Debian Tutorials Copy/Paste tutorials for Debian based Linux distros

Replacing OpenSSH server with dropbear

dropbear is a SSH 2 server and client designed to be small enough to be used in small memory environments, while still being functional and secure enough for general use.

It implements most required features of the SSH 2 protocol, and other features such as X11 and authentication agent forwarding.

1. Install dropbear

apt-get install dropbear


2. Stop OpenSSH server (you won't loose your SSH connection)

/etc/init.d/ssh stop


2. Enable dropbear (pico /etc/default/dropbear)

NO_START=0


3. Start dropbear

/etc/init.d/dropbear start


4. Remove OpenSSH server

apt-get remove openssh-server