Tag: firewall

Install Syncthing for continuous file synchronisation on Debian or Ubuntu

Syncthing is an open source tool that synchronises data across multiple devices. It transfers your files peer-to-peer, without the requirement to upload your information to the cloud. Packages are available for Android, Windows, macOS and Linux (including Synology DSM).

The usefulness of this project cannot be overstated.

Running the Syncthing stable channel

Syncthing is included in the Debian and Ubuntu repositories, respectively. These instructions are targeting the latest release of the Syncthing stable channel. It is therefore necessary to add the Syncthing repository to your list of APT sources.

In the following example, bookworm is the local username.

Step 1

Add the Syncthing release key for validation of packages downloaded from the Syncthing repository.

$ sudo curl -o /usr/share/keyrings/syncthing-archive-keyring.gpg https://syncthing.net/release-key.gpg

Step 2

Add the Syncthing repository.

$ echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/syncthing-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.syncthing.net/ syncthing stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list

Step 3

Install Syncthing on your system.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'apt update && apt install --yes syncthing apt-transport-https'

Step 4

Enable Syncthing for the local user bookworm.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'systemctl enable syncthing@bookworm.service && systemctl start syncthing@bookworm.service && systemctl status syncthing@bookworm.service'

Step 5

You may need to edit your firewall settings to open ports for incoming and outgoing traffic.

If you are using ufw as a host-based firewall

Configure ufw to allow connections to Syncthing.

$ sudo ufw limit syncthing

If you are using firewalld as a host-based firewall

Configure firewalld to allow connections to Syncthing.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=syncthing --permanent && firewall-cmd --reload && firewall-cmd --info-zone=public'

Step 6

Access the Syncthing configuration page by using your browser to navigate to the following address:

http://localhost:8384

Step 7

Complete your setup by referring to the Syncthing documentation.

Install Cockpit on Debian 12 bookworm

Cockpit is a web-based management tool for Linux systems. It aims to simplify management tasks while maintaining compatibility with other administration tools.

Step 1

Cockpit requires the use of the firewalld service to be able to make changes to your firewall rules.

If you are using ufw as a host-based firewall

Remove ufw before replacing it with firewalld.

$ sudo apt-get remove --purge --yes ufw

Install firewalld as a host-based firewall

Install firewalld and maintain ssh access as well as enabling cockpit to receive incoming connections.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'apt-get install --show-progress --yes firewalld && systemctl enable --now firewalld.service && firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=ssh --permanent && firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=cockpit --permanent && firewall-cmd --reload && firewall-cmd --info-zone=public'

Step 2

Proceed to install Cockpit and selected add-on applications.

$ sudo apt-get install --show-progress --yes cockpit cockpit-machines cockpit-pcp nullmailer ssh tuned-utils

Step 3

By default, the Cockpit web console listens on port 9090 for connections. If you want to make changes from the default, use the following command to edit /etc/systemd/system/cockpit.socket.d/override.conf.

$ sudo systemctl edit cockpit.socket

The example below changes the web console port from 9090 to 9091 and restricts access to the localhost.

### Editing /etc/systemd/system/cockpit.socket.d/override.conf
### Anything between here and the comment below will become the new contents of the file

[Socket]
ListenStream=
ListenStream=127.0.0.1:9091

### Lines below this comment will be discarded

Use the following command for your changes to take effect.

$ sudo -- bash -c 'systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl restart cockpit.socket && systemctl status cockpit.socket'

Step 4

If you installed Cockpit on the local machine and changed the listening port to 9091, you can now access the Cockpit web console on https://localhost:9091.

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