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I feel an urge to note that ubuntu server is a decent operating system. We use it everywhere in my current place of employment and are very satisfied with it.

I feel an urge to note that ubuntu server is a decent operating system. We use it everywhere in my current place of employment and are very satisfied with it. (maybe it's because we deploy servers using pxe — it makes good ubuntu installs, with no ads in motd & no snapd)

bayindirh 6y ago
Ubuntu server is decent but, Debian is better IMHO. I'm using stable for servers and testing for desktops for 15+ years (eh, wow. time flies). Deploying servers with PXE is fun though. We use PXE and XCAT to manage our fleet. Commissioning ~200 servers in 15 minutes with three commands while sipping coffee is really satisfying.
gravitas 6y ago
I work in this space (being purposefully vague), you are getting a customized image of some sort - PXE really isn't related in this way, that's just a method to get the image onto the destination disk. The official Canonical Ubuntu Cloud Images produced for use this way have the MOTD behaviour and snapd in place based on my exposure to them. https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/ https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/
- tryauuum 6y ago
  we are using this thing — http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/ http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/ins... , it is loaded with PXE. It doesn't put a "customized image of some sort" on servers, it literally iterates through installer steps with the autoanswers provided by preseed file. You might say that it is customized since we wrote a preseed file. Well maybe, but it's not a "customized image". Also we didn't write any specific code to remove unwanted packages. It just doesn't install them. No weird packages like byobu :)
  - gravitas 6y ago
    nod I'll go out on a limb and say "I think you may be somewhat in a minority in 2020" as many in my travels have moved over to an image based deployment methodology - it's not absolute and of course I've not been in every company, just the landscape in general. I wasn't aware Canonical had an "online PXE" flavour that you linked, TIL. I say all this above, but I'm sure there are still shops out there burning ISOs to CDs (maybe USB now!) and hand installing everything - if I've learned anything, it's that nobody seems to agree on how to do stuff the same way. :) Each company is it's own beautiful unique snowflake full of their own design and deployment patterns.
  - emptysongglass 6y ago
    You may be in for a shock using Ubuntu Server 20.04 and later as it has switched to using cloud-init. Preseed files no longer work.
    - gravitas 6y ago
      You should be able to use the "Legacy" (their new words) ISO installer. I'd be interested in your results if you get a chance to followup here. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-legacy-server/releases/20.04/release/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-legacy-server/releases/20.0...
    - elderbarry 6y ago
      The new format does seem much nicer to my eyes but I suppose tastes vary. A pain to have to change but it looks like good work and a new release is usually required some pressed Hackett anyway.
    - tryauuum 6y ago
      They do work. Old installer is marked as legacy but still works.

bayindirh 6y ago

Ubuntu server is decent but, Debian is better IMHO. I'm using stable for servers and testing for desktops for 15+ years (eh, wow. time flies). Deploying servers with PXE is fun though. We use PXE and XCAT to manage our fleet. Commissioning ~200 servers in 15 minutes with three commands while sipping coffee is really satisfying.

gravitas 6y ago

I work in this space (being purposefully vague), you are getting a customized image of some sort - PXE really isn't related in this way, that's just a method to get the image onto the destination disk. The official Canonical Ubuntu Cloud Images produced for use this way have the MOTD behaviour and snapd in place based on my exposure to them. https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/ https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/

tryauuum 6y ago
we are using this thing — http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/ http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/ins... , it is loaded with PXE. It doesn't put a "customized image of some sort" on servers, it literally iterates through installer steps with the autoanswers provided by preseed file. You might say that it is customized since we wrote a preseed file. Well maybe, but it's not a "customized image". Also we didn't write any specific code to remove unwanted packages. It just doesn't install them. No weird packages like byobu :)
- gravitas 6y ago
  nod I'll go out on a limb and say "I think you may be somewhat in a minority in 2020" as many in my travels have moved over to an image based deployment methodology - it's not absolute and of course I've not been in every company, just the landscape in general. I wasn't aware Canonical had an "online PXE" flavour that you linked, TIL. I say all this above, but I'm sure there are still shops out there burning ISOs to CDs (maybe USB now!) and hand installing everything - if I've learned anything, it's that nobody seems to agree on how to do stuff the same way. :) Each company is it's own beautiful unique snowflake full of their own design and deployment patterns.
- emptysongglass 6y ago
  You may be in for a shock using Ubuntu Server 20.04 and later as it has switched to using cloud-init. Preseed files no longer work.
  - gravitas 6y ago
    You should be able to use the "Legacy" (their new words) ISO installer. I'd be interested in your results if you get a chance to followup here. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-legacy-server/releases/20.04/release/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-legacy-server/releases/20.0...
  - elderbarry 6y ago
    The new format does seem much nicer to my eyes but I suppose tastes vary. A pain to have to change but it looks like good work and a new release is usually required some pressed Hackett anyway.
  - tryauuum 6y ago
    They do work. Old installer is marked as legacy but still works.