Step-by-step guides
How to do the things people rent a server for, from a fresh install to a working result. Every guide is tested on one of our servers before it is published, and says what it was tested on.
Start here
From ordering to a secure base.
Recommended path for beginners
- 1
Choose an operating system
Which operating system to pick when you order a server from Melonslab, what each choice on the order form is good for, how long each gets security updates, and why our guides use Debian 13.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
- 2
Connect to your server
How to log in to your new Melonslab server for the first time, where to find its address and root password, how to connect with SSH from Windows, macOS or Linux, and what to do when it does not work.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
- 3
Secure a new Debian server
The first steps on a new Debian 13 server, from logging in with an SSH key and turning off password logins to automatic security updates and a ufw firewall that opens only the ports you use.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
- 4
Rootless Podman containers
Podman on Debian 13 with every app in its own unprivileged user, started at boot as systemd services, updated automatically, and served over HTTPS by one shared Caddy.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
- 5
Move a server to Melonslab
Move a running app from a server at another provider to a new Melonslab server with Debian 13, with its data, users and certificates, tested under its real name before the switch, and about a minute of downtime.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
- 6
Off-site backups, restic
Nightly, encrypted backups of a Debian 13 server to a second server with restic and its REST server, in append-only mode, so that someone who takes over the server you back up cannot delete or change the backups it has already made.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Network and VPN
VPN, DNS, Tailscale and Wi-Fi logins.
AdGuard Home ad blocking
AdGuard Home on Debian 13 in rootless Podman behind Caddy, blocking ads and trackers for your phones and laptops over DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS, with plain DNS only for your VPN and never open to the internet.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Block attacks with CrowdSec
CrowdSec on Debian 13 reads your SSH and Caddy logs, spots password guessing and scanners, and blocks them in the firewall next to ufw. Run it fully local, or share signals for the community blocklist.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Connect two servers
Melonslab servers are isolated from each other on the local network, so traffic between two of them must go through the gateway. Two small changes on Debian 13 make that work over IPv4 and IPv6, and keep working after a reboot.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Headscale for Tailscale
Headscale on Debian 13, the open-source control server for Tailscale's apps, in rootless Podman under a user of its own, with its own relay, so your private network runs without Tailscale's servers.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Private DNS with Unbound
Unbound on Debian 13 as a private, DNSSEC-validating resolver for your WireGuard devices, so no DNS provider sees every name you look up, and not open to anyone else.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Wi-Fi logins with FreeRADIUS
FreeRADIUS on Debian 13 in rootless Podman under a user of its own, so that everyone logs in to Wi-Fi with WPA2 or WPA3 Enterprise, VPNs and network devices with their own user name and password, checked against certificates you make yourself.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Your own WireGuard VPN
A WireGuard VPN on your own Debian server in about 15 minutes. Your phone, laptop or router browses over the server's IPv4 address, and each device gets its own public IPv6 address from the server's /64.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Chat and email
Chat, calls, email and an AI agent.
AI agent with Hermes
Hermes Agent on Debian 13, the open-source AI agent from Nous Research, in rootless Podman under a user of its own, running around the clock and talking to you over end-to-end encrypted Matrix.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
AI assistant with OpenClaw
OpenClaw on Debian 13, the open-source personal AI assistant, in rootless Podman under a user of its own, behind Caddy with HTTPS, a token and browser approval, and asking you before it runs a command.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Asterisk phone system
Asterisk 22 LTS on Debian 13, your own phone system with extensions that call each other, voicemail and an echo test, calls encrypted with TLS and SRTP, phones behind home routers, and fail2ban against SIP scanners.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Discord bot
A Discord bot on Debian 13, written with discord.js or discord.py, running as a systemd service under a user of its own, with the token kept out of the code, automatic restarts, hardening and clear logs.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
FreePBX phone system
FreePBX 17 on Debian 12, a phone system you manage in the browser, built on Asterisk, with SIP extensions for desk and mobile phones, a free certificate, a firewall that keeps out SIP scanners, and nightly backups.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Jitsi Meet video meetings
Jitsi Meet on Debian 13, video meetings in the browser on your own server, where only your users can start a meeting and guests join with a link, with free certificates and no calls to outside services.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Mail server with Postfix
A mail server for your own domain on Debian 13, with Postfix to send and receive, Dovecot for your mail apps, and DKIM, SPF and DMARC, so your mail passes the checks the big mailbox providers run.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Mail server with Stalwart
Stalwart on Debian 13, a modern all-in-one mail server with IMAP, POP3, JMAP, spam filtering and DKIM, in rootless Podman under a user of its own, with its web admin behind Caddy and Let's Encrypt certificates.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Matrix chat server
Your own Matrix chat server on Debian 13, with Synapse and PostgreSQL in rootless Podman under a user of its own, addresses like @you:example.com, and federation with the rest of Matrix.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Voice and video for Matrix
Calls on your own Matrix server, with LiveKit for Element Call in today's Element apps, and coturn for one-to-one calls in older apps, each in rootless Podman under a user of its own.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Files, photos and home
Files, photos, passwords and more.
