Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ubuntu Server Quick Install, No Questions Asked!



priority=critical locale=en_US url=http://bit.ly/uinstall

As you might imagine, I install the Ubuntu Server a lot, so I'm frequently asked about preseeding Ubuntu Server installations.

There are some excellent resources out there.  I have learned much from several Debian sites, as well as from fellow members of the Ubuntu and Debian developer communities.

Most of my daily installations are throwaway KVM virtual machines on my development laptop.  I have answered the same questions in Ubuntu's installer thousands of times...  "Yes, I still speak English, my keyboard is US, please do remove all partitions and yes that partition layout is just fine!"

Of course these questions are preseedable in Ubuntu.  You just need to craft that magic preseed file, but that's necessarily trivial.  In this post, I am sharing just such a layout with you at http://bit.ly/uinstall.

Start with a released or daily development Ubuntu Server ISO, or just use TestDrive, as I always do.  Append the following options to your kernel command line (ESC, then F6 at the boot screen):

priority=critical locale=en_US url=http://bit.ly/uinstall
 And your installation should proceed from start to finish, with no questions asked!

The preseed I've provided at http://bit.ly/uinstall is generally useful, but you may well want to customize it yourself.  A few important notes about the choices I have made in that preseed configuration:
  1. Keyboards and language are US/English
  2. Networking is default DHCP
  3. Target disk is completely repartitioned/reformatted
    • fine for my VMs, might not be so fine for real hardware!
  4. Default username/password is ubuntu/ubuntu
    • again, fine for my VMs with no outside connectivity
  5. Additionally install a couple of essential tools, in case they aren't already there
    • linux-server kernel, openssh-server
  6. Launch Byobu by default at login
You are welcome to point your installations at http://bit.ly/uinstall, if you like.  I'll keep the above documentation up-to-date, and that URL active and functional, as I'm using it all the time!

 Enjoy
:-Dustin
at

17 comments:

  1. MakerMarch 30, 2011 at 10:53 AM

    This is awesome Dustin. TAMULUG has done this previously at our install fests, saves alot of time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. jmehdiMarch 30, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    it works only for server edition?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dustin KirklandMarch 30, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    Server and alternate, yes.

    :-Dustin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gonzalo AlvarezMarch 30, 2011 at 2:31 PM

    Great!! I had a debian preseed file for installing lenny, but I always wanted to make one for Ubuntu! This one is cool! Thanks again!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Andrea VeriMarch 30, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    Debian/Ubuntu's kickstart files :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Popa Adrian MariusMarch 31, 2011 at 7:56 AM

    Pretty cool , so i can create my own preseed
    bit.ly/flapslike
    and configure the server to be preinstalled with software like firebird
    apache , php
    and give the url to deveopers to start writing code it in their own virtual machine

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownMarch 31, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    re-inventing debian-installer documentation for dummies.

    p.s. really cool stuff, actually. for those who are so lazy like me. thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousMarch 31, 2011 at 10:22 PM

    Thanks, Dustin. This is fantastic. It's annoying to have to keep checking in on an install when you're just firing up a vm to check something. It just wasn't quite annoying enough for me to do anything about it. Now I don't have to. Sweet!

    Is there anything release-level specific in it?

    ReplyDelete
  9. JoeJuly 11, 2011 at 11:54 AM

    Thanks Dustin -

    The "priority=critical" kernel parameter was something I was missing, and this post clued me in to what that was! Almost impossible to find debugging information on why it's not proceeding if you're missing it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bill BatesOctober 28, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    This is great. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousNovember 23, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    Hi Dustin, thanks a lot for this, It has help me a lot when dealing with masive instalations. However for today it looks like the link is down.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousNovember 28, 2011 at 12:59 PM

    Thanks Dustin. This is great!

    You know what controls the installation packages for the first time ubuntu server?

    Carlos Llano

    ReplyDelete
  13. Kim ScheibelDecember 1, 2011 at 11:55 AM

    Thanks a lot. Unfortunately http://bit.ly/uquick is currently unavailable. Could you post the contents here?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Daniel ThomasDecember 7, 2011 at 6:01 AM

    The link is to http://bit.ly/uquick is as Kim says broken.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousDecember 10, 2011 at 7:34 AM

    I have a small derivative available, that only add power management components (Ie nut - Network UPS Tools):
    http://bit.ly/u3VhTj
    http://opensource.eaton.com/stable/cloud/uquick-power

    Hope it helps,
    Arnaud

    ReplyDelete
  16. CaifasJanuary 12, 2012 at 1:23 PM

    Hello, is there a way to make English default language when the cd boot? I tried everything but it always ask to choose which language I want

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousMarch 14, 2012 at 9:07 PM

    Dustin,

    It does ask questions. At the Write changes to disk part. It will stop and ask, and also at Finishing Partitioning.

    ReplyDelete

Please do not use blog comments for support requests! Blog comments do not scale well to this effect.

Instead, please use Launchpad for Bugs and StackExchange for Questions.
* bugs.launchpad.net
* stackexchange.com

Thanks,
:-Dustin