A first VPS deploy: TLS, a reverse proxy, app process, backups, and a health check. No fake scale story.
Start with one machine
A single VPS can run a static site or an SSR app plus an API. Do not copy a Kubernetes diagram for the first launch.
Baseline
Create a non-root sudo user
Enable a firewall; allow 22, 80, and 443
Issue TLS certificates
Put Nginx or Caddy in front of the app
Run the app under a process manager
Add disk and uptime alerts
Application steps
Build the frontend once. Serve the Node SSR process or static files. Point the API at MySQL on the same private network or host. Run migrations before you switch traffic.
After it is live
Backups are useless until you restore one. Document DNS, env vars, and the deploy command. DNVERSE VPS management and DevOps services exist if you want that path written down with you.
The website development page covers the frontend work that should already be SEO-ready before you deploy.