Turn a Raspberry Pi Zero W into a Tiny Web Server with SSH and Ngrok

Understanding the Raspberry Pi Zero W

The Raspberry Pi (RPi) is a credit‑card‑sized Linux‑based computer; the Zero W is a mini version about one‑third the size of a 3B+, featuring a 1 GHz BCM2835 CPU, 512 MB RAM, Wi‑Fi/BT, micro‑USB ports, mini‑HDMI, GPIO, and a 65 mm × 30 mm form factor.

Required Materials

16 GB or 32 GB SanDisk micro‑SD card

Standard USB‑type A cable (not Type‑C)

SD card formatter (e.g., SDFormatter)

Win32DiskImager for flashing images

Raspbian Stretch Lite image (official, console‑only)

Step 1 – Download the OS Image

Obtain the official Raspbian Stretch Lite zip (≈360 MB), extract it to reveal a ~1.7 GB *.img file.

Step 2 – Flash the Image to the SD Card

Insert the micro‑SD card via a reader, open Win32DiskImager, select the *.img file, choose the correct device, and click “Write”.

Step 3 – Prepare the Boot Partition

Create an empty file named ssh (no extension, no content) to enable SSH on first boot.

Create wpa_supplicant.conf with the following content (replace with your Wi‑Fi SSID and password):

country=CN
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
    ssid="YOUR_WIFI_NAME"
    psk="YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD"
}

Step 4 – Boot and Connect via SSH

Insert the prepared card into the Zero W, power it with a 5 V 1 A USB cable, wait for the LED to become steady, then locate its IP address on your router (e.g., 192.168.0.104). Connect with an SSH client (e.g., PuTTY) using username pi and password raspberry.

Step 5 – System Optimisation

Replace default apt sources with a faster domestic mirror (e.g., USTC).

Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade.

Set timezone to Asia/Shanghai with sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata.

Enable SSH on boot via sudo raspi-config (Interfacing Options → SSH) or by adding /etc/init.d/ssh start before exit 0 in /etc/rc.local.

Step 6 – Install Nginx

# Install
sudo apt-get install nginx
# Start
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start
# Restart
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
# Stop
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx stop

Browse to http://<em>your_pi_ip</em> to verify the Nginx welcome page.

Step 7 – Expose the Server to the Internet

Use a tunnelling service such as ngrok (e.g., the ittun arm build) to forward the local web port. Run ngrok in a screen session so it stays alive after logout.

Additional Resources

For more Raspberry Pi models and tutorials, visit the official Raspberry Pi Lab website.