Shamelessly plugging https://linuxupskillchallenge.org/ because if you're going to set up an Ubuntu home server you might a well know how to use it.
How to Setup a Secure Ubuntu Home Server: A Complete Guide
Submitted 1 day ago by udc@lemmy.world to selfhosted@lemmy.world
https://www.davidma.co/blog/2025-07-24-home-server
Comments
Goodeye8@piefed.social 1 day ago
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
This is a nice list, but for the novices it’s obviously meant for, it’s a bad learning experience.
Why? Because it doesn’t explain any of the reasoning behind what it asks you to do.
Why are we changing the deafuly SSH port, for example? Someone who is seasoned might identify this is a somewhat limited attempt to obscure our attack surface, but to a novice it’s inscrutable and meaningless.
More important than telling people what to do is explaining why, because it puts the learning in context and makes it stick by giving a reason to care.
emhl@feddit.org 1 day ago
Running SSH on a non-provileged port brings new issues. And using 2222 doesn’t bring any meaningful security by obscurity advantages.
The rest of the options look nice. It would have if there would be explanations on what the options do in the example configs
johannes@lemmy.jhjacobs.nl 1 day ago
Which issues are you referring to?
Using port 2222 may not prevent any real hackers from discovering it, but it sure does prevent a lot of them scripttkiddie attacks that use automated software.
martinb@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Passwordless login only. No root login. Fail2ban. Add ufw to stop accidental open port shenanigans, and you are locked down enough
emhl@feddit.org 1 day ago
Privileged ports can be used by processes that are running without root permissions. So if the sshd process would crash or stop for some other reason, any malicious user process could pretend to be the real ssh server without privilege escalation. To be fair this isn’t really a concern for single user systems. But setting up fail2ban or only making ssh accessible from a local network or VPN would probably be a more helpful hardenening step
Arigion@feddit.org 1 day ago
Just use wireguard as VPN and bind ssh only to that interface. You loose public access but I couldn’t think of a reason why I want other devices than my own to connect anyway.
truthfultemporarily@feddit.org 1 day ago
This is mostly nonsense.
Don’t just copy random config from the internet, as annoying as it is, read the docs.
uranibaba@lemmy.world 1 day ago
And if it is, why change it on the server and not in the fw?
truthfultemporarily@feddit.org 1 day ago
If you change it, definitely change it on the server so it shows up in netstat and is consistent.
Mordikan@kbin.earth 1 day ago
But you need that legal banner in case your spouse acts up and you need to throw their ass in prison.
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Til about lkrg.