Many problems with a self-hosted VPS

I created a VPS (Windows 10), 4GIG RAM, 4 cores, 50 GIG SSD on Digital Ocean, and the actual OS works great, it is fast with very little lag, but when I search online I constantly have to complete captachs and some sites even seem to be blocked. I am assuming this is because many of IP ranges on Digital Ocean are hosed with spammers - is that a fair assumption?

However, when I use tools like SEO AutoPilot and Scrapebox the tools never work. Results are very poor and it seems that there is something else at play at the server level at Digital Ocean. For example, SEO Autopilot wont even load...

Do you think that they (Digital Ocean) are blocking certain ports that prevent these tools from doing their job?

And yes, I am using proxies....

Kinda feels like I am missing a step somewhere

Sure, I could have paid for a service, but I just prefer my own VPS. I'm starting to think I should just pony up the case for a hardware BlackHat SEO Rig at home...

Digital Ocean servers can be easily identified as VPS because their IP address has ASN, ISP and ORG that says Digital Ocean. Check your server IP on a websites like showmyip or whatsmyip

Regular VPS like Digital Ocean and Vultr are not meant for running SEO tools. They take many precautions to block users from doing it or at least make it difficult. You should find a host that allows running these tools.

SEO TOOLS are actually heavy to run, even on high-end specs tend to be slow or choke the system altogether.
They are essentially CPU/RAM Eaters.

You should consider running locally if you have beefy PC, or buy a higher spec VPS, 4-8 cores (newer cpus), and 8 to 16 GB of ram.

ePrime said:

Digital Ocean servers can be easily identified as VPS because their IP address has ASN, ISP and ORG that says Digital Ocean. Check your server IP on a websites like showmyip or whatsmyip

Click to expand...

So interesting - thank you! Yes - that makes sense.....so basically its a huge footprint but that still doesn't explain why that alone would flag captachs

Starblazer said:

Regular VPS like Digital Ocean and Vultr are not meant for running SEO tools. They take many precautions to block users from doing it or at least make it difficult. You should find a host that allows running these tools.

Click to expand...

What could they block? Like, could they just throttle or block certain ports that the tool needs?

FatBee said:

SEO TOOLS are actually heavy to run, even on high-end specs tend to be slow or choke the system altogether.
They are essentially CPU/RAM Eaters.

You should consider running locally if you have beefy PC, or buy a higher spec VPS, 4-8 cores (newer cpus), and 8 to 16 GB of ram.

Click to expand...

Right.....I am on 4 GIG at the moment but I think I might just end up killing off this droplet if its going to give me so many headaches like this...

Thanks guys - all very useful

More that I think about it then more I should just buy a machine that's dedicated to running these tools at home....

As long as it has 8-16 Gig of RAM I should be good to go right? Ebay has tons of machines for +/- USD 300 - 500 that whilst ugly and a bit shit, they will do the job for this purpose

Do you guys have dedicated machines?

I also have the ScraperboxVPS setup which works well but I just want my own system that I can control with all tweaks etc

JimmyTwoTimes said:

More that I think about it then more I should just buy a machine that's dedicated to running these tools at home....

As long as it has 8-16 Gig of RAM I should be good to go right? Ebay has tons of machines for +/- USD 300 - 500 that whilst ugly and a bit shit, they will do the job for this purpose

Do you guys have dedicated machines?

I also have the ScraperboxVPS setup which works well but I just want my own system that I can control with all tweaks etc

Click to expand...

For that money you can just buy this
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Tv93LP
Or if you are AMD fan:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QdRQmk
and later flip it.

Not all VPS providers allow SEO tools, especially those like Vultr & DO. You should ask them in advance.

AKQJ10 said:

Not all VPS providers allow SEO tools, especially those like Vultr & DO. You should ask them in advance.

Click to expand...

I've always worked on the premise of do it then apologize. They will always say no if there is even the slighest doubt...

FatBee said:

For that money you can just buy this
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Tv93LP
Or if you are AMD fan:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QdRQmk
and later flip it.

Click to expand...

Great advice....

Machines look good but kinda pricey....I'd prefer an office hoe computer where you don't care if it gets annihilated - you just reimage; I think ex-office is my best bet