Linux Setup

Steps to setup my remote development machine.

Setting up a remote instance

Create an Ubuntu instance
Add the necessary public ssh keys during setup and allow access only with ssh keys
Copy the public IP

Creating a new non-root user

SSH into the machine

ssh root@<IP_ADDRESS>

Create a non root user

adduser aaronmak

Add non root user to sudoers file

sudo vim /etc/sudoers

/etc/sudoers should look something like this.

root   ALL(ALL:ALL) ALL
aaronmak  ALL(ALL:ALL) ALL

Go back to your local machine and copy the public key over

ssh-copy-id aaronmak@<IP_ADDRESS>

sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

You should end up with something like

PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no

Finally, log out and login with the non root user. ssh aaronmak@<IP_ADDRESS>

Install git to pull setup scripts and dotfiles

sudo apt-get install -y git
git clone https://github.com/aaronmak/linux-setup.git
./linux-setup/setup.sh

Create a public ssh key and add it to Github

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "aaronmakks@gmail.com"

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Go to github.com > personal settings > SSH and GPG keys. Add the public key to Github.

If that doesn't work, refer to Github Docs.

Create a gpg subkey from the master key

Import the master key from the thumbdrive

gpg --import <MASTER_KEY>

Generate new subkey

gpg --edit-key <MASTER_KEY>

...

gpg> addkey

...

Please select what kind of key you want:
   (3) DSA (sign only)
   (4) RSA (sign only)
   (5) Elgamal (encrypt only)
   (6) RSA (encrypt only)
Your selection? 4
RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (2048) 4096
Requested keysize is 4096 bits

...

gpg> save

Export the subkey

gpg --export-secret-keys --armor <SUBKEY> > <SUBKEY>-private.gpg

Go into the remote machine and import the subkey

ssh aaronmak@<IP_ADDRESS>
touch <RANDOM_FILENAME>
vim <RANDOM_FILENAME> # write secret key to file
gpg --import <RANDOM_FILENAME>
shred --remove <RANDOM_FILENAME>

Remove generated subkey and masterkey from local computer

gpg --delete-secret-keys <SUBKEY>
gpg --delete-secret-keys <MASTER_KEY>