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V-Server Setup

This page documents how I configured my very first cloud server instance in the Developer Akademie DevSecOps Course.

TOC​

  1. Generate an SSH Key on Your Local Machine
  2. Connect to the V-Server
  3. Copy the SSH Key to the V-Server
  4. Disable Password Authentication
  5. Test Password Login (Should Fail)
  6. Reconnect Using SSH Key Authentication
  7. Install Nginx
  8. Configure Nginx to Forward Requests to Port 8081
  9. Add an Alternate HTML Page
  10. Set Up Git on the Server
team-collaboration/version-control/githubGithub Tip

URL: https://github.com/hpetersen2/V-Server-Setup

Checkout this repository to see the code/implementation

Description​

In this project I set up my first V-Server from scratch as part of the Developer Akademie DevSecOps course. The goal was to get a small but properly secured server that can serve web content and pull code from GitHub.

The setup covers three areas:

  • Secure access: Logging in with an SSH key pair (ed25519) and disabling password authentication, so brute-force attacks on the login no longer work.
  • Web server: Installing Nginx and serving a custom HTML page on port 8081 through a separate server block.
  • Git integration: Creating an SSH key on the server and registering it with GitHub, so the server can access repositories without a password.

The steps below are written so you can follow them in order on a fresh Linux server (Debian/Ubuntu).

1. Generate an SSH Key on Your Local Machine​

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

  • Specify the desired file path for the key pair.
  • Optionally, protect your key with a passphrase.

2. Connect to the V-Server​

ssh your-user@server-ip

Replace your-user and server-ip with your actual username and server IP address.

3. Copy the SSH Key to the V-Server​

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub your-user@server-ip

Note:
The command ssh-copy-id must be installed on your system.

4. Disable Password Authentication​

  1. Navigate to the SSH configuration directory:

    cd /etc/ssh/

  2. Open the SSH configuration file:

    sudo nano sshd_config

  3. Find the line containing PasswordAuthentication, uncomment it, and set the value to no:

    PasswordAuthentication no

  4. Restart the SSH service:

    sudo systemctl restart ssh.service

  5. Exit the server:

    logout

    or

    exit

5. Test Password Login (Should Fail)​

Verify that password-based authentication is disabled:

ssh -o PubKeyAuthentication=no -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 your-user@server-ip

You should not be able to log in.

6. Reconnect Using SSH Key Authentication​

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 your-user@server-ip

7. Install Nginx​

Update the package list and install Nginx:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y

The -y flag automatically confirms the installation.

8. Configure Nginx to Forward Requests to Port 8081​

Create a new Nginx configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/alternatives

Insert the following configuration:

server {
    listen 8081;
    listen [::]:8081;

    root /var/www/alternatives;
    index alternate-index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Save and close the file.
Then restart Nginx to apply the changes:

sudo service nginx restart

9. Add an Alternate HTML Page​

Create a new HTML file that Nginx will serve:

sudo nano /var/www/alternate-index.html

You can now access your page via port 8081 (e.g., http://your-server-ip:8081).

10. Set Up Git on the Server​

1. Generate an SSH Key on the Server​

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

Specify the file path for the key pair.

2. Display and Copy the SSH Public Key​

Navigate to the directory where the SSH key was created, then run:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Copy the displayed SSH key.

3. Add the SSH Key to GitHub​

  1. Log in to your GitHub account.
  2. Go to Settings → SSH and GPG keys.
  3. Click New SSH key.
  4. Enter a Title (e.g., "V-Server Access").
  5. Paste the copied SSH key into the Key field.
  6. Save the new SSH key.

Setup Complete​

Your V-Server is now:

  • Secured with SSH key authentication
  • Configured with Nginx running on port 8081
  • Ready to connect to GitHub via SSH