What is a VPS?
A VPS (virtual private server) is a virtual machine you rent. A hosting provider runs a big physical server, slices it into isolated virtual machines, and rents you one. From your side it behaves like a remote computer with its own operating system: you log in, install what you want, and run it. The word private means your slice is walled off from the others on the same hardware. It is cheap, always on, and yours to rebuild whenever you like.
Why put a VPS in front of a home setup?
A machine at home usually sits behind a connection that was not built to host public services: its address can change, and exposing it invites the open internet straight onto your home network. A VPS solves both. It gives you a stable public address that stays reachable, and it acts as a front door, running the web server and proxy while the heavy work happens on hardware you keep at home.
The split is deliberate. The VPS is small and disposable, so it should not run a large model; it rarely has the memory or the accelerator for that. Its job is to be reachable and forgettable. The valuable, hard-to-replace work stays on your own hardware, off the open internet.
The small public box in front of this blog runs on FlokinetAffiliate link. You support sovgrid at no extra cost to you. See /support. ↗, a host that takes Bitcoin and asks for no identity document, which keeps the front door as sovereign as the rest of the stack.