Activate BitNinja on a node

BitNinja is a security license for Linux nodes, except FortiGate nodes. Enabling the license is the first step; you then run BitNinja’s own activation steps inside the node. Plan for both parts before you start.

Enable BitNinja

BitNinja works on a node with a public IPv4 address, including a node in VPC mode. If the node has only a private IP, attach a public one first. See Attach a reserved IP to a node for that.

From the node’s Node Security tab, enable BitNinja for it. You can also set BitNinja on by default for every future node, worth doing if you enable it for most of your nodes anyway. That setting lives in the Advanced settings section of the create-a-node flow; see Create a node for where that section is.

Activate BitNinja inside the node

Enabling the license reserves BitNinja for the node and starts the billing. Protection starts once you activate it, over SSH, inside the node itself.

After you enable BitNinja, E2E emails you the activation message. It carries the activation and access details you need for the steps inside the node: the commands or links BitNinja provides for activating a new server, along with the details that connect your node to your BitNinja account.

To run them, log into the node over SSH and follow the activation steps in the email, exactly as written for your operating system. It is the same kind of setup as installing any security agent on a server you manage.

To confirm BitNinja is active once you are done, follow BitNinja’s own activation guide for your operating system; it shows how to check that the agent is running and connected. You can also see the BitNinja status for the node in the MyAccount node list.

Turn off BitNinja

Turning off BitNinja stops the license, but its software stays on the node; uninstall it yourself if you no longer want it.

If you turn BitNinja back on later, it is billed as a brand new license.

For help turning BitNinja on or off, see Troubleshooting node security and access.