Take control of your Raspberry Pi from anywhere in the world with SSH.

Learn how to remotely access and control your Raspberry Pi using the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, allowing you to manage your device from any computer with an internet connection. …


Updated September 5, 2023

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Learn how to remotely access and control your Raspberry Pi using the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, allowing you to manage your device from any computer with an internet connection.

Are you looking for a way to control your Raspberry Pi from anywhere in the world? Remote access can be extremely useful, especially if you want to monitor or manage your Raspberry Pi when you’re not at home or don’t have physical access to it. One of the most common methods to remotely control a Raspberry Pi is by using the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. In this article, we will guide you through setting up SSH on your Raspberry Pi and connecting to it from another device.

Prerequisites:

  • A Raspberry Pi with Raspbian or a similar Linux distribution installed
  • An internet connection for both the Raspberry Pi and the computer you’ll be using to connect to it
  • Basic knowledge of command line usage

Setting up SSH on your Raspberry Pi

To enable remote access through SSH, you need to first ensure that the SSH server is running on your Raspberry Pi. Follow these steps:

  1. Open a terminal window on your Raspberry Pi and type sudo systemctl status ssh. This will check if the SSH service is already running. If it’s active and running, you can skip to step 3.
  2. If the SSH service is not running or enabled, type sudo systemctl enable ssh to start and enable the SSH service on boot. Then, run sudo systemctl start ssh to start the service immediately.
  3. To determine your Raspberry Pi’s IP address, open a terminal window and type hostname -I. This will display your device’s local IP address, which you’ll need later for connecting to it remotely. Write this down as you’ll be using it in step 5.
  4. Create an SSH key pair on the computer you’ll be using to connect to your Raspberry Pi. This will allow for secure, password-less authentication. Open a terminal window and type:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

Replace your_email@example.com with your actual email address. Press enter to accept the default file location and choose a strong passphrase when prompted. 5. Copy your SSH public key to the Raspberry Pi by typing:

ssh-copy-id pi@<RASPBERRY_PI_IP>

Replace <RASPBERRY_PI_IP> with the IP address you wrote down in step 3. You’ll be prompted for your Raspberry Pi’s password - enter it when asked. 6. Test the connection by typing ssh pi@<RASPBERRY_PI_IP> into the terminal. If everything is set up correctly, you should now be remotely connected to your Raspberry Pi without needing to enter a password. 7. To exit the SSH session, type exit and press enter.

Connecting to your Raspberry Pi from another device

To connect to your Raspberry Pi remotely, follow these steps:

  1. Open a terminal window on the computer you want to use to access your Raspberry Pi.
  2. Type ssh pi@<RASPBERRY_PI_IP> and press enter, replacing <RASPBERRY_PI_IP> with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address. If this is the first time connecting to the device, you may see a message asking if you want to continue connecting. Type ‘yes’ and press enter.
  3. You should now be remotely connected to your Raspberry Pi without needing to enter a password. You can run commands as if you were sitting in front of it. For example, try uname -a to display information about the operating system or ls to list files in the current directory.
  4. When you’re done using your Raspberry Pi, type exit and press enter to close the connection.

Conclusion:

Now you know how to remotely access and control your Raspberry Pi from anywhere in the world with SSH. This is a powerful tool that can help you automate tasks, monitor your device’s status, and even access it when you don’t have physical access to it. With this knowledge, you can expand your Raspberry Pi’s capabilities and make it an integral part of your remote workflow or home automation system.