Managing a remote linux VPS

Question

Currently, I host my client's application services using a Windows VPS. With this setup, administration boils down to logging in through an RDP client. I am interested in eventually transitioning all services to Linux, so as step one in this process, I've rented a Linux VPS (Ubuntu 11.04 via nqhost) to play around with.

As you can probably tell, I am not a Linux expert, but I use Ubuntu daily on my home PC as well as at work (developing with LAMP), so I have a decent grasp of the fundamentals, at least when the machine is physically in front of me.

For someone who is used to RDP, what kind of resources should I look into for managing my Linux VPS?

Answer 1

Personally, I simply SSH into my VPS with putty. If you're looking for CLI then that's all you need. If you want a remote display then there are any number of solutions that you can choose from (perhaps most notably VNC)

http://www.mynitor.com/2010/02/07/15-remote-desktop-solutions-for-linux/

Answer 2

I'd recommend using a web-based control panel (webmin for example) to manage the VPS over installing a GUI and remotely accessing it.
There's less overhead on the server, it can be easier to set up (I had huge problems in the past installing VNC, and also getting Ubuntu to start the GUI without a hardware screen attached, as the case with a VPS), and it's probably quicker to manage the server, depending on what you're trying to do with it (manually adding new vhosts and users and ftp accounts etc for each website can be time consuming). Then just use SSH when you need to do something outside of what the web control panel can do.