Welcome! This guide is designed to walk you through the fundamentals of setting up your own corner of the internet. If you're new to concepts like domain names, DNS, virtual machines (VMs), or how to connect them all, you're in the right place.
We'll cover the entire process from buying a domain name to pointing it at a cloud server that you control. While the principles are universal, we'll provide specific examples using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for hosting and Squarespace for domain management.
Follow these guides in order for a complete, step-by-step journey.
-
Domain Registration Basics: What is a domain name and how do you get one? This guide covers the essential first step.
-
DNS Fundamentals: Learn about the "phonebook of the internet." This guide covers DNS basics and how to point your domain and subdomains to different servers (e.g., website on GitHub Pages, blog on a GCP VM).
-
Setting Up a Google Cloud VM: A practical guide to creating your own virtual machine in the cloud using Google Cloud's Compute Engine.
-
Configuring DNS on Squarespace: Learn how to manage your domain's DNS records, with specific steps for domains managed through Squarespace.
-
Linking Your Domain to Your VM: The final step! This guide will show you how to connect your domain to your new virtual machine so that when someone visits your domain, they see your server.
If you're starting from scratch, we highly recommend you follow the guides in the order listed above. Each chapter builds on the concepts and steps from the previous one. If you're already familiar with a topic, feel free to jump to the section you need.
This guide is for you! If you find anything unclear, have suggestions for improvement, or spot an error, please feel free to raise an issue or suggest a change.
Last updated: June 15, 2025 | Created with 💙 from the Philippines 🇵🇭 using Zed, and Gemini 2.5 Pro