how to properly mask ssh server background service

Question

I want to mask ssh so the ssh server is disabled till I need it myself. but still want to have ssh client capabilities.

I use openssh and the service is ssh.service and its alias sshd.service

I use ubuntu 22.04

is the correct steps:

systemctl stop sshd
systemctl disable sshd
systemctl mask sshd
systemctl mask ssh

Answer 1

Yes, and remember to use sudo:

sudo systemctl stop sshd
sudo systemctl disable sshd
sudo systemctl mask sshd

You don't need the 4th line, since ssh and sshd are aliases.