Notes from Setting Up Ubuntu Server on Linode

Ubuntu Linux

On Saturday I moved Tombuntu to a new virtual private server at Linode (the computer in my basement just wasn’t enough anymore). I chose Linode (referral link) because they sell unmanaged Linux VPS systems, so I can continue to run whatever software I like.
I used Linode’s control panel to install Ubuntu 8.04 64 bit. Their Ubuntu images are not exactly the same as an installation from a CD, so I learned a few things while setting up.
Install a more comfortable environment
The Linode Ubuntu system is extremely minimal, things like man pages and tab-completion are not installed to save space. Install the ubuntu-standard metapackage to get a more comfortable command line environment:

apt-get install ubuntu-standard

Setting up users
A Linode Ubuntu system comes configured for only the root user. I prefer the Ubuntu way of using sudo instead of logging in as root.
Create a new user:

adduser myuser

This new user doesn’t have permission to use sudo yet. Open the sudo configuration file (let’s use the simpler nano editor instead of vi):

EDITOR=/usr/bin/nano visudo

Add this line to allow users in the admin group to use sudo:

%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

Save and close the editor. The admin group may not exists yet, so create it:

groupadd admin

And add the new user to the group:

usermod -g admin myuser

Fix locale warnings
While installing updates and starting some programs, I noticed warnings similar to this one:

perl: warning: Setting locale failed.<br />perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:<br />LANGUAGE = (unset),<br />LC_ALL = (unset),<br />LANG = "en_CA.UTF-8"<br />are supported and installed on your system.<br />perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").<br />locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory<br />locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory<br />locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

Installing the language-pack-en package fixed these warnings:

apt-get install language-pack-en

Install the LAMP stack
I’m used to installing server systems using Ubuntu’s Install LAMP server option from the CD. The LAMP stack can also be installed using this command:

apt-get install lamp-server^

Disable root logins on SSH
For security reasons, it’s not a good idea to allow the root user to log in over SSH. Usually this is not a problem in Ubuntu, but the Linode system has the root user enabled. I disabled SSH root logins to be safe. Open the SSH daemon configuration file:

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find the PermitRootLogin option and change it to no. Then restart SSH:

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

Reconfiguring the timezone
The Linode system was not set to my timezone. Running the following command will allow you to chose a new location to set the timezone too:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Enable mod_rewrite
This isn’t really Linode related, but I couldn’t remember how I had enabled mod_rewite on the old server. Here’s the command to do it:

a2enmod rewrite

Restoring the database
I make database backups using the mysqldump tool:

mysqldump -u root -p databasename > backupname.sql

To move Tombuntu, I created a backup and moved it to the new server to restore it. To restore a database backed up with mysqldump, first create the database. Do this by logging into mysql:

mysql -u root -p

Create the database to restore:

create database databasename;

Quit MySQL, and then restore from the backup:

mysql -u root -p databasename < backupname.sql

So far I’ve been very pleased with Linode. Anyone else using them already?

[via tombuntu.com]

—
20 July 2009, 22:06
Sean

The comment has been deleted

Thanks for sharing this tutorial.I am new to Ubuntu and really struggling to figure out how the commands work.I have earlier worked on CENTOS but Ubuntu seems to have many more features and hence i am finding a little bit tough.But I am sure i will pick this up quickly.Thanks for sharing this Linode code.lookign forward more such kind of tutorials.

jameandrew

08 September 2010, 04:37
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Setting up a server with Linode definitely isn't for the novice or amateur developer. Please seek professional assistance, I learned the hard way. Not exactly an easy fix for my blog and network.

brianfrances100

28 September 2011, 07:40
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The comment has been deleted

I'm using linode for a local project. The web interface is surprisingly nice as far as that sort of thing goes. Have you set up remote console with a key for your machine? Thanks for the locale suggestion. I had wondered about that. I've got just one question: which bandwidth option did you use for linode.com? 720? 1440? I’m really curious about this, read a couple of forum posts on the topic found by shared files site, but still I have no clue as what sort of load this site gets.

hareton

30 November 2010, 11:42
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Nice step by step, I was considering doing a similar changeover and now I have more confidence. Linode has served me well, so now I know I can use my Ubuntu box alongside my linux machines.

