In this article, we will use a user called User on a machine called machine, simple enough?

Adding User to sudoers

For added security, we will avoid working with the root user. Therefore, we need a user capable of executing administrative commands. To do that, we’ll just add User to the sudoers

[User@machine ~]$ su -
[Root@machine ~]# visudo

Add the following line at the end of the file

User ALL=(ALL) ALL 

or to sudo without password prompt (not recommended)

User ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

That’s it, we can now use sudo to execute administrative commands!

VNC Server

For remote desktop access, we will use the VNC server for it’s cross platform abilities. Note: VNC connections are not encrypted so don’t use it on public networks.

[User@machine ~]$ sudo yum install vnc-server vnc
[User@machine ~]$ sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/vncservers

Edit the file so it contains:

VNCSERVERS="1:User"
VNCSERVERARGS[1]="-geometry 1024x768 -depth 16"

Set the vnc password for the user (this should be different than the password for the local/ssh login):

[User@machine ~]$ vncpasswd

Set the services:

[User@machine ~]$ sudo service vncserver restart
[User@machine ~]$ sudo chkconfig vncserver on

FTP Server

If you want to access your files remotely and transfer them to other machines, you’ll need to install an FTP server

 [User@machine ~]$ sudo yum install vsftpd
[User@machine ~]$ sudo chkconfig vsftpd on
[User@machine ~]$ sudo vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

change from

anonymous_enable=YES

to

anonymous_enable=NO

uncomment both lines bellow

write_enable=YES
local_enable=YES

Set the services:

[User@machine ~]$ sudo service vsftpd restart

SSH

Finally, to administer your server through the console remotely, you need ssh

[User@machine ~]$ sudo yum install ssh-server
[User@machine ~]$ sudo service sshd start
[User@machine ~]$ sudo chkconfig sshd on

Lets secure the server:

[User@machine ~]$ sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Add the following lines at the end of the file:

LoginGraceTime 30

(or if you’re paranoid, use 15. This is the amount of time you have to login)

PermitRootLogin no
AllowUsers User

Now restart the service and you are done

[User@machine ~]$ sudo service sshd restart

End note

Obviously, you’ll need to set up your server to let those services through. Keep in mind that VNC runs on port 590x where x is the number in the

VNCSERVERS="1:User"

line. Also, here’s a little bonus; how to encrypt your VNC sessions: just run (in the terminal):

ssh -f -L 25901:127.0.0.1:5901 User@ip -p 22 sleep 10; vncviewer 127.0.0.1:25901:1

Hope you liked the tutorial! Questions, as usual in the comments and I will do my best to answer them. Stay tuned, I have more tutorials coming in the next few weeks!