Installation

2. Installing using the live server installer

The basic steps to install Ubuntu Server Edition are the same as those for installing any operating system.
Unlike the Desktop Edition, the Server Edition does not include a graphical installation program. The Live
Server installer uses a text-based console interface which runs on the default virtual console. The interface can
be entirely driven by the enter, up and down arrow keys (with some occasional typing).

If you need to at any time during the installation you can switch to a different console (by pressing Ctrl-Alt-
F<n> or Ctrl-Alt-Right) to get access to a shell. Up until the point where the installation begins, you can use
the "back" buttons to go back to previous screens and choose different options.
• Download the appropriate ISO file from the Ubuntu web site4.
• Boot the system from media (e.g. USB key) containing the ISO file.
• At the boot prompt you will be asked to select a language.
• From the main boot menu there are some additional options to install Ubuntu Server Edition. You can
install a basic Ubuntu Server, check the installation media for defects, check the system's RAM, or boot
from first hard disk. The rest of this section will cover the basic Ubuntu Server install.
• After booting into the installer, it will ask you which language to use.
• Next, the installation process begins by asking for your keyboard layout. You can ask the installer to
attempt auto-detecting it, or you can select it manually from a list. Later stages of the installation will
require you to type ASCII characters, so if the layout you select does not allow that, you will be prompted
for a key combination to switch between a layout that does and the one you select. The default keystroke
for this is Alt + Shift.
• Next, the installer offers the choice to install the system as a vanilla Ubuntu server, a MAAS5 bare-metal
cloud rack controller or a MAAS6 region controller. If you select one of the MAAS options you will be
asked for some details.
• The installer configures the network to run DHCP on each network interface. If this is not sufficient to get
access to the internet you should configure at least one interface manually. Select an interface to configure
it.
• If the Ubuntu archive can only be accessed via a proxy in your environment, it can be entered on the next
screen. Leave the field blank if it is not required.
• You can then choose to let the installer use an entire disk or configure the partitioning manually. The first
disk you create a partition on will be selected as the boot disk and have an extra partition created on it to
contain the bootloader; you can move the boot partition to a different drive with the "Select as boot disk"
button.

Once you move on from this screen, the installation progress will begin. It will not be possible to move
back to this or previous screens and any data on the disks you have configured the installer to use will be
lost.

4 http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server/download
5 https://maas.io
6 https://maas.io