Armbian STB Cloudflare Tunnel Guide

Armbian STB Cloudflare Tunnel Guide

Setting Up Armbian STB with Cloudflare Tunnel: Transform Your Old TV Box into a Home Server

Are you looking to repurpose your old Android TV box into a powerful home server?
This comprehensive guide will walk you through setting up Armbian on your STB (Set-Top Box) and configuring Cloudflare Tunnel to securely expose your services to the internet without opening firewall ports or dealing with dynamic DNS.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this guide, you’ll have:

Prerequisites

Before diving in, ensure you have:

Why Choose This Setup?

This configuration offers several advantages:

Step 1: Prepare Your Armbian Environment

Update Your System

# Connect via SSH
ssh your-username@your-stb-ip

# Update package lists and system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install essential tools
sudo apt install -y curl wget nano htop

Check System Architecture

# Check architecture
dpkg --print-architecture

# Common outputs:
# arm64 - for newer 64-bit ARM devices
# armhf - for older 32-bit ARM devices

Configure Network Settings

# Check current IP
ip addr show

# Note your current IP (e.g., 192.168.0.100)
# Set static IP via router DHCP reservation for consistency

Step 2: Install and Configure Cloudflare Tunnel

Download Cloudflared

For ARM64 devices:

curl -L --output cloudflared.deb https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-arm64.deb

For ARMHF devices:

curl -L --output cloudflared.deb https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-arm.deb

Install Cloudflared

sudo dpkg -i cloudflared.deb

# Verify installation
cloudflared --version

Authenticate with Cloudflare

cloudflared tunnel login

Follow the URL in the terminal:

Step 3: Create and Configure Your Tunnel

Create a Named Tunnel

cloudflared tunnel create home-server-tunnel

📌 Note: Save the Tunnel ID and credentials file path shown in the output.

Create Configuration Directory

sudo mkdir -p /etc/cloudflared

Configure Tunnel Routing

sudo nano /etc/cloudflared/config.yml
tunnel: <YOUR_TUNNEL_ID>
credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<YOUR_TUNNEL_ID>.json

ingress:
  - hostname: status.yourdomain.com
    service: http://localhost:8080
  - service: http_status:404

Step 4: Set Up DNS Routing

cloudflared tunnel route dns home-server-tunnel status.yourdomain.com

This creates a CNAME record in your Cloudflare DNS automatically.

Step 5: Install and Start the Tunnel Service

# Install systemd service
sudo cloudflared service install

# Enable on boot
sudo systemctl enable cloudflared

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start cloudflared

Verify Service

sudo systemctl status cloudflared
sudo journalctl -u cloudflared.service -f

Step 6: Test Your Setup

Create a Simple Test Service

# Install Python
sudo apt install -y python3

# Create test directory
mkdir ~/test-server
cd ~/test-server

# Create HTML file
cat << EOF > index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Armbian Home Server</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to Your Armbian Home Server!</h1>
    <p>Cloudflare Tunnel is working correctly.</p>
    <p>Server IP: $(hostname -I | awk '{print $1}')</p>
    <p>Timestamp: $(date)</p>
</body>
</html>
EOF

# Start HTTP server
python3 -m http.server 8080

Update Tunnel Config

sudo nano /etc/cloudflared/config.yml

Update the ingress section if needed, then restart:

sudo systemctl restart cloudflared

Test in Browser

Visit:
https://status.yourdomain.com

✅ You should see your test page live.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

🔴 Service Cannot Connect

# Check local service
curl http://localhost:8080

# Check UFW firewall
sudo ufw status
sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp

🔴 Cloudflared Service Issues

sudo journalctl -u cloudflared.service --no-pager -n 50

Fixes:

🔴 DNS Propagation Issues

nslookup status.yourdomain.com

Tips:

Security Considerations

SSH Hardening

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Recommended changes:

Port 2222
PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
sudo systemctl restart ssh

Firewall Setup

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp
sudo ufw status

Regular Maintenance

Create Update Script

cat << EOF > ~/update-system.sh
#!/bin/bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo systemctl restart cloudflared
EOF

chmod +x ~/update-system.sh

Automate Weekly via Cron

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "0 2 * * 0 /home/$(whoami)/update-system.sh") | crontab -

Next Steps

Now that your server is online:

Performance Optimization Tips

Resource Monitoring

sudo apt install -y htop iotop nethogs
htop       # CPU/memory
iotop      # Disk I/O
nethogs    # Network usage

Storage Management

df -h
sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo apt autoclean

Log Rotation

sudo nano /etc/logrotate.d/cloudflared
/var/log/cloudflared.log {
    daily
    rotate 7
    compress
    missingok
    notifempty
}

Conclusion

🎉 Congratulations! You’ve successfully transformed your old TV box into a powerful home server.

Regularly update and secure your setup, and you’re all set to expand your self-hosted ecosystem!

✦ aria

© 2026 Aria

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