🚀 Debian Server Setup: Real-World Experience

Spent the last few days setting up a Debian-based Linux server for a client — here's a quick recap of the process and key takeaways:

🔹 Chose Debian over Arch for stability and long-term maintainability

🔹 Installed with RAID1 and full disk encryption for reliability

🔹 Fixed networking issues with non-free firmware and manual driver setup

🔹 Hardened the server:

✅ Disabled root SSH login

✅ Installed & configured fail2ban

✅ Cleaned up SSH key permissions

🔹 Set up daily backups:

🔄 Local backup with `rsync` to an external disk (`/mnt/backup`)

☁️ Remote backup using `rsnapshot` with `ssh` + `rsync`

📂 Backups include `/etc`, `/var/www`, MySQL dumps, and project files

🔹 Troubleshot:

❗ Broken FAT16 partitions (recovered/converted to ext4)

⚠️ Rsnapshot misconfig that looked like it was syncing, but wasn’t 😅

🔹 Finished by cleaning up the server with custom Bash scripts, history deduplication, and tested restore paths.

Next step: Deploying the PHP/Nginx project and testing recovery from both backup sources.

🔐 Security, 🔁 Backup, 💻 Performance — all covered. Proud of the result!