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

Backing up and restoring Debian packages

As you maintain your server, your list of installed packages will grow. If, for some reason, you needed to rebuild your server, you would need to reproduce exactly what you had installed before, which can be a pain. It's always recommended that you document all changes made to your server via a change control process, but, at the very least, keeping track of which packages are installed is an absolute must. In some cases, a server may only include one or two extra packages in order to meet its goal, but, in other cases, you may need an exact combination of software and libraries in order to get things working like they were. Thankfully, the dpkg command allows us to export and import a list of packages to install.

To export a list of installed packages, we can use the following command:

dpkg --get-selections > packages.list

This command will dump a list of package selections to a standard text file. If you open it, you...