How to install a Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) Minimal Server

This tutorial shows the installation of a Ubuntu 16.04 minimal server in detail with many screenshots. I will use the current release of the Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) series for this guide. The Ubuntu LTS versions are preferred by most administrators for server installations as you will get updates from Ubuntu for 5 years in the LTS branch.

If you like to get the latest software versions instead, then use this minimal server tutorial which installs the latest non-lts release, such releases get 9 months security updates only.

The purpose of the guide is to show the basic installation of Ubuntu Xenial Xerus that can be used as a basis for the other Ubuntu tutorials here at howtoforge like our perfect server guides.

1. Requirements

To install a Ubuntu LTS Server, you will need the following prerequisites:

• The Ubuntu 16.04 server CD, available here: http://releases.ubuntu.com/xenial/ubuntu-16.04.3-server-i386.iso (32Bit) or http://releases.ubuntu.com/xenial/ubuntu-16.04.3-server-amd64.iso (64Bit).
• A fast internet connection is recommended as the package updates get downloaded from Ubuntu servers during installation.

2. Preliminary Note

In this tutorial, I use the hostname server1.example.com with the IP address 192.168.1.100 and the gateway 192.168.1.1 These settings might differ for you, so you have to replace them where appropriate.

3. The Base System

Insert your Ubuntu install CD into your system and boot from it. When you install the OS in a virtual machine like I do it here, then you should be able to select the downloaded ISO file as source for the CD/DVD drive in VMWare and Virtualbox without burning it on CD first.

The first screen will show the language selector. Plese select your language:

Then choose the option Install Ubuntu Server:

Select the language for the installed Operating System:

Then choose your location. The location settings are important for the keyboard layout, locale and timezone of your server:

Choose a keyboard layout: You have the option to let the Ubuntu installer detect the keyboard layout automatically by choosing "yes" here. I prefer to select the right keyboard from a list and therefore, I choose No & keyboard layout as German:

The installer checks the installation CD, your hardware, and configures the network with DHCP if there is a DHCP server in the network:

Enter the hostname of the system. In this example, my server is named server1.example.com, so I enter server1.example.com:

Ubuntu does not let you log in as root user directly. Therefore, we create a new system user here for the initial login. I will create a user with the name Administrator and user name administrator (don't use the user name admin as it is a reserved name on Ubuntu Linux):

Choose a password

I don't need an encrypted private directory, so I choose No here: