How to setup Raspbian Buster Lite for Raspberry Pi server projects

Last updated: 8th February 2020

When I did a review for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, the idea of using the Pi 4 for server applications is clear.

Since Raspbian Buster Lite was released alongside the Pi 4, we can use it for new Raspberry Pi server projects.

If you are thinking of building Raspberry Pi server projects, then you may want to follow through this article to help you get started.

Recommended hardware build for your Raspberry Pi server project

In case you have not got your Pi yet, you may want to consider buying the following hardware:

In addition to the list of recommended hardware, you will need a computer with an SD card writer.

Downloading a copy of Raspbian Buster Lite onto your computer

When you have the hardware for your Raspberry Pi server, proceed to Raspbian download page to download Raspbian Buster Lite:

Snapshot of Raspbian Buster Lite dated 20200205

Installing Raspbian Buster Lite image onto your microSD card

After you had downloaded Raspbian Buster Lite, insert your microSD card into the SD card writer of your computer.

Once you had done so, start balenaEtcher and use it to flash the contents of the .zip file onto your microSD card:

balenaEtcher animation for flashing Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 on microSD card

Enabling SSH server when Raspbian Buster Lite boots for the first time

In order to remotely administer your Raspberry Pi server, you will need to enable the SSH server.

So how do you enable SSH server when Raspbian Buster Lite boots for the first time?

First, reinsert your microSD card to your computer. When your computer loads up your microSD card, simply copy a blank file named as ssh into the root directory of your microSD card:

Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 microSD root directory with ssh file highlighted

Connecting Raspbian Buster Lite to your WiFi network on first boot

If you had decided that your Raspberry Pi server will connect wirelessly to your home network, then you may want it to do so on first boot.

When that happens, you will be able to remotely administer your Raspberry Pi server over wireless connection. This is especially useful if you are setting up a Raspberry Pi Zero W or Raspberry Pi Model 3A+ as the server.

So how do you get your Raspberry Pi to connect to your WiFi network on first boot?

In order to do so, prepare a file named wpa_supplicant.conf with content similar to the following:

country=SG
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
scan_ssid=1
ssid="the_wireless-network"
psk="the_wireless-network_password"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

The name of your wireless network is represented by "ssid".

The password to connect to your wireless network is represented by "psk".

The communication protocol used by your router is represented by "proto". Some acceptable values are WPA and RSN.

The key management protocol used by your router is represented by "key_mgmt". Some acceptable values are "WPA-PSK" and "WPA-EAP".

The values for "proto" and "key_mgmt" are commonly set to WPA and WPA-PSK.

Once you had created your own version of wpa_supplicant.conf for your network, copy it to the root directory of your microSD card:

Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 microSD root directory with <strong data-src=

Booting your Raspbian Buster Lite on your Raspberry Pi

At this point in time, you are ready to boot up your Raspbian Buster Lite on your Raspberry Pi.

First, remove the microSD card from your computer and put it into the SD card slot on your your Raspberry Pi.

After that, attach the power adapter to your Raspberry Pi. If you are using the Ethernet cable, connect it to your Raspberry Pi too. Once you had connected the peripherals to your Pi, supply power to the power adapter.

Finding the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

When your Raspberry Pi boots up, it should be able to get an IP address from your home router.

Since multicast DNS is supported out-of-the-box by the Avahi service on Raspbian, you can ping raspberrypi.local to get your freshly minted Raspbian box to respond with its IP address.

Given that, start a terminal program on a computer that is connected to the same network as your Raspberry Pi. After that, run the following command in the terminal program:

ping raspberrypi.local

When your Raspberry Pi has an IP address, it should respond with the content similar to the following:

PING raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.114): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.114: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=8.226 ms

Given that input, you can deduce that your Raspberry Pi had gotten 192.168.1.114 as the IP address.

Even if your Raspberry Pi does not respond with the IP address, you can access your home router's control panel to find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi. If you do not find an entry with raspberrypi as the hostname, you may want to double-check your network configurations.

Connecting to your Raspbian Buster Lite via SSH

Once you got the IP address of your Raspberry Pi, you can configure your Raspberry Pi via SSH.

Since, the default user is pi and the default password is raspberry, we will be able to get into our Raspberry Pi with the following command:

ssh pi@192.168.1.114

After you had run the command, enter raspberry as the password to login to Raspbian Buster Lite.

Changing the default password of the user

When you login to Raspbian Buster Lite for the first time, it will prompt you to change the default password password:

Linux raspberrypi 4.19.57-v7l+ #1244 SMP Thu Jul 4 18:48:07 BST 2019 armv7l

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: Fri Sep 13 15:36:02 2019 from 192.168.1.147

SSH is enabled and the default password for the 'pi' user has not been changed.
This is a security risk - please login as the 'pi' user and type 'passwd' to set a new password.

If you want to take that advice, you can change the password of the pi user by entering the following command:

passwd

After entering raspberry as the current password and your new password twice, you will be able to change the password of the pi user.

Configuring the locale settings

Next, configure the locale settings for your Raspbian Buster Lite. To do so, start the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool with the following command:

sudo raspi-config

When the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool starts, follow through the screens to install your locale settings:

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Localisation Options selected

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Change Locale option selected

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with en_US.UTF8 checked

(Press space to select the locale to install and enter to move to next screen)

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with en_US.UTF8 selected

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Finish nav highlighted

After exiting raspi-config, open up /etc/default/locale with nano:

sudo nano /etc/default/locale

Once nano loads up /etc/default/locale, change its content to the following:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8

Once you are done with the changes, press Ctrl-X, Y and Enter to save the changes.

When you do so, the locale settings for Raspbian Buster Lite will persist through system reboots.

Changing Timezone

If your Raspberry Pi does not reside in the British Summer Time timezone, then you may want to change the timezone of your Raspberry Pi.

In order to do so, start the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool again:

sudo raspi-config

When raspi-config starts, you can change the Timezone of your Raspberry Pi. For example, if I want to change my Timezone to Singapore's timezone, I will go through the following screens:

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Localisation Options selected

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Change Timezone Options selected

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Asia selected as Geographic area

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Singapore selected as Time zone

raspi-config on Raspbian Buster Lite 20190710 with Finish nav highlighted

Once you had configured the Timezone, restart Raspbian Buster Lite with the following command:

sudo shutdown -r now

When your Raspbian Buster Lite comes back again, it will take your locale configurations.

Changing the hostname

If you intend to deploy several Raspberry Pis in your home, you may want to give each of them a unique hostname.

When you want to change the hostname of your Raspberry Pi, you can use the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool.

After you have logged into your Raspbian Buster Lite, run the following command to start the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool again:

sudo raspi-config

When raspi-config starts, follow through the following screens to change the hostname of your Raspberry Pi:
20191022 raspi-config just started up

20191022 raspi-config screenshot with Hostname selected

20191022 raspi-config showing RFC mandate on hostname

20191022 raspi-config with pi4plants as input to new hostname

20191022 raspi-config prompts for reboot

After your Raspberry Pi had restarted, it will take the new hostname that you had provided.

About Clivant

Clivant a.k.a Chai Heng enjoys composing software and building systems to serve people. He owns techcoil.com and hopes that whatever he had written and built so far had benefited people. All views expressed belongs to him and are not representative of the company that he works/worked for.