The Perfect Basic Ubuntu Debian Server setup

Install the base system using the minimal option.

1. Get root Privileges

Enable the root login by running the following and giving root a password. You can then directly log in as root:

sudo passwd root

2. Install vim-nox or nano or joe (Optional)

I'll use vi as my text editor in this tutorial. The default vi program has some strange behaviour on Ubuntu and Debian; to fix this, we install vim-nox:

aptitude install vim-nox nano

(You don't have to do this if you use a different text editor such as joe or nano.)

3. Configure The Network

Because the Ubuntu installer has configured our system to get its network settings via DHCP, we have to change that now because a server should have a static IP address. Edit /etc/network/interfaces and adjust it to your needs (in this example setup I will use the IP address 192.168.0.100):

vi /etc/network/interfaces

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
      address 192.168.0.100
      netmask 255.255.255.0
      network 192.168.0.0
      broadcast 192.168.0.255
      gateway 192.168.0.1

Then restart your network:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

Then edit /etc/hosts. Make it look like this:

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost
192.168.0.100   server1.example.com     server1

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

Now run:

echo server1.example.com > /etc/hostname
/etc/init.d/hostname.sh start

Afterwards, run:

hostname
hostname -f

Both should show server1.example.com now.

4. Update your Linux Installation

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list. Comment out or remove the installation CD from the file and make sure that the universe and multiverse repositories are enabled. It should look like this:

#
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 9.04 _Jaunty Jackalope_ - Release amd64 (20090421.1)]/ jaunty main restricted

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 9.04 _Jaunty Jackalope_ - Release amd64 (20090421.1)]/ jaunty main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates universe
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates multiverse
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu jaunty partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu jaunty partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jaunty-security multiverse

5.Then run the following to update the apt package database:

aptitude update

Run the following to install the latest updates:

aptitude safe-upgrade

If you see that a new kernel gets installed as part of the updates, you should reboot the system afterwards:

by Morphus.dk