How to install and set up an Ubuntu server

Creating a boot medium is the simplest way to start the Ubuntu server in­stall­a­tion. You’ll need a CD/DVD or USB stick with at least 4 gigabytes of available storage for this. You’ll also need the image file from the Ubuntu server ap­plic­a­tion which you can download from the official Ubuntu website.

You can set up or install your Ubuntu server once you have created a boot medium. All you have to do is connect your server to the boot stick and boot the device. If you are using a CD or DVD, insert the disk and reboot the server. Once the image file has been read, the server will show a display window of the boot­load­er GNU GRUB. Confirm by clicking `Try or Install Ubuntu Server´ to start in­stalling the Ubuntu server.

The Ubuntu server in­stall­a­tion wizard software will start after a short pre-con­fig­ur­a­tion. This actually has a graphical interface, unlike the operating system itself. The operation is very simple. Use the arrow keys to scroll between the various options and confirm your selection with Enter. You’ll select the system language in the first step of the in­stall­a­tion, which will sub­sequently be used as the in­stall­a­tion language.

Once the system language has been selected, you can continue with the con­fig­ur­a­tion of the keyboard layout. You can find the keyboard language manually in the available list or use the option `Identify keyboard´ to let the wizard determine the layout.

You can select the type of in­stall­a­tion in the next step. Selecting the default in­stall­a­tion `Ubuntu Server´ will give you a basic set of software packages, which will allow you to work com­fort­ably and at regular intervals. The `Ubuntu Server (minimized)´ option will exclude a number of tools during the in­stall­a­tion. However, you should only choose this resource-saving option if you plan to use the server in­fre­quently.

Place an `x´ beside the in­stall­a­tion type of your choice by clicking Enter to select one of the two options.

We will explain the settings for network con­nec­tion and proxy server.

If your Ubuntu server is already connected to a network with an active DHCP service, the ap­pro­pri­ate network adapter should already be pre­con­figured. You can continue the in­stall­a­tion by clicking “Continue without network” if you cannot or do not want to establish a con­nec­tion at this point.

If you want your Ubuntu server to use a proxy server to connect to the internet, you should enter the in­di­vidu­al address of the HTTP proxy in the following space.

Every software package which belongs to the Ubuntu dis­tri­bu­tion is updated regularly and stored in the public archive `archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu´. There are copies of the archive so you don’t have to use this one ex­clus­ively if you don’t want to. Ubuntu Archive Mirrors or Ubuntu Mirror Servers are used for security and load balancing. Simply enter the mirror details you want to use instead of the default archive.

You can decide in the next section, `Storage con­fig­ur­a­tion´, whether you want one large hard disk or several par­ti­tions. The preselec­ted option of a whole hard disk is usually the best choice for an Ubuntu server.

The wizard will give a summary of the file system in the following window. Do not worry if you see several par­ti­tions here even if you have decided against par­ti­tion­ing. This is because Ubuntu auto­mat­ic­ally reserves small par­ti­tions of the hard disk for important system files and the boot loader.

Enter your name, username and password to create the user account for your Ubuntu server. You can also specify your server’s name which will be displayed when com­mu­nic­at­ing with other computers.

SSH is an important tool required for secure remote access to your server. You can install the OpenSSH program package during the Ubuntu server in­stall­a­tion by placing an `x´ in the box. You can also import valid SSH keys from GitHub or Launchpad if you already have them.

The wizard will auto­mat­ic­ally start the in­stall­a­tion after the SSH setup. You will see the message `Install complete´ if this is suc­cess­ful.