Dedicated IP on a budget

bikegremlin

Looking for a cheap and relatively reliable way of using a dedicated IP address for connecting to various online services (servers and websites primarily).

So, while I could get that from my ISP, it wouldn't work when I'm not at home. Hence, I thought a VPN service that offers a dedicated IP address could be a good idea. Though, if there is someone who offers just the IP, without any "privacy protection" - that's perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned.

Any recommendations (or reasons why it might be a bad idea, if that's the case)?

Configuring my own VPS for that is still not something I'd get into.

kuroneko23

Some VPN providers (like Windscribe) offers static IP but is shared with other users. NordVPN do give private one but it's 70 USD per year. Cheapest way is of course set up own VPS then install wg or ovpn.

rizkiv1

Install vpn server using installer script is very easy if just for vpn

bikegremlin

Found Ivacy.com selling a dedicated IP for 2$ per month (and VPN at a discount of under 2$ per month).
Are they any good?

Unixfy

@bikegremlin said: Found Ivacy.com selling a dedicated IP for 2$ per month (and VPN at a discount of under 2$ per month).

I have a lifetime plan with Ivacy. Not exactly great, speeds are average and the applications don't work 100% of the time. I gave my account to a friend anyways :shrug:

Even at $2/month though, it would be cheaper to just get a VPS. Anthony's recent 2 IP deal for around $12/year would be 4x cheaper. There are even convenient scripts to install wireguard and openvpn on VPS, literally 1 click.

AC_Fan

AnyNode has a decent OVZ plan for 12 dollars a year, so does Inception Hosting at a bit under it (although with only 256MB RAM instead of 1GB, not that it matters).

Not_Oles

@bikegremlin Hi from Mexico!

I don't understand what difference it makes to always connect to websites and servers from a single, fixed IP address. What is a use case where that it important? Thanks!

bikegremlin

@Not_Oles said:
@bikegremlin Hi from Mexico!

I don't understand what difference it makes to always connect to websites and servers from a single, fixed IP address. What is a use case where that it important? Thanks!

It's not crucial, but it can make life easier.
One example: SSH connection for some (shared/reseller) providers requires to provide an IP address that is allowed to use it. So dynamic IP doesn't work.

Similarly - whitelisting a single IP on firewall can help for some use cases.

Can live without it, but if it's available cheaply enough, it would be useful.

As for the VPS - I've never used an unmanaged one. Not sure about setup, configuration and, most of all, securing it.
If there is a set and forget solution, then sure, it's worth bothering. Otherwise - I think I'd rather pay a bit more.

elliotc

You can paid someone to do the setup for you. It will not expensive than a coffee since it is pretty simple task.

Not_Oles

@bikegremlin said: One example: SSH connection for some (shared/reseller) providers requires to provide an IP address that is allowed to use it. So dynamic IP doesn't work.

Similarly - whitelisting a single IP on firewall can help for some use cases.

I have done this sometimes.

As for the VPS - I've never used an unmanaged one. Not sure about setup, configuration and, most of all, securing it.

I have done this many times. If you want some help, I'll be delighted to help you. I'm sure others here will be equally delighted to help. Why don't you get an unmanaged VPS for a month and try it? If you get a VPS that runs Linux or *BSD, offers ssh, and doesn't have proprietary, closed source management GUI stuff, that would make it much easier for me to help. But we have GUI friends also here too. Go ahead, try it! You can't lose more than one month's Low End VPS cost.

skorous

I wonder if something like https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand might work for you. It's a bit heavier than some of the simple Wireguard install scripts but it sets up a couple different vpn/proxy methods as well as different user profiles and iirc sets the machine up to automagically do updates and reboot as available.

bikegremlin

@Not_Oles said:

@bikegremlin said: One example: SSH connection for some (shared/reseller) providers requires to provide an IP address that is allowed to use it. So dynamic IP doesn't work.

Similarly - whitelisting a single IP on firewall can help for some use cases.

I have done this sometimes.

As for the VPS - I've never used an unmanaged one. Not sure about setup, configuration and, most of all, securing it.

I have done this many times. If you want some help, I'll be delighted to help you. I'm sure others here will be equally delighted to help. Why don't you get an unmanaged VPS for a month and try it? If you get a VPS that runs Linux or *BSD, offers ssh, and doesn't have proprietary, closed source management GUI stuff, that would make it much easier for me to help. But we have GUI friends also here too. Go ahead, try it! You can't lose more than one month's Low End VPS cost.

Thanks. Really appreciate it.

Been thinking of playing with a VPS for some time now - it's just the hectic schedule that adding one more, small, simple thing... will probably turn out to be too much.

Still, considering putting off dedicated IP until I clear some stuff off my plate, then give it a go using a VPS.

Though mastering WP-CLI is higher up on my "to-learn" list. Too many stuff, too little time.

