From Buying a Server to Launching My First Site

Building baixi.xyz from Scratch: Notes from a First Launch

2026.05.23 A step-by-step record of buying a server, registering a domain, setting up DNS, opening ports, deploying the site, enabling HTTPS, and finishing ICP filing.

On May 22, 2026, I bought my first cloud server. By the next day, May 23, baixi.xyz was already live.

It all happened in less than twenty-four hours, with plenty of mistakes along the way. If you want a site of your own, this record might help you avoid a few of them.

The Path of a Request

What happens between typing a domain and seeing a page?

Step 1: Buy a Server

What I Chose

What a Server Really Is

A server is simply a computer that stays on all the time. Mine sits in Tencent Cloud's infrastructure. I upload site files there, and when someone opens the domain, that machine sends the page back.

Without the server, there is nowhere for the site to live.

CVM vs. the Lightweight Server Option

Tencent Cloud offers both:

• Lightweight Application Server: simpler packaged plans, usually better for beginners.
• CVM: more flexible, with CPU, memory, and storage configured separately.

I chose CVM because it gave me more room to adjust later.

Why Linux Instead of Windows

Linux is still the default environment for this kind of work. It is stable, well documented, and easier to run a web stack on. Ubuntu felt like the most practical place to start.

Step 2: Buy a Domain

My Domain

What a Domain Does

A domain is the memorable name for a numeric server address. My server has an IP address, 124.220.6.3, but that is not how people want to reach a site.

The domain gives that address a name people can remember.

Why I Picked .xyz

• Most short .com names I liked were already taken
• .cn came with extra constraints and higher cost
• .xyz looked clean, stayed affordable, and worked globally

Step 3: Configure DNS

This was the part that took me the longest to understand.

DNS Connects the Domain to the Server

Buying the domain only gives you the name. It still needs to know where the server is.

DNS is the layer that tells the internet:

`www.baixi.xyz` → `124.220.6.3`

I used DNSPod, Tencent Cloud's DNS service.

There Were Two Required Steps

1. Add the A records in DNSPod

An A record is the most basic DNS record: it points a domain name to an IP address.

2. Change the nameservers

The domain did not use DNSPod by default. I had to go into the registrar settings and switch the nameservers to:

textsarah.dnspod.net
bear.dnspod.net

That was my first real pitfall. I had already added the A records, but nothing worked because the domain was still listening somewhere else.

How Long Did It Take?

DNS propagation can take anywhere from one to forty-eight hours worldwide. Mine settled in a little over an hour.

Step 4: Open the Firewall Ports

Tencent Cloud servers start locked down by default, which is good for security and terrible for a website no one can reach.

Ports Are the Doors

textServer
├── 80   HTTP
├── 443  HTTPS
├── 22   SSH
└── everything else closed

In the security group, I added:

If those ports stay closed, the server can be configured perfectly and still remain unreachable.

Step 5: Install Nginx

Nginx Is the Web Server

Nginx is the layer that serves the site. When someone visits, it decides which files to return.

In practice, it needed to know:

• which domain to respond to
• where the files were stored
• which file should act as the homepage

Without that configuration, the files exist, but the server does not know what to do with them.

Step 6: Build the Page

The site files live in /var/www/html/, with index.html as the entry point.

HTML and CSS

• HTML gives the page its structure
• CSS controls layout, typography, color, spacing, and motion

That was the part that actually turned infrastructure into a website.

Step 7: Enable HTTPS

HTTP vs HTTPS

HTTPS matters because browsers now treat plain HTTP as something users should avoid.

Getting the Certificate

I used Let's Encrypt and Certbot:

bashcertbot --nginx -d www.baixi.xyz -d baixi.xyz

That command handled domain verification, certificate issuance, and Nginx updates in one pass.

For renewal:

bash0 3 * * * certbot renew --quiet --renew-hook 'systemctl reload nginx'

Two Problems I Hit Here

1. A 401 error in Certbot because I confused Tencent Cloud credentials with a DNSPod API token.
2. A broken HTTP path because Certbot overwrote my redirect rules and I had to check the Nginx config again.

Step 8: ICP Filing

Why Filing Matters

If your server is in mainland China, the site needs ICP filing to be accessed normally there.

This is not a technical layer in the same sense as DNS or HTTPS. It is a compliance requirement. Without it, local carriers may block access even if the infrastructure is working fine.

Filing Steps

One Practical Note

It is worth starting the filing process early. Everything else moves faster, and this is the part that can hold the timeline up the longest.

Cost Summary

First-Year Total: RMB 225

The following year should be a little cheaper, mostly just the server and domain renewal.

Common Pitfalls

Build Flow

textBuy CVM → Buy domain → Add A record → Change DNS → Open ports
        ↓
Install Nginx → Deploy site → Enable SSL → Submit filing → Done

2026.05.23, Shanghai CVM S5.LARGE4 · 4 vCPU / 4 GB RAM · Ubuntu 24.04 · Filing in progress