Getting a Virtual Machine

But wait, you don't have an IP to use, do you? You could host the server on your own computer and use your own IP, but I would not recommend that. Then you have to make sure your IP is secure from potential attackers that may want to try and hack your router and internal devices also using that IP. So, let's go rent a server instead.

Getting a server

Just like there are many domain registrars, there are many services that will rent you virtual machines that you can use. My recommendation is DigitalOcean for their cheap droplet machines as low as $4 a month (as of 12/22/22). You can pick what type of OS you want to run on your virtual machine. Linux is standard. I usually pick Ubuntu.

SSH keys

I would also use SSH keys to login to the machine as opposed to a normal password. If you're using DigitalOcean it comes with a browser SSH client you can use so you don't even have to worry about setting up the SSH key on your computer (Droplets -> your droplet -> Access -> Launch Droplet Console). If you want to connect using your computer instead of the browser, you will need PuTTY installed and setup, assuming you have Windows.

Once you are able to log in to your droplet, you are ready to begin the true setup of the Cakelandish server! Copy the IP of the virtual machine you were given and use that as the value of the A record in your domain's DNS configuration. Your domain (or subdomain) will then point to your virtual machine. Nothing will happen when you access the domain with your browser yet since there's no server running.