Set Up a DigitalOcean VPS Web Server

🔴 Hard

Rent a small virtual server on DigitalOcean and put a simple web page on it that proves it's yours. No proxy, no VPN — one web server, one page, reachable from the internet.

🔴 Laptop and SSH required. Do not attempt this task on a phone alone.

You need: a laptop, an email address, and a payment card you control. Words you'll meet: SSH (secure login to your server), droplet/server (your rented computer), curl (a command that fetches a web page). No SSH key yet? Pick the provider's generate-key option.

Steps

1. Create an account at digitalocean.com (email + payment method: card or PayPal).
2. Create a droplet: Droplets > Create Droplet. Choose Basic 512 MiB / 1 vCPU / 10 GB SSD. Pick Ubuntu 24.04, a region near you, and add your SSH key. Create.
3. Note the droplet's external IPv4 address.

Setup

1. SSH in: ssh root@<external-ip>
2. Install the web server: sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nginx
3. Publish your ownership page — it must contain the word satsboard plus your Nostr npub (or the name from your board profile):
   echo "satsboard npub1yourkeyhere" | sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html
4. Open port 80 in the DigitalOcean firewall AND in the OS: sudo ufw allow 80
5. Test from your own machine: curl http://<external-ip> must print your ownership line.

What to Submit

In the notes field, enter exactly:

ip | your-external-ip
web | ok (curl returned my ownership line)

Plus 1 screenshot of your terminal showing the curl succeeding.

What success looks like

The admin runs curl http://<your-ip> and sees your ownership line. No login, no proxy dance — a public page that is unmistakably yours.

Rules

• Only one VPS per provider per worker.
• The page must stay up at least 7 days after submission.
• Never share your private SSH key file.