AI chat with Open WebUI
Open WebUI on Debian 13 in rootless Podman behind Caddy, a private ChatGPT-style chat for you and your family or team, with models from OpenRouter, sign-ups closed, and its calls to Hugging Face and GitHub switched off.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Bookmarks with Linkwarden
Linkwarden 2 on Debian 13, the open-source bookmark manager that keeps a copy of every page you save, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with full-text search.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Budgeting with Actual
Actual Budget, a private budgeting app, on Debian 13 in rootless Podman under a user of its own, synced across your devices over HTTPS behind Caddy, with failed logins limited per visitor, updates and backups.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Documents with Paperless
Paperless-ngx on Debian 13 scans your receipts, invoices and letters into a searchable archive with Swedish text recognition, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with nightly exports you can restore.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Files with Nextcloud
Your own Nextcloud for files, calendars and contacts on Debian 13, in rootless Podman containers under a user of its own, with HTTPS, background jobs, updates and backups.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Home Assistant on a server
Home Assistant on Debian 13 in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, reachable from anywhere with its app, with electricity prices from Nord Pool, bans after failed logins, and your home's devices reached over a VPN.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Media with Jellyfin
Jellyfin 12 on Debian 13, the open-source media server for your own films, music and home videos, with apps for phones and TVs, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Minecraft server
A Minecraft Java server with Paper on Debian 13, in Podman under a user of its own, with a whitelist, operators set from the console, nightly world backups and updates to a new Minecraft version without losing the world.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Music with Navidrome
Navidrome on Debian 13 streams your own music collection to the browser and to Subsonic apps on your phone, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with usage reports and online lookups switched off.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Passwords with Vaultwarden
Vaultwarden on Debian 13, a Bitwarden-compatible password manager for you or your team, in rootless Podman under a user of its own, with HTTPS, updates and backups.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
PDF tools with Stirling-PDF
Stirling-PDF 3 on Debian 13, in Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, to merge, split, compress, OCR and convert PDFs on your own server, with login on, analytics off and no copies of your files kept.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Photos with Immich
Immich 3 on Debian 13, the open-source photo and video library with apps for your phone, face recognition and search by what is in the picture, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Private search with SearXNG
SearXNG on Debian 13 in rootless Podman behind Caddy, a private search engine for you and your household that asks several engines at once, open without a password on your VPN and behind one everywhere else.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Business and monitoring
Accounting, logins and monitoring.
Accounting with ERPNext
ERPNext 16 on Debian 13, the open-source ERP for accounting, invoicing, stock and projects, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with the Swedish BAS chart of accounts ready to use.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Automation with n8n
n8n 2 on Debian 13, the workflow tool that connects your apps and runs tasks on webhooks and schedules, in rootless Podman with PostgreSQL behind Caddy, with telemetry switched off and the owner account kept yours.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Monitoring with Zabbix
Zabbix 7.0 LTS on Debian 13 in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, watching the server itself and your other servers through agents that send their data encrypted.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
One login with authentik
authentik on Debian 13, the open-source identity provider, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, so that your people log in to all your apps with one account and two-factor authentication.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Plausible web analytics
Plausible Community Edition on Debian 13, web analytics without cookies that you host yourself, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with your own account created before anyone else can sign up.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
RustDesk remote desktop
The open-source RustDesk server on Debian 13 in rootless Podman, so that your remote desktop and IT support sessions are brokered and relayed by your own server in Sweden, and only clients with your key can connect through it.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Site checks with Uptime Kuma
Uptime Kuma 2 on Debian 13 in its rootless image, in Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, checking your sites and servers every minute and sending an alert to Matrix when one goes down.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Web analytics with Umami
Umami 3 on Debian 13, privacy-friendly web analytics without cookies, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with the default password changed before it goes online, telemetry off and visitors' real countries.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Wiki with BookStack
BookStack on Debian 13, the open-source wiki that sorts your documentation into shelves, books and pages, in rootless Podman with MariaDB under a user of its own behind Caddy, with the default admin replaced first.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Developers and hosting
Git, Kubernetes, hosting and mirrors.
