First steps on the server¶

After your first SSH login, a few basics go a long way.

1. Update the system¶

Debian / Ubuntu

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Rocky / Alma / Fedora

dnf update -y

Working as root day-to-day isn’t ideal. Example on Ubuntu/Debian:

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

Then log in as deploy and use sudo for admin tasks.

timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Warsaw
timedatectl

If you enable a firewall, don’t lock yourself out of SSH (port 22).

UFW (Ubuntu)

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw enable
ufw status

firewalld

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh
firewall-cmd --reload

See the key section in SSH login. Once the key works, you can disable password login in /etc/ssh/sshd_config - only if you’re sure the key works.

df -h      # disk
free -h    # RAM
htop       # processes (install: apt install htop)