Debian 12 Guides

Getting Started with Debian 12 on a VPS

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

This guide walks you through the first steps on a brand-new Debian 12 (Bookworm) VPS. You will end up with a hardened, production-ready server in under 30 minutes. If you need a VPS to follow along, Contabo (affiliate) offers 4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM from $5.50/month — great value for Debian 12 deployments.

Full guide → Initial Server Setup on Debian 12

Step 1 — Update the System

apt update && apt full-upgrade -y

Step 2 — Create a Sudo User

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

Step 3 — Harden SSH

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
PubkeyAuthentication yes

systemctl restart sshd

Step 4 — Configure UFW Firewall

apt install ufw -y
ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw enable

Step 5 — Install Essential Packages

apt install -y curl wget git unzip htop fail2ban

🖥️ Check Them Out — Contabo VPS

Running these guides on a real server makes all the difference. Contabo offers some of the best VPS value around — NVMe SSDs, generous RAM, and Debian 12 available out of the box.

Plan	vCPUs	RAM	Storage	Price
VPS S	4	8 GB	100 GB NVMe	~$5.50/mo
VPS M	6	16 GB	200 GB NVMe	~$9.50/mo
VPS L	8	24 GB	300 GB NVMe	~$13.50/mo

→ Check Out Contabo VPS Plans (affiliate link) → Need More Power? Dedicated Servers (affiliate link)

More Guides

Install Nginx on Debian 12

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

Nginx is the world’s most popular web server. This guide covers installation, virtual host configuration, and basic security hardening on Debian 12. Running Nginx on a solid VPS matters — Contabo (affiliate) gives you NVMe-backed servers with plenty of bandwidth for web hosting from $5.50/month.

Full guide → Nginx Web Server on Debian 12

Step 1 — Install Nginx

apt update
apt install nginx -y
systemctl enable --now nginx

Step 2 — Configure a Virtual Host

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

server {
 listen 80;
 server_name example.com www.example.com;
 root /var/www/example.com;
 index index.html;

 location / {
 try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
 }
}

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Step 3 — Open Firewall Port

ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

🖥️ Check Them Out — Contabo Hosting

Nginx performs best on fast hardware. Contabo delivers serious VPS and dedicated server specs at prices that don’t hurt — perfect for self-hosting your sites and apps.

VPS — 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe from ~$5.50/mo → great for most Nginx setups
Dedicated — 6-core bare metal, no noisy neighbours → ideal for high-traffic production

→ Check Out Contabo VPS (affiliate link) → Check Out Contabo Dedicated Servers (affiliate link)

More Guides

Install Docker on Debian 12

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

Docker lets you run applications in isolated containers. This guide installs Docker Engine from the official Docker repository on Debian 12. Containers shine on a reliable VPS — Contabo (affiliate) gives you dedicated resources (not shared) so your containers don’t compete for CPU and RAM.

Full guide → Installing Docker on Debian 12

Step 1 — Add Docker’s Official Repo

apt update
apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | \
 gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) \
 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
 https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
 $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
 tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Step 2 — Install Docker

apt update
apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io \
 docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Step 3 — Verify

docker run hello-world
docker compose version

🖥️ Check Them Out — Contabo VPS for Docker

Docker and containers need RAM and fast I/O to perform well. Contabo VPS plans are a solid fit — generous RAM per dollar, NVMe storage, and no hidden throttling on your containers.

VPS S — 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM → comfortable for 5–10 Docker services
VPS M — 6 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM → great for Docker Swarm or heavier stacks
Dedicated — bare metal, 6-core → full isolation, zero noisy neighbours

→ Check Out Contabo VPS (affiliate link) → Check Out Contabo Dedicated (affiliate link)