"How to Order a Storage VPS"

Ordering a Storage VPS on Data Mammoth is straightforward. The process is similar to ordering a standard VPS, with plan options that emphasize high-capacity storage at cost-effective pricing. This guide walks you through each step from start to finish.

Before You Order

Estimate Your Storage Needs

Calculate how much storage you need by considering:

• Current data volume — How much data do you need to store today?
• Growth rate — How much data will you add per month? Plan for at least 12-24 months of growth.
• Retention period — How long do you need to keep the data?
• Redundancy — Will you store multiple copies of data (e.g., multiple backup versions)?

Recommended Capacity by Use Case

Choose Your Region

Select a data center region based on:

• Proximity to your other servers — If the Storage VPS will serve as a backup target, placing it in a nearby (but different) region provides low-latency data transfer and geographic redundancy.
• Proximity to your users — If the Storage VPS hosts file sharing or media, choose a region close to your users.
• Data residency — Compliance requirements may dictate a specific region.

Step 1 — Navigate to the Order Page

Step 2 — Choose Your Plan

Storage VPS plans are organized by storage capacity. For each plan, you will see:

• Storage capacity — Total disk space (e.g., 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB).
• CPU — Number of vCPUs included.
• RAM — Amount of system memory.
• Bandwidth — Monthly data transfer allowance.
• Price — Monthly or billing-period cost.

Step 3 — Select Your Operating System

Choose a Linux distribution for your Storage VPS. Recommended options:

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS — Best overall choice for compatibility and documentation.
• Debian 12 — Stable, lightweight, excellent for storage-focused servers.

Step 4 — Select Your Data Center Region

Choose the region where your Storage VPS will be hosted. The region selector shows available locations with current availability.

Tip: For disaster recovery purposes, place your Storage VPS in a different region than your primary production servers. This ensures your backups survive even if a regional incident affects your production infrastructure.

Step 5 — Configure Initial Settings

Root Password or SSH Key

Set your access method:

• SSH key (recommended) — Upload or select an SSH public key for secure, passwordless access.
• Root password — Set a strong root password.

Hostname

Enter a descriptive hostname that identifies the server's purpose:

• "storage-backup-01"
• "file-server-eu"
• "media-archive"

Step 6 — Review and Confirm

Review your complete configuration:

• Plan (storage capacity, CPU, RAM)
• Operating system
• Data center region
• Monthly cost

Step 7 — Wait for Provisioning

Your Storage VPS is provisioned and ready within a few minutes. You will receive a notification when it is available. The dashboard will show:

• Server IP address (e.g., 203.0.113.30)
• Access credentials
• Server status

After Ordering

Connect to Your Server

SSH into your new Storage VPS:

ssh [email protected]

See How to Connect to Your Server via SSH for detailed instructions.

Initial Setup

Set Up Your Storage Solution

Depending on your use case:

• Backup server — Install and configure backup tools (rsync, BorgBackup, Restic). See Setting Up a Backup Server.
• File sharing — Install Nextcloud, Seafile, or another file sharing platform.
• Media server — Install Jellyfin, Plex, or another media server.
• Docker registry — Set up a private Docker registry.
• Log storage — Configure log forwarding from your other servers.

Create an Initial Snapshot

After your initial setup is complete, create a snapshot as a restore point. See How to Create and Restore VPS Snapshots.

Managing Your Storage VPS

Your Storage VPS is managed through the same Data Mammoth dashboard as your other servers:

• Monitoring — View CPU, RAM, disk, and network usage.
• Snapshots — Create and restore snapshots.
• Firewall — Manage cloud firewall rules.
• Console — Access the web-based terminal console.
• Settings — Reinstall OS, configure hostname, and manage power.

Upgrading Storage

If you outgrow your current plan:

Alternatively, you can order a second Storage VPS and distribute your data across both.

What to Do Next

• Setting Up a Backup Server — The most popular Storage VPS configuration.
• Storage VPS Use Cases — Explore what to do with your Storage VPS.
• How to Set Up Cloud Firewall Rules — Secure your storage server.
• Storage VPS vs Object Storage — Understand alternative storage options.