SSH and the Ubuntu Server

[Dustin Kirkland]

Stefan Potyra <stefan.potyra at informatik.uni-erlangen.de> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Am Thursday 18 November 2010 19:34:58 schrieb Robbie Williamson:
>> On Thu, 2010-11-18 at 16:22 +0000, Colin Watson wrote:
>> > On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 10:08:47AM -0600, Robbie Williamson wrote:
>> > > On Thu, 2010-11-18 at 16:04 +0000, Colin Watson wrote:
>> > > > On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 10:49:38AM -0500, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
>> > > > > I think this screen is a good idea if in fact tasksel is moved to
>> > > > > after the first boot.
>> > > >
>> > > > We used to have a two-stage installer and it was a nightmare to
>> > > > maintain for several reasons.  Since we moved to a single-stage
>> > > > installer several years back, we've burned all the necessary code
>> > > > with fire and enjoyed it.  Please don't make me go back to that.
>> > >
>> > > What if the Server team maintained the 2nd stage?  Then we'd be making
>> > > life easier for you, right? ;)
>> >
>> > Er. :-)
>> >
>> > (In seriousness, any good-quality second stage would require some level
>> > of cooperation from the first stage.  We tried that and it was awful.)
>>
>> So I see the 1st stage as just installing the minimal server, then we
>> boot to a login prompt...user logs in and can either do his/her business
>> as desired or launch the 2nd stage (which they are told about in a 1st
>> boot motd-type message).
>
> Would
>  command-to-start-second-stage-installer
> amount to a better usability compared to
>  apt-get install openssh-server
> with the original question in mind?

If you didn't get SSH installed the first time around, you're going to
have to mosey back down the datacenter to 'apt-get install
openssh-server' before you can do anything remotely with your server.

The aforementioned "command-to-start-second-stage-installer" could be
displayed in the MOTD, like our cloud images.  Something like "To
finish customizing this server, you can run 'sudo tasksel' now" or
whatever.

But that assumes you can *get* to your server.  I'm arguing that SSH
is generally needed to access your server and get to the point where
you can login and do useful things with it after installation (like a
running second stage installer).

:-Dustin