Linux Server Setup

19 items · Technical · Hard difficulty · 1 hour

Securely set up a new Linux VPS with essential hardening steps.

• Log in as root via SSH

  SSH to the server using its IP: ssh root@SERVER_IP (or use provided console access).

• Change the root password

  Run passwd to set a strong, unique root password or rely on keys.

• Update package list and upgrade installed packages

  Run apt update && apt upgrade -y to apply latest security fixes.

• Create a new sudo user

  Use adduser username to create an account for daily admin tasks.

• Set a strong password for the new user

  Choose a long, unique password or rely on SSH keys for the account.

• Add the new user to the sudo group

  Run usermod -aG sudo username so the account can use sudo.

• Set up SSH key authentication for the new user

  Add your public key to /home/username/.ssh/authorized_keys with correct permissions.

• Verify SSH key login as the new user

  Test ssh username@SERVER_IP -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa and confirm shell access.

• Disable root SSH login and password authentication

  Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config: set PermitRootLogin no and PasswordAuthentication no; reload sshd.

• Configure UFW firewall

  Use UFW to limit inbound access to only required services.

• Allow OpenSSH through UFW

  Run ufw allow OpenSSH before enabling the firewall to avoid lockout.

• Allow HTTP and HTTPS through UFW

  Run ufw allow 80/tcp and ufw allow 443/tcp for web services.

• Enable UFW and verify status

  Run ufw enable then ufw status verbose to confirm rules.

• Install and enable fail2ban

  apt install fail2ban; enable and start the service to ban repeated login failures.

• Set timezone and locale

  Use timedatectl set-timezone REGION and configure locale for correct logs.

• Enable unattended security upgrades

  Install unattended-upgrades and configure automatic security updates.

• Create a swapfile

  Add swap if the VM lacks it or needs more virtual RAM.

• Allocate and secure the swapfile

  fallocate -l 1G /swapfile; chmod 600 /swapfile (adjust size as needed).

• Make the file swap, enable it, and add to fstab

  Run mkswap, swapon and add an fstab entry; optionally set vm.swappiness.

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