Rebuilding Born2BeRoot

Focus Area: Linux Server Administration

🎯 Context & Objective

Setting up a Debian VM as a proper server environment. Not just repeating the 42 School project—adding real-world security practices and DevOps approaches.

✅ Work Recap & Achievements

VM Setup: Fresh Debian install on VirtualBox with appropriate resources and network config.

Security Hardening: Applied security measures—firewall setup, SSH hardening, monitoring tools.

WordPress Deployment: Got a full WordPress stack running with lighttpd, MariaDB, and PHP.

What I built:

Debian server with UFW firewall and secure SSH
Working WordPress site (lighttpd instead of Apache)
Basic monitoring setup
Server configuration documented

🧗 Challenges & Struggles

Service Integration: Getting lighttpd, MariaDB, and PHP to cooperate took some troubleshooting. Each had specific config requirements.

Security Balance: Finding the sweet spot between locked-down security and actually being able to use the server. Some security settings broke things initially.

VM Resources: Had to be careful with resource allocation to keep everything running smoothly.

📚 Key Learnings & Progress

What I learned:

Debian system administration and package management
Web server security (UFW, SSH keys)
LAMP stack deployment (lighttpd variant)
systemd for managing services

Thinking Like an Admin: Started balancing security, performance, and maintainability—important for managing infrastructure.

⏭️ Next Steps & Closing Thoughts

This was a step up from just command-line work. Managing multiple services that interact with each other requires more careful thinking.

Seeing the WordPress stack come together on infrastructure I built was pretty cool.

Next: diving deeper into networking and system internals. Want to understand how data flows through networks and how Linux actually manages resources. 🛡️