Evaluation of Some Cloud Based Virtual Private Server (VPS) Providers

1) Introduction:

A VPS—or virtual private server—is a virtual machine that provides virtualized server resources on a physical server that is shared with other users. With VPS hosting, you get dedicated server space with a reserved number of resources, offering greater control and customization than shared hosting.

Virtual server can vary, depending on the use case. Often located in an off-site data center or cloud environment, virtualizing servers involves converting one physical server into multiple virtual machines (VMs). A virtual server is configured so that multiple users can share its processing power. Cloud servers are virtual (not physical) servers running in a cloud computing environment that can be accessed on demand by unlimited users. Cloud servers work just like physical servers and they perform similar functions like storing data and running applications.

I wrote previously in 2020  a report with the name: Quick Guide for Obtaining Free Remote Desktop Protocol  (RDP) Services. It covered getting free or cheap RDP from some Virtual Private Servers providers such as: freerdpserver.com,  Google Cloud, Qwiklabs.com, Alibabacloud.com, CloudSigma.com, Microsoft Azure, Free Microsoft Azure RDP/VPS through Sandbox subscription,  AWS Amazon, free RDP service with Amazon AWS Educate, free trial RDP/VPS from OVH CLOUD. This is the link of my previous report:

https://www.amazon.com/Obtaining-Remote-Desktop-Protocol-Services/dp/B08NDRBPPC

This report continues the topic through evaluating  other useful options for widely used virtual private server hosting providers, some of them free.

Note that Github now restricts the accounts that try to create workflow related to  RDP severs as they consider that will cause burdens to their servers so my account was restricted and I could not run the Github workflows presented in this report.

The report contains the following sections:

1. Preview about Ngrok.com functionality.

2. Different methods to obtain free  RDP using Google Cloud Shell:

3. Different methods to obtain free  RDP using Github.com website.

4. Getting  RDP server using runcode.io.

5. Getting RDP server using BitBar website https://smartbear.com/product/bitbar.

6. Getting RDP server using kasmweb.com.

7. Getting  RDP server using hyperbeam.com.

8. Getting  RDP server using neverinstall.com.

9. Getting RDP server from SauceLabs.com.

10. Getting RDP server from DevRDP.com.

11. Getting  RDP server using lambdatest.com.

12. Getting RDP server from Atlantic.net.

13. Accessing your PC remotely with Google Chrome remote desktop.

14. Getting RDP server from Gologin.com.

15. Getting RDP server through Colab RDP.ipynb.

16. Getting RDP server from rdphostings.com.

17. Getting  VPS server from  digitalocean.com.

18.Getting  VPS server from  ovhcloud.com.

19. Getting  VPS server from oracle.com/cloud.

20. Getting  VPS server from Cloudways.com.

21. Getting  VPS server from Vultur.com.

22. Getting  VPS server from bungeecloud.org.

23. Installing Graphical User Interface (GUI) on Linux VPS servers.

24. Installing OpenVPN access server on Linux VPS servers.

25. Getting VPS server from hetzner.com/cloud.

26. Getting VPS server from cloudsigma.com.

27. Getting disposable browser from Squarex.

28. Getting VPS service from apponfly.com.

29. How to create a Windows image for VPS deployment, using a Digitalocean droplet.

30. References.

2) Preview about Ngrok.com functionality:

a) How NGROK works

1. Given below is the step-by-step process which illustrates the functionality of this utility.

2. A brief description of the numbered arrows above is given below:

Run the local app, so that it can be accessed at your localhost.  Example: http://localhost:8080

Now with Ngok executable (available for different platforms like Mac, Windows, etc.) initiate a tunnel to the localhost on the desired port.

Once Ngok sets up the tunnel, it provides a web-accessible URL.

Now share the publicly accessible URL with the end-users who would hit the locally hosted application.

End users hit the web URL on the internet.

When the request arrives at the Ngok server (As the URL is in a subdomain of ngrok.com the requests will initially land to Ngok server), and it will resolve the URL to the app that it needs to tunnel to.

Ngok forwards the request to the tunnel created in Step 2.

The forwarded request connects to the locally hosted app.

b) Installation of NGROK utility:

Installing this utility is a simple process that just involves downloading Ngok binary and unzipping it. Follow the steps given below to install Ngok:

1. First create a free account on https://ngrok.com/ to get an auth token for your account. Without an auth token, you will not be able to start tunnels for the locally hosted applications.

2. Go to https://ngrok.com/download. You can use any web browser to download Ngok. I downloaded for Windows.

3. Unzip the downloaded package. Here the command options for ngrok.exe command

4. Connect your account: Running this command will add your authtoken to the default ngrok.yml configuration file. This will grant you access to more features and longer session times. Running tunnels will be listed on the endpoints page of the dashboard. To authenticate your Ngok agent. You only have to do this once. The Authtoken is saved in the default configuration file.

> Ngok config add-authtoken PXXvGOjbxD8pnREEU9JnRF7OiB_6GNpptDnHiX2hdNsTsZe5

5. To start a HTTP tunnel forwarding to your local port 80, run this next:

>Ngok http 80

As example, to browse dvwa web app in local host  http://localhost/dvwa/, we can use now

https://3f51-89-239-38-149.ngrok-free.app/dvwa/

6. Configuration File

Alternatively, you can directly add the Authtoken to your ngrok.yml configuration file. Use Ngok config edit to open the file.

> Ngok config edit

# in ngrok.yml

authtoken: 2PXXvGOjbxD8pnREEU9JnRF7OiB_6GNpptDnHiX2hdNsTsZe5

7. To change the region, use Ngok config edit to open the file.

> Ngok config edit

# in ngrok.yml, add the line

> region: eu

You can choose the region between one of ('auto', 'us', 'eu', 'au', 'ap', 'sa', 'jp', 'in')

Or, you can start a tunnel in the European region as example from the command ling: