The latest articles on DEV Community by dakota hopson (@dakota_hopson_9b84ad51eae). https://dev.to/dakota_hopson_9b84ad51eae https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3874255%2F96bbacd0-fff5-496f-87e7-001d721dbeaf.png https://dev.to/dakota_hopson_9b84ad51eae en dakota hopson Sun, 12 Apr 2026 01:05:36 +0000 https://dev.to/dakota_hopson_9b84ad51eae/i-built-a-vps-hosting-business-from-my-home-lab-heres-how-1ae0 https://dev.to/dakota_hopson_9b84ad51eae/i-built-a-vps-hosting-business-from-my-home-lab-heres-how-1ae0 <p>I recently launched Galaxy Cloud Solutions LLC, a VPS <br> hosting company running entirely out of my home lab in <br> Valley City, North Dakota. Here's what I built and how.</p> <h2> The Hardware </h2> <ul> <li>Dell PowerEdge R630 (dual Xeon E5-2660 v3, 40 threads, 62GB RAM)</li> <li>Dual ISP setup with automatic failover</li> <li>Cloudflare for DDoS protection and DNS</li> </ul> <h2> The Software Stack </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Proxmox VE</strong> — KVM virtualization hypervisor</li> <li> <strong>FOSSBilling</strong> — client management and billing</li> <li> <strong>Nginx</strong> — reverse proxy and SSH stream tunneling</li> <li> <strong>Python</strong> — custom auto-provisioning script</li> <li> <strong>Cloudflare</strong> — DDoS protection, DNS, DDNS updates</li> <li> <strong>Uptime Kuma</strong> — 24/7 monitoring</li> </ul> <h2> How It Works </h2> <p>When a customer orders a VM, everything happens automatically:</p> <ol> <li>FOSSBilling receives PayPal payment</li> <li>Triggers my Python provisioning script</li> <li>Script clones a Proxmox template</li> <li>Configures resources (CPU, RAM, disk)</li> <li>Starts the VM and waits for IP via guest agent</li> <li>Creates a Cloudflare DNS record</li> <li>Sets up Nginx SSH stream proxy</li> <li>Sets customer password via guest agent</li> <li>Sends welcome email with SSH credentials</li> </ol> <p>The whole process takes about 3-5 minutes from payment <br> to SSH access.</p> <h2> OS Templates Available </h2> <ul> <li>Ubuntu 24.04 LTS</li> <li>Debian 13</li> <li>Rocky Linux 9</li> <li>AlmaLinux 9</li> </ul> <h2> Plans </h2> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Plan</th> <th>vCPU</th> <th>RAM</th> <th>Storage</th> <th>Price</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Nebula 1</td> <td>1</td> <td>1GB</td> <td>20GB SSD</td> <td>$5/mo</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nebula 2</td> <td>2</td> <td>2GB</td> <td>40GB SSD</td> <td>$10/mo</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Galaxy 1</td> <td>4</td> <td>4GB</td> <td>80GB SSD</td> <td>$20/mo</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Galaxy 2</td> <td>4</td> <td>8GB</td> <td>160GB SSD</td> <td>$35/mo</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Supernova</td> <td>8</td> <td>16GB</td> <td>320GB SSD</td> <td>$65/mo</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <h2> What I Learned </h2> <p>Building this taught me a ton about Linux networking, <br> KVM virtualization, automated provisioning, and running <br> a real business. It's been an incredible learning experience.</p> <p>Use code <strong>LAUNCH2026</strong> for 50% off your first month!</p> <p>Check it out at <a href="https://galaxycloudsolutions.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">galaxycloudsolutions.com</a></p> <p>Happy to answer any questions about the technical setup!</p> homelab linux selfhosted webdev