Tag Archives: ssh

Raspberrypi Computing

How to Set Up SSH to Remotely Control Your Raspberry Pi

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Connecting your RPi to the outside world: how to connect remotely via the web

A tutorial by D.M. Wiig

Once you have your RPi server up and running there are a few things that you may want to consider if
you are planning to host content to be delivered over the web. Assuming you have successfully connected your
RPi to the outside world, you can save some processing over head by disconnecting the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
You can access your RPi via the web from another computer using the ssh function for Linux systems and a program such
as PuTTY for Windows systems.

To use access your RPi remotely you must first make sure that ssh is enabled on your Pi. You can do this by opening
a terminal on the Pi and issuing the command:

 

$pi@raspberrypi / $ sudo raspi-config

This will invoke the Raspberry Pi Software Configuation Tool. Select option #8, Advanced Options, and then option

A4 SSH Enable/Disable remote command line access to your Pi using SSH

press enter and take the Enable option from the next menu.

If ssh has not been enabled previously reboot your Pi so that the option will be enabled. You should now be able to access your Pi remotely from any computer connected to the web.

If you are using a linux based computer open a terminal program. The following screen shot shows a typical sequence of commands will access your Pi via the web:
—————————-
doug@doug-Satellite-M55:~$ ssh http://www.raspberrypiandr.net -l pi
pi@www.raspberrypiandr.net’s password:
Linux raspberrypi 3.10.25+ #622 PREEMPT Fri Jan 3 18:41:00 GMT 2014 armv6l

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Tue Mar 25 21:08:54 2014 from 71-34-171-204.desm.qwest.net
pi@raspberrypi ~ $
——————————–
Substitute your URL after the ssh command. After the -l option use whatever you named your Pi when you initially set it up.
You will asked for a password and should then be logged in and see a command line prompt.

If you are using a Windows based computer system you can one of several free programs that will allow you to remotely access your RPi. One of the most popular is called PuTTY. This program can be downloaded from the web site http://www.putty.org. Once you are sure your
remote connect works correctly you can unplug the monitor, keyboard, and mouse from your Pi, leaving just the power connection and whatever type of internet connection you are using. This will help to cut some of the load from your Pi as it functions serving web pages. To end
your remote session simply type ‘logout’ at the command line and you should see something similar to:

——————————–
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ logout
Connection to http://www.raspberrypiandr.net closed.
doug@doug-Satellite-M55:~$
——————————–

You can now close your terminal program until your next remote session.

 

Raspberrypi Computing

How To: Installing an FTP server on your Raspberry Pi

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How To: Installing an FTP server on your Raspberry Pi

(Author: D.M. Wiig. Your comments and questions are welcomed.)

If you are running any of the Linux distributions on your Rpi it is a fairly simple process to install a basic FTP server. There are a number of very good FTP servers available for Linux with vsftpd being one of the most popular. This tutorial will discuss the specifics of a vsftpd server installation. The process would be very similar for other popular FTP servers.

For the sake of simplicity this tutorial will only cover the basic installation of vsftpd for anonymous mode. This means that any user can access the ftp server and download files without a login procedure. By default vsftpd is configured to allow anonymous access and download only. A future tutorial will discuss the setting of options for authentication mode and other client services.

To install vsftpd login to your Rpi and at the command prompt enter:

$ sudo apt-get install vsftpd

When the installation is complete you will see the line:

Starting FTP server: vsftpd

By default a directory for ftp users is created with a home directory of /srv/ftp. This is the default ftp directory. You can check to make sure the ftp server is up and running properly by doing the following:

From the command line issue the command:

$ cd /srv/ftp

Once you are in the ftp directory create a test file by using the following commands:

$ sudo nano ftpsamplefile

Nano is a fast and simple text editor for Raspian. When opened you will get a blank screen. Type in something like:

This is a sample file file loaded in the default ftp directory

/srv/ftp

4/1/14

After you have entered the text hit press Ctrl-o to save the file you have created and then Ctrl-x to exit nano after the line has been saved. Enter the following command in your Rpi to determine the local address of the Rpi:

sudo ifconfig

You will see a number of lines of information. One of the top lines should contain something like:

inet addr:192.xxx.x.xx

This sequence of numbers is the local network address of your Rpi. You can ftp to it from any device on your network, but at this point you are not connected to the outside world so you cannot connect to it from outside of your router and network without some additional steps. To test your installation, open a web browser on any device that you have connected to the same network as your Rpi and enter:

ftp://192.xxx.x.xx (substitute your address found with the ifconfig command for the x’s)

You should see the ftp user directory that will look something like the example below:

Index of /

Name

Size

Date Modified

ftpsamplefile

69 B

3/31/13 8:05:00 PM

The ftp folder will contain the sample file that you created previously. By clicking on the file you should see the contents:

This is a sample ftp file loaded in the directory

/srv/ftp

Your FTP server is now up and running. I will cover issues such as file upload and download as well as creating user authentication and login procedures in another ‘How To:’