SSH and Server Basics — Deploy to a VPS Like It's 2026

PaaS (Render/Vercel) deploys with a git push — but knowing what happens on a raw server is the difference between using magic and understanding it.

SSH — the front door

ssh-keygen -t ed25519            # your keypair (once)
ssh root@203.0.113.7             # log into the server
scp app.zip root@203.0.113.7:~   # copy files up

Key-based login (public key on the server, private on your laptop) — the same mechanism as your GitHub SSH key.

Running a Node app that survives

# on the server:
git clone https://github.com/you/api.git && cd api
npm ci
npm i -g pm2
pm2 start index.js --name api    # keeps running after you log out
pm2 startup && pm2 save          # survives reboots
pm2 logs api                     # live logs

nginx — the traffic director

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name api.mysite.com;
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;   # forward to your Node app
  }
}
# then: certbot --nginx  → free HTTPS in one command

Honest advice

For real projects, PaaS free tiers win on time. Rent a ₹300/month VPS once as education — nginx + PM2 + certbot by hand teaches more about "how the web works" than a month of tutorials. And "comfortable with Linux/SSH/nginx" on a fresher resume is rare enough to get questions — good ones.