Before you start
- A Raff account on monthly billing. Pay-as-you-go accounts see “Raff Keep stacks are paid through checkout. Pay as you go is not available for them yet.”
- Permission to create servers in the project (
vm.create). - A card on file or enough Raff balance for the first period.
- Optional: the domains your sites will use, and access to their DNS.
Steps
1
Open the ASP.NET stack
Click Keep in the sidebar, then Create. On What do you want to run?, click ASP.NET / IIS host under Websites and APIs.
2
Setup: sites, domains, .NET and SQL Server
- How many sites or APIs: 1 to 20. Each site gets its own application pool and folder. Site 1 also answers on the server’s address. You can add sites and domains later on the server’s page.
- Domains: optional, one per site, such as
app.example.com. A domain can belong to one site only. Point each domain’s A record at the server’s address once you have it: Raff Keep checks every 15 minutes for 7 days and gets each certificate as soon as the domain points at the server. - Email for Let’s Encrypt: optional. Let’s Encrypt only adds the address to its mailing list; Raff Keep renews the certificates automatically.
- Also install: .NET 9 and .NET 8, for an app that still needs them. .NET 10 is always installed. Microsoft ends support for both on 10 November 2026, after which they get no security fixes.
- Install SQL Server Express alongside: free, up to 10 GB per database. Windows sign-in only and not reachable from outside the server.
Raff Guardian adds .NET 9 and .NET 8 right after the install. On an Install only server there is no Raff Guardian, so only .NET 10 is installed.
3
Size: keep Raff's pick or choose bigger
Raff picks the size from the number of sites and marks it Raff pick for your answers:
You can choose a bigger size; smaller ones are not offered. Show bigger sizes lists the rest.
The price beside each size is the server alone. The Summary on the right adds the Windows licence ($15.00 a month) and shows the total. See Pricing.
4
Raff Guardian: how Raff looks after it
The Raff Guardian group shows How Raff looks after it, set to Raff manages everything. Click the row to choose Ask me before changes, Watch only or Install only instead.Raff Guardian also sets up publishing for each site: its own Web Deploy login and a publish profile you download from the dashboard. Without it (Install only) you publish as your admin login instead. See Kept by Raff and Publish an ASP.NET site.
5
Access: Remote Desktop, publishing, name and password
- Allow Remote Desktop and publishing from: Any address (default), Only my address (your IPv4 address and the browser console in the dashboard) or Addresses I choose (up to 20 IPv4 addresses or ranges).
- Remote Desktop: any address keeps it open, protected by an admin login nobody can guess, a lockout after 10 failed sign-ins for 15 minutes, network level authentication and Raff Guardian blocking attackers. With addresses, only they and the browser console reach it.
- Publishing with Web Deploy (port 8172) answers only the addresses listed. With Any address, publishing stays off until you turn it on from the server’s page.
- Server name: starts as
windows-iis-01. 3 to 63 letters, digits or hyphens. - Built-in Administrator password: type one or click Generate. It needs 12 to 128 characters, at least 2 uppercase letters, at least 2 digits, at least 1 of
@+-_.,!and no other symbols, and no runs likeaaaor123or common words.
This is not the password you sign in with every day. Raff Keep creates your own admin login and shows its password once when the server is ready. The built-in Administrator signs in only in the VNC console and is your way back in if you lose your admin login. See Logins and the Administrator.
6
Choose the billing period and start
In the Summary, check the lines and the total, then pick the Billing period: Monthly, Yearly or 24 months. Yearly and 24 months are paid up front and cost less per month.Click Start, then pay at checkout. Raff then creates the server, installs everything and records every step.
Verify
After payment you land on the server’s page under Keep. Its status moves from Creating server to Installing, Checking and Installed. When it is installed, a box at the top shows the site’s Web address and offers Show the logins. See Follow the install. The Web address is site 1 on the server’s address (http://<address>/). Your other sites answer on their domains once you point them at the server.
Next steps
Get your logins and passwords
Your admin login, shown once.
Publish an ASP.NET site
Visual Studio publish profile or GitHub Actions.