Lock down and connect your server — firewall, hardening, patching, private networking, and secure file sharing.
A public Windows server is a target from the moment it boots, so security is a day-one job, not a later step. These guides cover hardening the OS, controlling the network, and patching without breaking things: RDP lockdown, the Windows Firewall, secure file sharing, and a sane update strategy.
Work through them in order, or jump straight to what you need.
Update Windows Server safely on a production VPS: snapshot first, patch on a controlled schedule, scan with PowerShell, and verify reboot state.
Check Windows Firewall profiles, inspect RDP rules, create a safe test inbound rule, and clean it up on a Raff Windows Server VPS.
Harden a Windows Server VPS before production with practical checks for accounts, RDP, firewall rules, Defender, audit logging, updates, and services.
Windows Server 2025 brings SMB over QUIC to Standard and Datacenter editions, not just Azure Edition. We walk through the full setup: File Server role, free Let's Encrypt certificate via win-acme, SMB binding, and a Windows 11 client connection. Tested live on a Raff Server in Virginia.
Plan a Windows VPS backup strategy for small business workloads with snapshots, backups, restore tests, app-aware recovery, and off-server copies.
Compare RD Gateway vs direct RDP on a Windows VPS for safer remote access, SMB users, RDS planning, firewall exposure, and security tradeoffs.
Deploy your first Windows Server, connect over RDP, and get the basics set up — plans, versions, users, and first-day configuration.
BrowseSet up and scale remote desktop — RDP, multi-user RDS, RemoteApp — plus how Windows Server and RDS CAL licensing actually works on a VPS.
BrowseSPLA, BYOL, RDS CALs, M365 Shared Computer Activation. What to buy, how to activate, how to stay compliant.
BrowseRun a domain on your VPS — domain controllers, users and groups, Group Policy, and DNS.
BrowseGenuine, fully-licensed Windows with full admin and RDP. We handle the Microsoft licensing, billed monthly with nothing upfront. On NVMe SSD, backed by a 14-day money-back guarantee.