Debian 9 Build Guide

I decided to upgrade my Linode VM from 1 GB RAM/$5 per-month to the 2 GB RAM/$10 per-month offering - life is too short to faff around trying to get a modern distro with GUI and browser to work in 1 GB RAM.  I also decided to rebuild with Debian 9 to compare steps to Centos 7.

Update
$ apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

Change SSH port:
# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Uncomment and change default port 22
# service sshd restart
Reboot and test
# reboot
Windows (Start -> Run or Windows key + R):
putty user@host -P 2222

Disable SSH root access
# adduser normalusername
# echo 'normalusername ALL=(ALL) ALL' >> /etc/sudoers
Test!!!  Skip testing at your own peril.
putty normalusername@host -P 2222
$ sudo su -
should succeed and get you to the # root prompt
# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Edit line
PermitRootLogin yes
to
PermitRootLogin no
# service sshd restart












Install GUI
# tasksel
follow prompts, selected Xfce - hopefully better luck here than on the CentOS VM...

Enable remote access
# apt install -y xrdp tigervnc-standalone-server
# systemctl enable xrdp

And now I'm going to take a quick break, because apparently due to "Nautilus" I can't change the xfce desktop backgroup to something more friendly to a remote session.  


and for remote access
# yum install xrdp
# service xrdp start
# systemctl enable xrdp