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Raspberry PI SSH first contact

  • the RPI is up and running, you the LEDs from the RPI and the USB-SSD
  • in regular cases, the hostname from the RPI is "raspberry"
  • you can control the hostname or get the right ipv4 adress from your router
  • open SSH Client or use this command line/link to connect the RPI
  • in case of error, use the ipv4 adress as the hostname
YourPathToPutty\PUTTY.EXE -ssh pi@raspberry -P 22 -pw raspberry
YourPathToPutty\PUTTY.EXE -ssh pi@ipv4adress -P 22 -pw raspberry

PI harden up

  • change the password for user root and user "pi", remember the command sudo
  • it's recommanded to use 24 signs that contains
    A-Za-z0-9!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[]^_`{|}~
sudo passwd root
sudo passwd pi
  • update the pi OS within two commands in ones, this can be take a time...
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade
  • it's recommanded to set a fixed ipv4 adress and disable ipv6
    (edit the /etc/dhcpcd.conf)
sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
  • go to the # block and edit the following lines, remember #static ip6_address
    (for example the router ip is 192.168.1.1 the pi ip will be 192.168.1.100)
# Example static IP configuration:
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.100/24
#static ip6_address=abcd:1234:......
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1
  • save and exit the file within the following keystokes:
    str+o ENTER (save the file), str+x (close nano)
  • reboot the PI
sudo reboot
  • change the ssh config, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    (it's recommanded to set a hiport like 1231 in this case or your choice but less than 65535)
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  • go to the line that begin with Port.. and change 22 to your choice
    further some settings to run ssh more safely
Port 1231
Protocol 2
PermitEmptyPasswords no
PermitRootLogin no
# Compression is optional
Compression yes
  • save and exit the file within the following keystokes:
    str+o ENTER (save the file), str+x (close nano)
  • reboot the PI
sudo reboot
  • last step to harden the pi, install fail2ban to watch ssh access
    (reconnect the pi per ssh on 1231 or your port)
YourPathToPutty\PUTTY.EXE -ssh pi@raspberry -P 1231 -pw raspberry
YourPathToPutty\PUTTY.EXE -ssh pi@ipv4adress -P 1231 -pw raspberry

sudo apt install fail2ban
  • generate and edit a own config file
sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
  • add the following settings (thomas-krenn.com)
ignoreip = 127.0.0.1/8
ignorecommand =
bantime  = 3600
findtime  = 600
maxretry = 3
  • reboot the RPI
sudo reboot