How to disable root ssh completely -

Disabling root access via SSH is a common security measure to prevent unauthorized access to your server. Instead of logging in as root, users should log in as a regular user and elevate their privileges using sudo.

Prerequisites #

Before disabling root SSH access, ensure the following:

You must have SSH access to the server, either as the root user or a sudo user.
Ensure that you have a non-root user with sudo privileges set up on the server. Use these steps to create one

Step 1: Log in to Your Server. Check these steps on how to do that. #

Step 2: Create or Verify a Sudo User #

If you do not already have a sudo user, create one before disabling root SSH access.
If you have a user already, very that the user can run sudo commands by running the command below.
If the command returns root, the new user has sudo privileges. You may then proceed, otherwise refer to this article.

sudo whoami

Step 3: Backup the SSH Configuration File #

Before making any changes, create a backup of the SSH configuration file:
This allows you to restore the configuration if necessary. Use the command below.

cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.bak

Step 4: Edit the SSH Configuration File #

Open the SSH configuration file using a text editor, such as vim or nano:

vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config or nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Locate the line that allows root login:

PermitRootLogin yes

Change it to:

PermitRootLogin no

This disables SSH access for the root user.

Step 5: Reload SSH Service #

After editing the SSH configuration file, reload the SSH service to apply the changes:

systemctl reload sshd OR systemctl reload sshd.service