I'm going to purchase my own dedicated server service soon and run few python server scripts on it.
Firstly, let me tell you that I am total noob when it comes to internet security and was unable to find answers to my questions using google.
I want to have few python servers, listening on different ports and providing me with different services. For example one of them will poll few websites to get their content and update data on the server. Then I will connect to it and grab the most recent data. Communication between server and client will be in JSON format. I would want to enable file downloading as well. Probably using SFTP to secure whole process.
So my questions are:
How can I implement secure connection between client and my python server? I guess I could use SSH or SSL, but which one will be better suited for the job? And If I choose SSH then wouldn't it interfere with SSH login service I use to manage my (whole) server?
Is opening multiple ports very insecure? What kind of attacks could it bring on me? How can I prevent them?
Do you have any other tips regarding own server implementation?
As I'm totally new to this stuff please tell me if you see any gaps in my logic :)