Story of registering for Sakura VPS's 2-week free trial period to set up with Ansible
I’ve been doing server environment setup manually until now, but I’m thinking it’s about time I want to be able to automate using configuration tools.
Just thinking isn’t enough - I need to take action! So I registered for Sakura VPS’s 2-week free trial period.
Registering for Sakura VPS
First, register for Sakura VPS with credit card payment.
If you’ve decided to use only the free trial period, choosing monthly payment seems to avoid the risk of forgetting to cancel.
If you register through the banner below, I get a kickback, which would make me happy.
Check provisional registration email from Sakura VPS
After applying, you’ll receive a provisional registration email like the following.
Important information like root user password and IP address is included, so keep it safe.
[Subject] [さくらのVPS] 仮登録完了のお知らせ[Content] ――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――― This message was automatically sent from Sakura Internet’s service registration system. If you don’t recall this, another person may have registered with the wrong email address. In that case, please reply to this email to contact us. ―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
○○様 (wno12345)
Sakura Internet Co., Ltd. Provisional Registration Completion NoticeThank you for applying for Sakura Internet’s service.
Your service provisional registration is complete and ready for trial use. We’re pleased to notify you as follows.
====================================================================== ┏┓ ┗■ Application・Usage Information └────────────────────────……………‥‥‥・
▼Contractor/Contract Service Information
Member ID ：wno12345 Contractor：○○様 Email：[email protected]
Service Name ：Sakura VPS(v4) SSD 1G TK02 Service Code ：xxxx Application Date ：July 24, 2016 Trial Period ：Until August 7, 2016
▼Server Information
[Server Basic Information] IP Address：160.16.55.xxx
[Administrative User] Username ：root (Administrator for Windows Server) Initial Password：xxxx
[VPS Control Panel Login Information] URL ：https://secure.sakura.ad.jp/vps/ IP Address：160.16.55.xxx Password：xxxx
※At initial provision, the server is stopped, so please log into the “VPS Control Panel” and start the server when beginning use.
====================================================================== ┏┓ ┗■ Regarding VPS Service Usage └────────────────────────……………‥‥‥・
▼【Important】About Security Measures
Sakura VPS is a service that provides customers with root privileges (administrator privileges). If you don’t implement security settings, your VPS may be hijacked by third parties, so please be sure to take measures. We have prepared a server initial setup manual on our support site, so please refer to it. (except for Windows Server)
▽ Initial Setup Guide https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/2429▼About Function Limitations During Trial Period
There are function limitations during the trial period, so please check usage notes.
▽ Sakura VPS http://vps.sakura.ad.jp/flow/ ▽ Sakura VPS for Windows Server http://solution.sakura.ad.jp/windows_vps/flow.html▼About Initial Startup for Windows Server
For Sakura VPS for Windows Server, OS installation occurs on first server startup. Installation takes about 5-10 minutes.
※If you applied for Office or SQL Server options, it takes about 15-30 minutes.
▼Manual
If you have questions, please see our “Online Manual” and “FAQ.”
▽ Online Manual https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/vps/ ▽ FAQ https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/faq/====================================================================== ┏┓ ┗■ About Service Full Contract・Cancellation └────────────────────────……………‥‥‥・
▼About Full Contract
After the trial period ends, it automatically switches to full contract.
If you want to complete full registration before the trial period ends, please follow the procedure according to the manual below.
▽Full Registration Method https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/2037▼About Cancellation
For application cancellation, please follow the procedure according to the manual below.
▽Application Cancellation https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/2024=======================================================================
If you have questions or concerns, please contact us by replying to this email.
Thank you for your continued support of Sakura Internet.
─── Sakura Internet Co., Ltd. Customer Center ───────
■Twitter Support https://twitter.com/sakura_ope
■Support Site https://help.sakura.ad.jp/
■Search FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/faq
■Phone・Email Contact https://help.sakura.ad.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/2005 Phone Hours ：Weekdays 10:00 - 18:00 (closed weekends/holidays and company-designated holidays) Email Hours：10:00 - 18:00 (open weekends/holidays, closed company-designated holidays)
───────────────────────────────────
Login to VPS Control Panel and start the server
Since I want to set up most server environment construction with Ansible, I’ll manually perform only the “STEP1 Start the server” item listed in Sakura VPS Server Initial Setup Guide | Sakura Internet Official Support Site.
First, login to the VPS Control Panel from the URL listed in the email: https://secure.sakura.ad.jp/vps/.
Next, check ✔ the checkbox for the target server and click the [Start] button.
Finally, after the server starts, confirm that you can ssh connect with the root user.
If you still can’t ssh after some time after startup, check the console as described in the following article and wait patiently.
This completes the preliminary preparation for setting up the server with Ansible.
I’d like to write about server setup using Ansible in a separate article.
That’s all from the Gemba.