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BitNinja Part 1: Installation & Setup

BitNinja Server Security — One-Click Installation

BitNinja is a premium Linux server security platform that provides AI-powered malware scanning, WAF, IP reputation, and more. BlitzPress offers one-click deployment — no SSH required.

Important: BitNinja is a paid third-party service ($6-52/server/month). You need your own license key from bitninja.com. A free tier is available for small VPS (≤2 vCPU, ≤2GB RAM, ≤10 hosted users).

BitNinja Feature Set

Module What It Does
Anti-Malware Suite AI-powered file scanning with quick scan and deep scan modes
Web Application Firewall Blocks XSS, SQL injection, and other web attacks
IP Reputation 100M+ IP blocklist shared across all BitNinja servers globally
AI File Patching Automatically patches vulnerable files
Outbound Spam Detection Detects and blocks compromised accounts sending spam
Site Protection Per-website security dashboard and monitoring
DoS Detection Detects and mitigates denial-of-service attacks
Honeypots Decoy ports that detect scanning and probing
Log Analysis (SenseLog) Parses web server logs for attack patterns
Defense Network When an IP is blocked on one server, it’s blocked across ALL BitNinja servers

Prerequisites

  • A BitNinja account and license key from bitninja.com
  • Server with at least 2GB RAM (BitNinja increases memory usage)
  • Debian 11/12/13 or Ubuntu 22.04/24.04
RAM Warning: BitNinja can significantly increase your server’s memory usage (200-500MB). Ensure your server is not already running near capacity before installing.

Getting Your License Key

  1. Sign up at bitninja.com
  2. Choose a plan (free tier available for small VPS)
  3. After login, your license key is displayed on the dashboard
  4. For additional servers, go to Servers → Add New Server

One-Click Installation via BlitzPress

From the BlitzPress panel:

  1. Go to your server → Security tab
  2. Find the BitNinja section
  3. Paste your license key
  4. Click “Install BitNinja”

BlitzPress automatically handles everything:

  1. Installs the BitNinja agent — downloads and provisions with your license key
  2. Configures SenseLog for OpenLiteSpeed — sets OLS access and error log paths so BitNinja can analyze your web traffic
  3. Enables automatic updates — adds BitNinja to unattended-upgrades so the agent stays current
  4. Syncs configs and restarts — ensures all modules are active
  5. Disables maldet if present — prevents conflicts (BitNinja replaces maldet functionality)

Installation takes 2-3 minutes. A malware scan starts automatically.

Manual Installation (Advanced)

If you prefer to install via SSH:

# SSH into your server
ssh root@your-server-ip

# Install BitNinja
curl -fsSL https://get.bitninja.io/install.sh | /bin/bash -s - --license_key=YOUR_KEY_HERE

# Configure OLS log paths for SenseLog
nano /etc/bitninja/SenseLog/config.ini

Add these log paths (OLS uses Apache sections in BitNinja):

[ApacheAccess]
log_paths[]='/home/*/logs/*access.log'

[ApacheError]
log_paths[]='/home/*/logs/*error.log'

Then sync and reload:

bitninjacli --syncconfigs
bitninjacli --module=SenseLog --reload
service bitninja restart

Enable Automatic Updates

BlitzPress enables this automatically during one-click install. For manual installs:

nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

Add inside the Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins block:

"bitninja:${distro_codename}";

Then restart:

systemctl restart unattended-upgrades

After Installation

  • Dashboard: Manage all BitNinja features at admin.bitninja.io
  • Malware scan results are stored in /var/lib/bitninja
  • Config files are in /etc/bitninja/
  • Logs are in /var/log/bitninja/

BitNinja File Locations

Path Purpose
/opt/bitninja/ Main installation directory
/etc/bitninja/ Configuration files
/var/log/bitninja/ Log files
/var/lib/bitninja/ Scan results and data
/usr/sbin/bitninjacli CLI management tool
/opt/bitninja-ssl-termination/ SSL termination certs