Linux Debian Server Setup

linux-server-setup.md

Linux Ubuntu/Debian Server Setup

On remote machine

As root

1. Change root password
   • $ passwd
2. Create user & their home directory
   • $ useradd -m <username>
3. Set user's password
   • $ passwd <username>
4. Make user a sudoer
   • $ usermod -aG sudo <username>
5. Set user's shell as bash
   • $ chsh -s /bin/bash <username>

As <username>

1. Install essentials: $ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt install nano curl git htop exa
2. Enable passwordless sudo for user
   • $ sudo nano /etc/sudoers.d/<username>
   • Add: <username> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

On local machine

1. Copy SSH public key to remote machine's authorized keys
   • $ ssh-copy-id -i <public-key-path> <username>@<remote-machine-ip-address>

On remote machine

As <username>

1. Edit SSH daemon configuration
   • $ sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   • Disable root access
     • Edit: PermitRootLogin no
   • Disable password authentication
     • Edit: PasswordAuthentication no
   • Restart ssh service: $ sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart
2. Install zsh and ohmyzsh
   • $ sudo apt install zsh
   • ohmyzsh
3. Install Homebrew
4. Install essentials: brew install micro fzf bat restic just
5. Install Docker
6. Schedule cleanup of unused Docker images
   • Open crontab
     • $ crontab -e
   • Create a new cronjob
     • Append: 0 1 * * * sudo docker system prune -af
7. Give sudo (secure_path in /etc/sudoers) and crontab (PATH= in crontab -e) access to tools in PATH