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

Summary

In this chapter, we looked at the ways in which we can harden the security of our server. A single chapter or book can never give you an all-inclusive list of all the security settings you could possibly configure, but the examples we worked through in this chapter are a great starting point. Along the way, we looked at the concepts of lowering your attack surface, as well as the principle of least privilege. We also looked into securing OpenSSH, which is a common service that many attackers will attempt to use in their favor.

We also looked into Fail2ban, which is a handy daemon that can block other nodes when there are a certain number of authentication failures. We also discussed configuring our firewall, using the UFW utility. Since data theft is also unfortunately common, we covered encrypting our backup disks.

In the next chapter, we'll take a look at troubleshooting our server when things go wrong.