Ympker

@bikegremlin said:
Found Ivacy.com selling a dedicated IP for 2$ per month (and VPN at a discount of under 2$ per month).
Are they any good?

Ivacy are not the best but great for the price. Check my signature for reviews and more info. I'd recommend Keepsolid VPN but I guess their private IPs are more expensive. Windscribe or Ivacy is your best bet

AaronSS

I could do this for you, PM me if interested

sgheghele

Cheapest dedicated IPv4 I could see offered around (monthly payment, regular non promo prices) are with VPSs from:

• BuyVM $2.00/month
• Nexus Bytes $2.00/month
• Netcup 2,69€/month
• Hetzner 2,96€/month

They are in different locations and with different specs. Depending on the speed you need, you might have to go Wireguard with these. @Nyr script is a fire and forget solution in case you are afraid of what you are doing :-)

There was another LE provider from NL with their own datacenter and a price around 2,50€/month with Ryzen, but it does not come to mind right now.

Promos and long term payments might offer you some better rates.

sgheghele

Sorry to double post, can't edit mine again. The NL provider was SpectraIP.

g4m3r

@bikegremlin Why don't you just use a free DNS for your dynamic IP address?

bikegremlin

@g4m3r said:
@bikegremlin Why don't you just use a free DNS for your dynamic IP address?

This is beyond my current level of comprehension.

sgheghele

@bikegremlin said:

@g4m3r said:
@bikegremlin Why don't you just use a free DNS for your dynamic IP address?

This is beyond my current level of comprehension.

The solution of dynamic DNS, like duckdns.org, would be that you would have a domain record, e.g., bikegremlin.duckdns.org, that would point to your home IP, and it would stay updated. That would allow you to host services at home and have a "fixed way" to reach home.

I understand that you are looking for the opposite thing, that is, you have the same IP for accessing services around the world. Which requires that you either obtain one from your ISP, or you get a commercial VPN with a dedicated IP, or you make your own with a VPS.

bikegremlin

So, to confirm I got it right: your original note was related to configuring DNS for a website hosting server that doesn't have a static IP?
Not a way for me to have an "outbound" static IP when connecting to on-line services?
If that's the case, then I do understand.

g4m3r

@bikegremlin said:
So, to confirm I got it right: your original note was related to configuring DNS for a website hosting server that doesn't have a static IP?
Not a way for me to have an "outbound" static IP when connecting to on-line services?
If that's the case, then I do understand.

Yes, that's right.

xaoc

Putty will make a VM act as a socks proxy, but over ssh, which you can then use with Firefox or any other app that allows you to use socks proxy. Something like Bitvise's SSH client will also work for this. Once set'up it takes 2 clicks to get online whenever needed.

First result from google: https://securitymusings.com/article/462/how-to-set-up-a-socks-proxy-using-putty-ssh

The guide is quite old but should still point you on the right direction. Just don't forget to go back to sessions after setting up the tunnel thingy and save it to your desired session for convenience as the guide seems to ignore that step.

I'd use one of them Oracle free VMs or maybe something like lowendspirit to keep it "cheap".

bikegremlin

Just to "publicly" thank everyone for offering both advice and help setting up a VPN using a VPS.
Both in this thread and using private messages.

I really appreciate it and will most likely get a VPS - if not by the end of this year, then by the end of the next one (unless "the end is nigh" gets me first - you never know ).

bikegremlin

Question:
My country has good Internet link with Germany, decent with the UK and the US.
Most of the servers I use are in Germany, UK and US east coast.
In terms of upload/download speed, if I go with a VPS for VPN, does it matter where the VPS server is located?
If yes, where would the best position be? Closer to home, or closer to the "target" server(s)?

Harambe

@bikegremlin said: In terms of upload/download speed, if I go with a VPS for VPN, does it matter where the VPS server is located?
If yes, where would the best position be? Closer to home, or closer to the "target" server(s)?

You generally want a server with a good connection to where you'll use it most often. That's going to be your main bottleneck. So if you have a good connection to Germany then go with a provider around there.

The other thing to note if you're going to use this as your primary IP, geolocation info on the IP. If you primarily speak english then you may want to opt for a UK VPS instead of DE, otherwise you'll be flipping Google from German to English everyday. Minor thing, but does get annoying at times.

sgheghele

@Harambe said:

@bikegremlin said: In terms of upload/download speed, if I go with a VPS for VPN, does it matter where the VPS server is located?
If yes, where would the best position be? Closer to home, or closer to the "target" server(s)?

You generally want a server with a good connection to where you'll use it most often. That's going to be your main bottleneck. So if you have a good connection to Germany then go with a provider around there.

The other thing to note if you're going to use this as your primary IP, geolocation info on the IP. If you primarily speak english then you may want to opt for a UK VPS instead of DE, otherwise you'll be flipping Google from German to English everyday. Minor thing, but does get annoying at times.

