Evaluation of Some Cloud Based Virtual Private Server (VPS) Providers
Evaluation of Some Cloud Based Virtual Private Server (VPS) Providers
By
Dr. Hedaya Mahmood Alasooly
hedaya_alasooly@yahoo.com
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
Evaluation of Some Cloud Based Virtual Private Server (VPS) Providers
Copyright © 2025 Dr. Hedaya Mahmood Alasooly.
Written by Dr. Hedaya Mahmood Alasooly.
1) Introduction:
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 service 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:
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:
> Ngok http --region eu 80
8. Ngok runs servers in data centers around the world. The location of the data center within a given region may change without notice (e.g. the European servers may move from Frankfurt to London).
3) Different methods to obtain free RDP using Google Cloud Shell:
3) Different methods to obtain free RDP using Google Cloud Shell:
a) Free online browser RDP using Google Cloud:
1. Login with your Google Account to https://console.cloud.google.com and activate the shell https://shell.cloud.google.com
2. You can use this script directly in the Google Cloud Shell by running the following command: On the Google Cloud shell write the following command
#curl -sLkO hammou.ch/online-browser && bash online-browser
3. You will get the following screen
4. Choose the type of browser you want to install in the RDP server. I chose 1 for Chrome browser.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to select and install the desired browser.
6. When the download is finished, click on the web preview icon and choose Change port from the menu. Type port 3000 and click change and preview.
7. The online browser will start.
8. My note:
When the internet connection is slow, the connection to their RDP server will be also very slow and it is difficult to work on it.
b) Free RDP using Google Cloud:
1. Login with your Google Account to https://console.cloud.google.com and activate the shell https://shell.cloud.google.com
2. You can use this script directly in the Google Cloud Shell by running the following command: On the Google Cloud shell write the following command
# cat /proc/meminfo
# docker run --rm -it --shm-size=7g -p 3000:3000 hammouch/akayf-web
3. It will start downloading some files.
4. When the download is finished, click on the web preview icon and choose Change port from the menu. Type port 3000 and click change and preview.
5. You will go to the RDP device. You can upload files
6.You can select the Menu option and then select Internet option and then select Firefox web browser. There are also many programs that you can use such as Telegram and Office, VLC media player and OBS studio.
7. You can try also the command in the Google Cloud shell and see the Linux RDP it will install for you.
# docker run -p 6080:80 -v /dev/shm:/dev/shm dorowu/ubuntu-desktop-lxde-vnc
port: 6080
8. On the Linux machine command line, you can install any application. This is example:
# sudo apt update
# sudo apt install obs-studio
9. My notes:
When the internet connection is slow, the connection to their RDP server will be also very slow and it is difficult to work on it.
c) Free RDP using Google Cloud and Ngrok.com:
1. Login with your Google Account to http://shell.cloud.google.com/?fromcloudshell=true&shoH=terminal&pli=l
2. You will be directed to the following page. Copy the following link and paste it.
# curl -sLkO https://is.gd/nomachinewindows10 ; bash nomachinewindows10
3. Get the authentication code from your account in ngrok.com website. And paste it
4. Choose any country from which you need the RDP server.
5. Wait the process to complete. Then you will get the RDP credentials. You will get free RDP for around 4320 sec. Which is around 12 hrs. So it keeps this RDP active for around 12hrs. But you must login thro nonmachine application.
6. To run the RDP you must install no machine software. Download the software from the web and install it Enter the machine details from the Google Cloud shell. Then click Add button.
7. Click on connect button. Copy the username and password you get for the RDP machine in the Google cloud shell. Follow the screen instructions.
8. Login to the RDP. Let’s fix the display. I chose 1366x768 pixel
9. Also you can use the following commands also in the google cloud and check the RDP server it will install
#curl -sLkO https://hammou.ch/winp ; bash winp
Or
#curl -sLkO https://hammou.ch/winp ; chmod +x winp ; ./winp
10. My notes:
When the internet connection is slow, the connection to their RDP server will be also very slow and it is difficult to work on it.
d) Getting VPS with Google Cloud Console through other method:
1. Login with your Google Account to https://console.cloud.google.com and activate the shell https://shell.cloud.google.com
2. In the console terminal, write the following command.
# sudo su
# docker run -p 3398:80 dorowu/ubuntu-desktop-lxde-vnc
3. You can see the usage quota for the RDP server. It is around 50 hrs.
4. You can preview. Change the port to 3398.
4) Different methods to obtain free RDP using Github.com website:
4) Different methods to obtain free RDP using Github.com website:
a) Using NGROK with Github.com to create RDP server:
1. Create account in Github and login to your account: In the upper right corner plus button use the drop down menu and select “New repository”. Type short memorable name for your repository. For example “RDP1”. Choose the repository visibility. I set the visibility to “Private”. Then click “Click repository”.
3. Go to the created repository. In my case:
https://github.com/hidaia/RDP1
4. Go to “Setting”, then to “Secretes and variables”, then “Actions”.
https://github.com/hidaia/RDP1/settings/secrets/actions
5. Click on “New repository secret”. In my case, I went to the link
https://github.com/hidaia/RDP1/settings/secrets/actions/new
Type the “Name” to be “NGROK_AUTH_TOKEN”. For the “Secrete”, paste your Authtoken on the your NGROK account. Then click “Add secret”
6. Go the “Actions” tab. In my case, the link was:
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 30.03.2025
ISBN: 978-3-7554-8066-2
Alle Rechte vorbehalten