Regards,
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JohnBroadbent

16 December 2010, 02:22
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The Linode Ubuntu system is extremely minimal, things like man pages and tab-completion are not installed to save space.

Johnson

22 December 2010, 11:37
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Although I didn't get what is this for, I'm sure this post helps a lot especially to those who are new to the Ubuntu community. With that, thank you.lisa alloju

sam_wilkent

23 December 2010, 00:26
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The comment has been deleted

How would I create my own private server and make myself the only administrator? I want other people to be able to use it but unable to make changes. Thanks!

ElizabethThomas

17 January 2011, 16:11
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queen1

08 February 2011, 08:48
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The comment has been deleted

Setting up a server with Linode definitely isn't for the novice or amateur developer. Please seek professional assistance, I learned the hard way. Not exactly an easy fix for my local tv satellite servers and network.

tcook23

25 January 2011, 16:15
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You've got this right. i'm a a novice to linux and need to do a lot more research before I'm confident enough to follow the steps in your blog and create my medical bankruptcy blog. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction though.

rgdavis

13 April 2011, 20:37
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The comment has been deleted

I'm using Linode 540 plan in the Fremont data center (the closest to me.) My biggest concern is the memory usage during peak traffic, other than Wordpress + WPCache has fairly low requirements mensagens para orkut

sidkof

04 February 2011, 11:28
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The comment has been deleted

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26 February 2011, 05:36
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Nice step by step, I was considering Gadgets
doing a similar changeover and now I have more confidence. Linode has served me well, so now I know I can use my Ubuntu box alongside my linux machines.

joshuaeai

07 March 2011, 09:26
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The Linode Ubuntu system comes configured for only the root user. I was just thinking for doing a similar changeover and at present I found it very useful. It has served me well, as a result now I can easily use Ubuntu box next to my linux machines.
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TomSmith

07 March 2011, 10:12
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Nice step by step, I was considering Articles
doing a similar changeover and now I have more confidence. Linode has served me well, so now I know I can use my Ubuntu box alongside my linux machines.

actoniesf

08 March 2011, 09:06
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The Linode Ubuntu system comes configured for only the root user. I was just thinking for doing a similar News360
changeover and at present I found it very useful. It has served me well, as a result now I can easily use Ubuntu box next to my linux machines.

barbaraioa

09 March 2011, 08:45
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Thank you a lot! This saved me a lot of googling and tweaking. I’m using ipeer.se as a VPS supplier, and it more or less exactly matched your “problems”.

Thanks again. :)

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superwork

11 March 2011, 10:47
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thanks for locale been annoying on this message, and for the time zone on linode server needed that one !
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18 March 2011, 11:03
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26 March 2011, 19:49
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JohnsonSmith

02 April 2011, 04:20
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The comment has been deleted

It should be noted that other Linux builds (CentOS, Debian, etc..) Linode installation can be done by this method too.

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16 May 2011, 03:23
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23 June 2011, 06:50
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I am not really happy with Ubuntu's interface, it's not as attractive as Windows'

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23 June 2011, 10:52
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verysoftware

05 September 2011, 15:44
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The comment has been deleted

Setting up a server with Linode definitely isn't for the novice or amateur developer. Please seek professional assistance, I learned the hard way. Not exactly an easy fix for my blog and network.

susthompson80

31 October 2011, 05:49
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Linux users are rare these days. So it's quite surprising I've read this article.

Dave2011

05 December 2011, 07:58
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The comment has been deleted

I wonder why Linux have fewer users?

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27 December 2011, 11:13
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Notes from Setting Up Ubuntu Server on Linode

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