Homelab initial setup

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I have gone with Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS for my Homelab’s operating system.

Most of the videos I’ve seen for Homelab-related guides and reviews tend to revolve around Proxmox and/or TrueNAS. I have no experience with either of those, but I do have experience with Docker, so I am opting to go with straight up docker — at least for now.

Setting up the Operating system

I’m using a Linux-based system and so instructions are based on this.

Step 1: Download the Ubuntu Server iso image

Head here to download your preferred version of Ubuntu Server. I chose the latest LTS version at the time of writing (22.04)

Step 2: Create a bootable USB stick with the iso image you downloaded.

Once downloaded, insert and a usb stick to install the Ubuntu Server iso on to.

Firstly, check where your USB stick is on your filesystem. For that, I use fdisk:

Bash
sudo fdisk -l

Assuming the USB stick is located at “/dev/sdb“, I use the dd command to create my bootable USB (please check and double check where your USB is mounted on your system):

Bash
sudo dd bs=4M if=/path/to/Ubuntu-Server-22-04.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress oflag=sync

Step 3: Insert and boot to the bootable USB stick into the Homelab computer

Boot the computer that you’re using for your server, using the USB stick as a temporary boot device.

Step 4: Install the operating system

Follow the steps that the set up guide gives you.

As an aside, I set my server ssd drive up with the “LVM” option. This has helped immensely this week, as I have added a second drive and doubled my capacity to 440GB.

Step 5: install and enable ssh remote access

I can’t remember if ssh came installed or enabled, but you can install openssh and then enable the sshd service.

You can then connect to the server from a device on your network with:

Bash
ssh username@192.168.0.77

This assumes your server’s IP address is 192.168.0.77. Chances are very high it’ll be a different number (although the 192.168.0 section may be correct.

Everything else done remotely

I have an external keyboard in case I ever need to plug in to my server. However, now I have ssh enabled, I tend to just connect from my laptop using the ssh command show just above.