New Virtual Machine Server Setup Checklist

I use a lot of checklists -- here is one of mine for setting up a new Linux virtual machine server. The commands are written for Ubuntu/Debian-based systems.

System Updates

Update Package Lists and Upgrade System

First, let's update the package lists and upgrade existing packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

apt update: Updates the package list/index files from repositories
apt upgrade: Actually upgrades the installed packages to their latest versions

Docker Installation

Follow these steps to install Docker properly on Ubuntu:

1. Remove Conflicting Packages

for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove $pkg; done

2. Set up Docker Repository

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update

3. Install Docker Engine

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

4. Configure Docker to Start on Boot

sudo systemctl enable docker.service
sudo systemctl enable containerd.service

Change Hostname

To permanently change your server's hostname:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname <<your-new-hostname>>

And update /etc/hosts to reflect the new hostname:

sudo nano /etc/hosts
# Add/update the line:
127.0.0.1 <<your-new-hostname>>

User Management

Create New User with Sudo Privileges

# Create new user
sudo adduser <<new-username>>

# Add to sudo group
sudo usermod -aG sudo <<new-username>>

# Add to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker <<new-username>>

Essential CLI Tools Installation

Install Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install Micro Editor

sudo apt install micro

Install Lazydocker and Lazygit

brew install jesseduffield/lazydocker/lazydocker
brew install lazygit

SSH Server Configuration

1. Generate SSH Key Pair (on your local machine)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

2. Configure SSH Server

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Add/modify these important settings:

PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no
PubkeyAuthentication yes
MaxAuthTries 10

3. Add SSH Keys

For the new user:

# Create .ssh directory
sudo mkdir -p /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh
sudo chown <<new-username>>:<<new-username>> /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh
sudo chmod 700 /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh

# Copy root's authorized_keys to new user (if exists)
if [ -f /root/.ssh/authorized_keys ]; then
    sudo cp /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh/
    sudo chown <<new-username>>:<<new-username>> /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh/authorized_keys
    sudo chmod 600 /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh/authorized_keys
fi

# Or manually add your public key if needed
# echo "your-public-key" | sudo tee /home/<<new-username>>/.ssh/authorized_keys

4. Restart SSH Service

sudo systemctl restart ssh

Security Recommendations

Always keep your system updated
Don't allow SSH logins via password
Consider using UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) to manage incoming connections

Remember to test SSH access with your new user before closing your current session to ensure you haven't locked yourself out of the server.