Cool things to do with my virtual machine?

January 9, 2013 9:05 AM

I've just signed up for a virtual server, and I'm looking for ideas of fun things to use it for.

I'm intending to run a web server, an instance of OwnCloud and a PyScrabble server from it. Is there anything else I should consider?

posted by teraspawn to Technology (6 answers total)

You can run a Shoutcast server and DJ to your friends.
posted by griphus at 9:11 AM on January 9, 2013

Minecraft server!
posted by usonian at 9:14 AM on January 9, 2013

Oh, you can run your own instance of Wordpress!
posted by griphus at 9:23 AM on January 9, 2013

Two things I think are very useful:

1. Create a VPN you can use at public wifi hotspots or on your smartphone
2. Set up a shared folder on the VPS you can mount directly as a drive or folder on your Windows/Mac/Linux computer
posted by jsturgill at 10:09 AM on January 9, 2013

YMMV but I've found it significantly faster to download large files from the net onto my VPS, then download it from there to my local machine. It's much easier to saturate your bandwidth that way.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:56 AM on January 9, 2013

Use it for backups! Assuming you're not already running your own email server, you can use OfflineIMAP or Gmvault to keep your mail safe, and independent from your email provider.

If you like word games, you can also host a collaborative crossword server (sort-of self-link).
posted by vasi at 9:53 AM on January 10, 2013