Part 1 of a multi-part series, this how-to introduces a typical unmanaged VPS control panel, and takes you through the steps to set up your initial Linux distribution. Ideal for blog and site owners that have outgrown shared hosting but can't, or don't want, to afford a managed VPS, this series of blog posts and videos takes a blank VPS, building it into a supercharged server, capable of hosting multi-sites, email and more. Why do it? 'Cos it's easy to do and, for a typical hosting fee of about $20 a month, you can have a solution powerful enough for most sites, and even start your very own hosting company or co-op! For the complete series ... 1. VPS Intro & Linux OS Setup, 2. Secure (SSH/Putty) Command Line Access, 3. Security & Firewall, 4. Nginx (better than Apache) Web Server, 5. Tweaks for Wordpress Caching, 6. Filezilla with SSH not FTP, 7. Adding & Testing (Multiple) Blogs & Sites, 8. Google Apps for Domain-Specific Email, 9. Moving Day! How to Move Your Blog or Site ... check out http://guvnr.com