How to set up a VPS for an Amazon business

Hi there,

Based on the case that you’ve described, it sounds like that you might need a VPN rather than a plain VPS.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides a secure, encrypted connection over the internet to protect your online activity and change your IP address, while a VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a virtualized server that you can use to run applications, websites, and other services with dedicated resources.

To set up a VPN for your Amazon business on DigitalOcean, follow these steps. A VPN will help you create a secure and separate internet connection that can be used to manage your Amazon seller account, ensuring it’s seen as coming from a different IP address than other accounts in your household.

1. Sign Up: If you don’t already have a DigitalOcean account, sign up at DigitalOcean.

2. Go to the DigitalOcean Marketplace: Visit the DigitalOcean Marketplace.

3. Find Pi-Hole® + OpenVPN:

   • This is a 1-Click App that combines Pi-Hole® (a network-wide ad blocker) and OpenVPN (a VPN solution).
   • Pi-Hole® + OpenVPN

4. Create a Droplet:

   • Click on the “Create Pi-Hole® + OpenVPN Droplet” button.
   • Choose your plan. For a VPN, a basic plan (like the $5/month plan) should be sufficient.
   • Choose the data center region closest to you for optimal performance.
   • Select any additional options you might need (like backups).
   • Click “Create Droplet.”

5. Access Your Droplet:

   • Once the droplet is created, you will receive an IP address.
   • Use an SSH client to access your droplet. On Windows, you can use PuTTY; on macOS and Linux, you can use the terminal.
   • SSH into your droplet using the command: ssh root@your_droplet_ip

6. Follow the On-Screen Instructions:

   • When you first log in, the Pi-Hole® + OpenVPN setup will guide you through the initial configuration.
   • You’ll set up your OpenVPN user profile.

7. Download the OpenVPN Configuration File:

   • After setting up, download the OpenVPN configuration file (usually a .ovpn file) to your local machine.

Finally once your VPN is up and running, you will want to connect to it by following the steps here:

1. Install OpenVPN Client:

   • Download and install the OpenVPN client on your computer. You can find it at OpenVPN’s official website.

2. Import the Configuration File:

   • Open the OpenVPN client and import the .ovpn file you downloaded from your droplet.

3. Connect to the VPN:

   • Use the OpenVPN client to connect to the VPN using the imported configuration file.
   • Once connected, your internet traffic will be routed through your DigitalOcean droplet.

4. Check Your IP Address:

   • Visit a site like WhatIsMyIP to confirm that your IP address matches the IP address of your DigitalOcean droplet.

5. Login to Amazon Seller Account:

   • Use the VPN connection to log in to your Amazon seller account, ensuring it is seen as coming from a different IP address.

If you indeed only need a plain VPS, then you can just follow the steps from this guide here, it only takes a couple of clicks via the DigitalOcean control panel to spin up a new VPS/Droplet:

https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/how-to/create/

Let me know if you have any quesitons.

Best,

Bobby