To add to what @Harambe wrote, you can try some things to evaluate the VPS provider's network before buying. I will keep it as simple as possible as it seems that you are still learning here, so what I write will be lacking on some aspects.

1. Try to see if they offer a "test IP" or at least their AS number. Take note of both. Go to https://bgp.he.net. You will see there "Your ISP is ASXXXX (Name of your ISP)". Take note of the AS number and name there, too. Input the VPS provider's AS number or their "test IP" in the search field. Let's say that you are evaluating Hetzner, so you input there AS24940 and land to https://bgp.he.net/AS24940. Go to the "Peers v4" tab. Search for your ISP AS number and/or name there. If it is there, bingo. The provider has private peering with your ISP. A VPN there will work extremely well for you (assuming no congestion, etc). If your ISP is not listed there, it might still work well through other agreements with a transit provider, and your only way here is to just know the info.
2. If the VPS provider offers a looking glass, like the one @Francisco provides for all his locations (try out his Luxembourg one at https://speedtest.lu.buyvm.net/), go visit it during peak time (evening, after dinner, during weekends). From there, do two things: (1) download a test file and see if it saturates your speed. (2) try a mtr test with your IP to see if there is 0% packet loss at the last line and ever decreasing values for the StDev column, up to the last line. The mtr test in looking glass is unfortunately too short of a test to tell you the whole picture, but it does help a bit.
3. Ask the VPS provider "what is your peering with [your ISP here]?".

bikegremlin

@sgheghele said:

@Harambe said:

@bikegremlin said: In terms of upload/download speed, if I go with a VPS for VPN, does it matter where the VPS server is located?
If yes, where would the best position be? Closer to home, or closer to the "target" server(s)?

You generally want a server with a good connection to where you'll use it most often. That's going to be your main bottleneck. So if you have a good connection to Germany then go with a provider around there.

The other thing to note if you're going to use this as your primary IP, geolocation info on the IP. If you primarily speak english then you may want to opt for a UK VPS instead of DE, otherwise you'll be flipping Google from German to English everyday. Minor thing, but does get annoying at times.

To add to what @Harambe wrote, you can try some things to evaluate the VPS provider's network before buying. I will keep it as simple as possible as it seems that you are still learning here, so what I write will be lacking on some aspects.

1. Try to see if they offer a "test IP" or at least their AS number. Take note of both. Go to https://bgp.he.net. You will see there "Your ISP is ASXXXX (Name of your ISP)". Take note of the AS number and name there, too. Input the VPS provider's AS number or their "test IP" in the search field. Let's say that you are evaluating Hetzner, so you input there AS24940 and land to https://bgp.he.net/AS24940. Go to the "Peers v4" tab. Search for your ISP AS number and/or name there. If it is there, bingo. The provider has private peering with your ISP. A VPN there will work extremely well for you (assuming no congestion, etc). If your ISP is not listed there, it might still work well through other agreements with a transit provider, and your only way here is to just know the info.
2. If the VPS provider offers a looking glass, like the one @Francisco provides for all his locations (try out his Luxembourg one at https://speedtest.lu.buyvm.net/), go visit it during peak time (evening, after dinner, during weekends). From there, do two things: (1) download a test file and see if it saturates your speed. (2) try a mtr test with your IP to see if there is 0% packet loss at the last line and ever decreasing values for the StDev column, up to the last line. The mtr test in looking glass is unfortunately too short of a test to tell you the whole picture, but it does help a bit.
3. Ask the VPS provider "what is your peering with [your ISP here]?".

That's some good advice - from the both of you. Thanks.

However, my idea was to simply ask for the VPS recommendation here, when the time comes.
I find this forum informative, helpful and trust the knowledge and experience of many members here a lot more than I would trust my own "investigation" into a topic I am far from an expert in.

I also intent to ask about an "idiot friendly" VPS - one that will get installed, configured and secured using Google, so I expect it to be hacked and run into all kinds of problems, hence it should have resource usage limits in order to not cause much problems for other users on the Net, as well as VPS provider's server and networking infrastructure when it gets abused (probably without me realising that in time, at least at first).

elliotc

It looks like you don't need a dedicated IP. A static ip can do the job. Buy a bundle nat package and you can have many toys from multiple locations.

1. You can have all us uk de locations for a cheap price.
2. Nat vps's ssh port is not 22 - you are basically safe
3. VPN should not resources hungry. Half nat user are using it for vpn.

alento

@Not_Oles said:
@bikegremlin Hi from Mexico!

I don't understand what difference it makes to always connect to websites and servers from a single, fixed IP address. What is a use case where that it important? Thanks!

Let me offer my personal use case ...

Having a static IP has saved me countless hours of grief when dealing with PayPal and Google. Both are highly sensitive to location. Both have locked me out numerous times as I was always on the go connecting from somewhere different.

Finally, I read an article about using a SOCKS5 proxy via SSH and a VPS. Easiest thing I think that I have ever done! Now, my IP is static, no matter where I am connecting from.