# Digital Ocean hosting: Do I need a system admin?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Tags:** hosting
**Created:** [20 Março , 2017 10:01 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525 "2017-03-20T10:01:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [27 Novembro , 2017 01:55 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/22 "2017-11-27T01:55:05Z")
Everything Depends upon Your needs but if You want full control over Your forum, You can Go with Digital clean and Get their $20/month Droplet and start building upon that. Digital ocean supports one click installs for discourse on latest ubuntu LTS so You definitely won’t have much pain Going Live.
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### Author:  [@Tumi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tumi)
#### Post date: [27 Novembro , 2017 19:34 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/23 "2017-11-27T19:34:13Z")
Im not sure , i just wanna build a comunnity and learn manage a server in the same time 😉
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [27 Novembro , 2017 20:22 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/24 "2017-11-27T20:22:21Z")
I can’t quite tell if you mean that you _do_ want to build a community and learn to be a manage a server a the same time or if you don’t. (It’s not clear to me what you’re “not sure” about.)
If you mean that you _don’t_ want to build a community and learn to manage a server at the same same time then you could go with [Communiteq](https://www.communiteq.com) (formerly DiscourseHosting) for $20/month. If you _do_ want to learn to manage a server while you build your community you can go with a standard [discourse/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md at main · discourse/discourse · GitHub](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md), or get me to install it as described here: [Redirecting…](https://www.literatecomputing.com/product/discourse-install/). You’d be on your own, but you could [hire me](https://www.literatecomputing.com/product/discourse-support/) to get you out of trouble if you get stuck.
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### Author:  [@Tumi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tumi)
#### Post date: [10 Dezembro , 2017 18:36 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/25 "2017-12-10T18:36:51Z")
can u told more about this instruction ? what is this ?
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### Author:  [@Tumi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tumi)
#### Post date: [10 Dezembro , 2017 18:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/26 "2017-12-10T18:42:20Z")
ok , but now tell me:
- should i check any docker new versions ? How to do it regullar or automatic ? I want to be secured ? And , how to update a docker ? There is any possible troubles ?
- Same q about discourse but i think in this case its only way to " 2 clicks " on the dashboard , right ?
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### Author:  [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [11 Dezembro , 2017 15:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/27 "2017-12-11T15:41:32Z")
> [@Tumi](#):
>
> should i check any docker new versions
Most Probably if You’re using the Ubuntu 16.04 or Higher, Your system can automagically update docker when an update is available if You choose to automate all updates (not just security) or else choose to do
> ```
> Sudo apt update
> sudo apt upgrade
>
> ```
every once in a while. That should suffice the needs for all Your sysadmin duties if You’re only running the forum and The internet Gods are gracious enough not to DDoS Your server.
> [@Tumi](#):
>
> I want to be secured
Use Good security practices for ubuntu, Don’t ask me how, You need to figure out what suits Your system the best. There are thousands of such tutorials online so use Google and a bit of Your own skills.
> [@Tumi](#):
>
> There is any possible troubles
There are a lot of troubles possible but what are you there for if You can’t troubleshoot them. Nevermind, You can post here if there is something wrong with discourse or else Google a bit for possible solutions to Your problem. In all the cases, I’d suggest You schedule daily backups and upload them to 3rd party like AWS S3 to save Your day in case something Goes bad.
> [@Tumi](#):
>
> nly way to " 2 clicks " on the dashboard ,
Wrong!
You have to Go to `/admin/upgrade` and perform update to
> a. All the Plugins that require Update
> b. Discourse Core
You can choose to spare a sunday every 2 weeks to do all the update and housekeeping things and You’d be good to go unless something decides to break terribly … in which case, Have a Good time fixing it.
Ps: Backups are Important. DO BACKUP YOUR DATA!!!
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### Author:  [@Tumi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tumi)
#### Post date: [13 Dezembro , 2017 20:50 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/28 "2017-12-13T20:50:30Z")
Ok man , nice answer. I just go study this knowledge. Thank You
> [@itsbhanusharma](#):
>
> I’d suggest You schedule daily backups and upload them to 3rd party like AWS S3
Yes backups is important. Did an AWS S3 is for free in their free trial ? What are You use for backups ?
> [@itsbhanusharma](#):
>
> housekeeping
what you mean ?
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### Author:  [@bts](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bts)
#### Post date: [13 Dezembro , 2017 21:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/29 "2017-12-13T21:28:45Z")
This has a good overview of the more occasional maintenance tasks beyond the one-click upgrades in the dashboard:
> [@Manually update Discourse and Docker image to latest](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-manually-update-discourse-and-docker-image-to-latest/23325):
>
> bookmark This guide provides step-by-step instructions for manually updating Discourse, the Docker container, and the Ubuntu operating system on a self-hosted setup. person_raising_hand Required user level: System Administrator warning SSH access to the server. If you self-host Discourse, you occasionally need to run a manual update via the command line to get the latest security releases and newest libraries. These updates are not picked up in admin/upgrade, which is why you’ll occa…
Basically some minor server updates every couple months, and perhaps more major server updates once or twice a year.
In my experience so far, this is probably overstating it:
> [@itsbhanusharma](#):
>
> You can choose to spare a sunday every 2 weeks to do all the update and housekeeping things
Unless you have a ton of plugins / customization, it’s more like an hour every couple months for server stuff, after you’ve got an initial setup with everything working as expected. (We haven’t yet run into major issues beyond that…knock on wood!)
Only other thing I recall is running out of disk space at one point and having to run this (maybe should be added to the guide linked above!):
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/low-on-disk-space-cleaning-up-old-docker-containers/15792/2?u=bts](https://meta.discourse.org/t/low-on-disk-space-cleaning-up-old-docker-containers/15792/2)
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### Author:  [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [14 Dezembro , 2017 07:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/digital-ocean-hosting-do-i-need-a-system-admin/59525/30 "2017-12-14T07:10:08Z")
> [@Tumi](#):
>
> What are You use for backups ?
I Download the backups every week and have s3 uploads configured for daily … So I have 2 places to check in case something goes terribly wrong.
> [@Tumi](#):
>
> what you mean ?
I meant the tasks that You have to do even though You don’t want to do them.
> [@bts](#):
>
> probably overstating it:
Yes, it is overstated because there’s a lot changing in both, the discourse codebase and the linux environment every month or so that updating twice a month as a hobby won’t cost much. I know internet has a lot of servers still running ancient servers but then, the fellow has asked he wants some security … So why not patch the system for security every now & then?
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