Coolify app platform
Coolify on Debian 13, a self-hosted alternative to Heroku and Vercel that builds your apps from Git and runs them with free certificates, databases and backups, with its admin ports closed and its telemetry switched off.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Deploy a Node or Python app
Your Node.js or Python app on Debian 13, under a user of its own as a hardened systemd service behind Caddy with HTTPS, deployed with a git push and reloaded without dropping requests.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
DirectAdmin control panel
DirectAdmin on Debian 13, a light control panel for websites, WordPress, mail and databases in your browser, with IPv6 for every site, free certificates, DKIM, automatic updates and its own firewall.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Dokploy app platform
Dokploy on Debian 13, a self-hosted alternative to Heroku and Vercel that builds your apps from Git and runs them on Docker Swarm with free certificates and databases, with its setup page kept off the internet.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Git server with Forgejo
Forgejo on Debian 13, a Git server with a web interface, issues, pull requests and CI, in rootless Podman under a user of its own, with a separate user for CI jobs and a first push for Git newcomers.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Helium browser services
The services behind the Helium browser on your own Debian 13 server, rootless under a user of their own and behind Caddy, so extension downloads, filter lists and dictionaries come from a server you control.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Install Docker on Debian
Docker Engine and Compose on Debian 13 from Docker's own repository, with the ports Docker opens past ufw closed, IPv6 for containers, log rotation, and a first app behind Caddy that sees each visitor's real address.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Linux mirror with rsync
A public or private mirror of Arch Linux, EndeavourOS or CachyOS on Debian 13, synced the way each distribution asks on a timer, and served over HTTP and HTTPS by a rootless container behind Caddy.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Linux package cache
One server that keeps a copy of the packages your other servers download, for Debian and Ubuntu with apt-cacher-ng and for Arch, CachyOS and EndeavourOS with pacoloco, over HTTPS and only for your own servers.
Updated Sep 25, 2026
Pelican game panel
Pelican on Debian 13, a free panel that runs Minecraft and other game servers in containers, with its Wings daemon on the same server, Let's Encrypt certificates, IPv4 and IPv6 for players, backups and SFTP.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Plesk control panel
Plesk on Debian 13, a control panel for websites, WordPress, mail and databases in your browser, with its free 14-day trial, IPv6 for every site, free certificates and Plesk's own firewall.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
Portainer container UI
Portainer CE on Debian 13, a web interface for your containers and Compose stacks, in rootless Podman under a user of its own behind Caddy, with its setup page locked by a token and none of its ports open to the internet.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
PostgreSQL database server
PostgreSQL 18 on Debian 13 as your own database server, with one database and login per app, settings sized for 8 GB, access over WireGuard, SSH or TLS from addresses you list, and nightly dumps you have restored.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Prometheus and Grafana
Prometheus and Grafana on Debian 13 in rootless Podman behind Caddy, with node_exporter on each server, a ready-made dashboard, alerts sent to your phone through ntfy, and Grafana's calls home switched off.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Pterodactyl game panel
Pterodactyl on Debian 13, a free panel for game servers such as Minecraft, each in its own Docker container, with the panel and Wings on one server, free certificates, IPv6 for players and backups you can restore.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
Push alerts with ntfy
ntfy on Debian 13 in rootless Podman behind Caddy, closed to everyone you have not let in, sending alerts from your scripts, SSH logins, failed services and Uptime Kuma to your phone and your browser.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Rootless Kubernetes with k3s
k3s on Debian 13 in rootless mode, a certified Kubernetes in one binary that runs under an unprivileged user of its own, with Traefik behind Caddy, persistent volumes and the visitor's real address passed to your apps.
Updated Sep 26, 2026
S3 storage with Garage
Garage on Debian 13 in rootless Podman behind Caddy, your own S3-compatible storage for backups, apps and static websites, with keys per app, restic backups to it and a site served straight from a bucket.
Updated Oct 2, 2026
Swap in memory with zram
zram on Debian 13, compressed swap that lives in memory instead of on disk, so a server that runs short of memory slows down gently instead of flooding its disk, set up with systemd's zram-generator in a few minutes.
Updated Sep 26, 2026