Targeted blockages and cyberattacks put commercial services — including Amnezia VPN — under fire. In this context, your own VPN server based on Amnezia Self-Hosted can save you from prying eyes and regional blockages.
However, as we’ve already explained, within self-hosted setups, connection stability and security depend on the rented infrastructure. In this article, we will break down how to find a VPSVirtual Private Server provider and avoid common mistakes.
How to Choose a Hosting Provider in Four Steps
Finding a quality hosting provider is easy:
- Find several suitable providers using specialized forums and thematic websites. Even dedicated Reddit communities will do as a starting point. Large platforms, despite their technical resilience, are more vulnerable to vast blockages by the authorities and eagerly comply with government inquiries.
- Chat with support — find out if the servers are working in your region right now and whether the service plans to expand its presence.
- Sign up for a trial period — pay for a server for a month to evaluate the quality of the service. Do not forget about the minimum system requirements for a VPS. We will discuss them in detail later in this article.
- Find out if the IP address assigned by the hoster is accessible. To do this, check it using a free service like Check-Host. If you notice that the IP address is inaccessible in your region, ask the hosting service administrators for a replacement.
What to Consider When Choosing a VPS
The hardest part is selecting the top three candidates. We have gathered several criteria by which our users frequently filter out hosting providers.
Server Location
The main factor when choosing a VPS is the country where it is located. The server should be as close to you as possible — data transfer speed depends on this. Obviously, the hoster's country should have a minimal level of internet censorship. Optimal options:
- For the Middle East: the Netherlands, Germany, or France.
- For Latin America: the US or Canada.
- For Southeast Asia: Japan, South Korea, or Australia.
The Scale of the Hosting Provider
This is what we mentioned in the first point of our guide. As part of rolling blockages, censors blacklist address ranges most commonly operated by large hosting providers.
Against this backdrop, small local players become the best VPS options for self-hosted setups — they will remain unnoticed by the authorities.
“Cleanliness” and Replacement of IP Addresses
The global shortage of IPv4 addresses forces providers to issue IPs that have already been involved in spamming or malicious activity. Be sure to check addresses through free services like VirusTotal or Spamhaus.
How the hosting provider organizes its work with IP addresses is also important. You should have the option to:
- Pre-check or replace the IP address within 24 hours of purchase.
- Purchase additional IPv4 addresses — in case the primary one gets blocked after all.
Even in the event of a blockage, recovery comes down to two steps: change the address in the hosting panel and update the server data in the app — connectivity will be restored immediately.
Payment Methods and Verification
If you are a resident of a country that was hit by the sanctions, paying for foreign hosting becomes an issue of its own. Paying with cryptocurrency will resolve it and maintain your anonymity.
The same applies to the KYCKnow Your Customer policy — the identity verification procedure. It is better to find a hosting provider that requires only an email address instead of an ID scan.
Technical Parameters for Amnezia Self-Hosted
If you plan to install Amnezia Self-Hosted on your server, here is a reminder of the minimum system requirements for our solution:
Hardware Components
- CPUProcessor — one or more cores based on the x86-64 (x64) or AMD64 processor architecture. The number of cores affects performance and the number of simultaneous VPN connections.
- RAMRandom Access Memory — 1 GB or more. The number of simultaneous VPN connections and the operation of protocols/services depend on it.
- SSDData Storage Space — 10 GB or more.
Minimum Linux Distribution Versions (“Software”)
Amnezia Self-Hosted officially supports Ubuntu 22.04.x/24.04.x and Debian 12/13. Based on our experience, the service also works on Fedora 42/43, although this distribution is not officially supported.
Server Parameters
- Virtualization — KVM. Container virtualization (OpenVZ/LXC) will not do.
- Public IPv4 address — an IPv4 address like
203.0.113.10is required to connect to the server. Amnezia Self-Hosted does not support IPv6 addresses. - SSH access to the server — a username (
root) and a password or a private SSH key will be required for the connection.
VPN — For Everyone
Regardless of which self-hosted service you choose, the advice above will be relevant for any of them.
If you have any questions regarding the setup and operation of Amnezia Self-Hosted, contact us via the Telegram bot @amnezia_support_bot or email support@amnezia.org — we’re happy to help.
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