server — no third-party snooping.
  2. Dedicated IP Address
    • No one else shares your IP, reducing chances of blacklisting or captchas.
  3. Custom Configuration
    • Choose your encryption, protocol (WireGuard, OpenVPN, etc.), DNS, and firewall rules.
  4. Faster Speeds
    • Avoid the bandwidth bottlenecks common with commercial VPNs.
  5. Consistent Access While Abroad
    • Appear to be at “home” and access region-specific services like banking or Netflix.
  6. Bypass Local Censorship or Firewalls
    • Secure access even in restrictive countries.
  7. Affordable
    • VPS plans from Hosteons start at just $1.75/month — often cheaper than VPN subscriptions.

🌐 Recommended VPN Protocols

You can install and run any of the following on your Hosteons VPS:

  • WireGuard – Lightweight, fast, and secure. Great for mobile.
  • OpenVPN – Highly configurable and widely supported.
  • Shadowsocks / V2Ray – Ideal for bypassing censorship in restricted regions.
  • IPSec / L2TP – Good compatibility with built-in OS VPN support.

Need help? Check out our tutorials for in our knowledge based articles for various types of VPN and Proxy on Hosteons.

🧭 VPS Locations for Best Travel VPN Experience

Choose your VPS location based on:

  • Your home country (to access region-locked services)
  • A neutral/nearby country for lower latency
  • High-bandwidth regions (like Germany, or Los Angeles)

Hosteons offers VPS in multiple locations globally, with inbound unmetered bandwidth and IPv6 support.

🔐 Bonus Tip: Add Your Own DNS & Firewall Rules

Once you’ve set up your private VPN:

  • Use custom DNS servers like NextDNS or AdGuard
  • Set firewall rules to block tracking domains or limit open ports
  • Enable kill switches on mobile and desktop to avoid leaks

🧰 What You’ll Need to Get Started

  • A Hosteons VPS (1 CPU, 512MB+ RAM is enough for VPN)
  • A domain (optional, for easier connection)
  • Basic Linux knowledge or follow one of our setup scripts
  • Your laptop or mobile devices

🚀 Ready to Travel Securely?

Don’t rely on sketchy free VPNs or overcrowded commercial services. Take control of your online privacy and performance with a self-hosted VPN on your own VPS.

🔗 Explore Hosteons VPS plans starting at just $1.75/month:

👉 https://hosteons.com

Need help setting it up? We’re always here → https://my.hosteons.com

Basic Tutorial to Secure an Ubuntu VPS

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Secure Ubuntu VPS
Secure Ubuntu VPS

Securing your Ubuntu VPS is essential for protecting data, ensuring stability, and preventing unauthorized access. Here’s a straightforward guide on some basic yet effective steps to secure an Ubuntu VPS.

1. Update Your System

Start by updating your system to ensure all software is up-to-date with the latest security patches.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Create a New User and Disable Root Login

For security, avoid using the root account directly and create a new user with sudo privileges.

  1. Create a new user: sudo adduser yourusername
  2. Add the user to the sudo group: sudo usermod -aG sudo yourusername
  3. Switch to the new user: su - yourusername
  4. Disable root login by editing the SSH configuration file: sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config Find the line:
   PermitRootLogin yes

Change it to:

   PermitRootLogin no
  1. Restart SSH to apply changes:
    sudo systemctl restart ssh

3. Enable Firewall (UFW)

Ubuntu’s Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) provides a straightforward way to manage firewall settings.

  1. Allow SSH access: sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
  2. Enable the firewall: sudo ufw enable
  3. Check the status:
    sudo ufw status

Optionally, if you’re hosting a web server, allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic:

sudo ufw allow http
sudo ufw allow https

4. Change the Default SSH Port

Changing the SSH port can add an additional layer of security against automated attacks.

  1. Open the SSH configuration file: sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  2. Find the line: #Port 22 Uncomment and change 22 to your desired port, e.g., 2222: Port 2222
  3. Restart SSH to apply changes: sudo systemctl restart ssh
  4. Don’t forget to allow the new SSH port through the firewall:
    bash sudo ufw allow 2222/tcp

5. Disable Password Authentication and Enable SSH Key Authentication

Using SSH keys instead of passwords enhances security.

  1. Generate an SSH key pair on your local machine: ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096
  2. Copy your public key to your VPS: ssh-copy-id -p 2222 yourusername@your_server_ip
  3. Disable password authentication for SSH: sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config Find the line: PasswordAuthentication yes Change it to: PasswordAuthentication no
  4. Restart SSH:
    sudo systemctl restart ssh

6. Install Fail2ban

Fail2ban monitors login attempts and blocks IPs with repeated failures, protecting against brute-force attacks.

  1. Install Fail2ban: sudo apt install fail2ban -y
  2. Start and enable Fail2ban: sudo systemctl start fail2ban sudo systemctl enable fail2ban
  3. Configure Fail2ban by creating a local jail file: sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
  4. Modify settings as needed: sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local You can adjust the ban time, retry limits, and monitored services.
  5. Restart Fail2ban:
    sudo systemctl restart fail2ban

7. Install and Configure Automatic Updates

Automatic updates reduce the risk of security vulnerabilities by ensuring software remains current.

  1. Install the unattended-upgrades package: sudo apt install unattended-upgrades -y
  2. Enable automatic updates:
    sudo dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low unattended-upgrades

8. Regular Backups

Always keep regular backups to quickly recover in case of an attack or data loss. Many hosting providers, like Hosteons, offer backup solutions, making it easy to automate and restore from snapshots or backups.

Summary

By following these steps, you enhance the security of your Ubuntu VPS against common threats. Regular updates, secure login configurations, a robust firewall, and monitoring tools like Fail2ban all contribute to a safer and more reliable server environment. With these basics covered, your VPS will be better protected against potential attacks.