What a VPS is and why Contabo

Lesson outcome

You will understand exactly what a VPS is, why you need one, and which Contabo plan to buy. You will be ready to create your server in the next lesson.

Why this matters in an agency

Right now, your operator stack exists only on your laptop. When you close the lid, everything stops. That is fine for learning, but it is not how you run a business. A VPS is a computer in a data center that runs around the clock, accessible from anywhere. When you install Claude Code on your VPS, you can SSH in from your office, your home, your phone, or a client's conference room and pick up exactly where you left off. The tools you build later — automated reports, monitoring scripts, content pipelines — will run on the VPS even when you are asleep.

A VPS is also cheap. For the cost of one or two client coffees per month, you get a dedicated server with more uptime than your laptop will ever have.

Inputs, tools, and prerequisites

A credit card for the VPS subscription. You do not need any technical knowledge beyond what you have learned in Modules 1-4.

Step-by-step walkthrough

What a VPS actually is

A VPS is a virtual machine running on hardware in a data center. In plain terms: someone owns a very powerful computer in a building with fast internet and backup power. They slice that computer into smaller virtual machines and rent them out. You get one of those slices. It has its own operating system, its own storage, its own IP address, and it runs twenty-four hours a day.

You connect to it from your terminal over the internet. From your perspective, it works exactly like your local computer — you type commands, they execute, files are created and stored. The difference is that it does not depend on your laptop being open or your home internet being connected.

What you need from a VPS

For the operator stack, your VPS needs are modest:

• Operating system: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Ubuntu is the most widely supported Linux distribution. LTS means Long Term Support — it receives security updates for five years. Every tutorial, tool, and troubleshooting guide you will encounter assumes Ubuntu.
• RAM: 4 GB is the sweet spot. Claude Code itself is lightweight (it sends requests to Anthropic's servers), but the tools you build later benefit from headroom.
• CPU: 4 virtual cores. More than you need right now, but it keeps things fast as you add tools.
• Storage: 100 GB SSD. Your vault notes are small, but scripts, logs, and tools accumulate. Generous storage means you never have to think about it.
• Location: Choose a data center geographically close to you. Closer means lower latency when you SSH in.

Why Contabo

We use Contabo for the DAGA infrastructure and recommend it for one reason: you get dramatically more server for your money than anywhere else.

A Contabo Cloud VPS with 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD runs approximately $7-10/month. That same spec at DigitalOcean or Vultr costs $48/month or more. At Hetzner it is roughly $15-20/month. Contabo gives you 3-5x the resources per dollar.

The trade-off is that Contabo's dashboard is functional but not fancy. Provisioning takes a few minutes longer than some competitors. The documentation is thinner. None of that matters for what you are building — you need a reliable server with good specs at a low price, and Contabo delivers that.

Sign up at Contabo: {{AFFILIATE:contabo}}

What about AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure?

Skip them. Those platforms are designed for enterprise teams with dedicated DevOps engineers. Their pricing is complex, their interfaces are overwhelming, and they charge for things Contabo includes for free (like bandwidth). For the operator stack, Contabo is the right choice.

Recommended plan

Go to Contabo's Cloud VPS page and look for the plan in the 4-8 GB RAM range with SSD storage. As of early 2026, the Cloud VPS S or equivalent tier is the sweet spot — enough resources for Claude Code, your vault, scripts, and the tools you will build in later courses.

Choose:

• Region: US East, US Central, or EU (whichever is closest to you)
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 (Contabo offers both in their image selector)
• Storage: SSD (not HDD — the price difference is small and the speed difference is significant)

Failure modes and verification checks

The main failure mode is over-thinking the plan selection. Contabo's VPS plans are straightforward — pick the one in the 4-8 GB range and move on. You can resize later if you need more.

Verification: you have created a Contabo account and know which plan you will select.

Implementation checklist

• Go to Contabo (link in companion download) and create an account.
• Select a Cloud VPS plan with 4+ GB RAM and SSD storage.
• Choose the data center region closest to you.
• Note the monthly cost and confirm it fits your budget.

Immediate next action

Move to the next lesson and create your server. The provider is chosen — now provision it.

Exercise

Before creating the server, ask Claude Code to help you think through the specs. Start Claude Code on your local machine and ask:

```
I am about to provision a VPS on Contabo for running Claude Code, an Obsidian vault, and small automation scripts. I am looking at the Cloud VPS S plan with 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, and 100 GB SSD. Is this enough for what I need? What would be overkill and what would be too small?
```

Read the recommendation. This is the operator pattern applied to decisions — not just tasks. Claude Code can reason about specs and trade-offs to help you confirm your choice.