Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server has taken data centers around the world by storm. Whether you're deploying Ubuntu for a large-scale project or for a small office, it is a stable, customizable, and powerful Linux distribution with innovative and cutting-edge features. For both simple and complex server deployments, Ubuntu's flexible nature can be easily adapted to meet to the needs of your organization. This third edition is updated to cover the advancements of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and further train you to understand how to use Ubuntu Server, from initial deployment to creating production-ready resources for your network. The book begins with the concepts of user management, group management, and file system permissions. Continuing into managing storage volumes, you will learn how to format storage devices, utilize logical volume management, and monitor disk usage. Later, you will learn how to virtualize hosts and applications, which will include setting up QEMU & KVM, as well as containerization with both Docker and LXD. As the book continues, you will learn how to automate configuration with Ansible, as well as take a look at writing scripts. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Server that are applicable to real-world scenarios. By the end of this Ubuntu Server book, you will be well-versed in Ubuntu server’s advanced concepts and attain the required proficiency needed for Ubuntu Server administration.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
24
Another Book You May Enjoy
25
Index

Installing security updates

Since I've mentioned updating packages several times, let's have a formal conversation about it. Updated packages are made available for Ubuntu quite often, sometimes even daily. These updates mainly include the latest security updates but may also include new features. Since Ubuntu 20.04 is an LTS release, security updates are much more common than feature updates. Installing the latest updates on your server is a very important practice, but, unfortunately, it's not something that all administrators keep up on for various reasons.

When installed, security updates very rarely make many changes to your server, other than helping to keep it secure against the latest threats. However, it's always possible that a security update that's intended to fix a security issue ends up breaking something else. This is rare, but I've seen it happen. When it comes to production servers, it's often difficult to keep them updated,...