No worries. All those responses about the subject IP now are the norm for a bare-iron server ready for use by a customer, yours truly. It is the same server I messed up the firewall with and locked myself out of. The OS has been reinstalled and is ready for me to use again.
If all is set as expected, I should be able to get http and https working on it.
And I will certainly try to take care of most of the security concerns expressed here.
For those of you with forensic curiosity so recently demonstrated, the new server we are discussing is to replace mine currently operating at IP 173.208.182.170. It has been online for over two years. I believe it is locked down pretty well.