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Ubuntu Desktop - VM

Download and Install VirtualBox

Use the latest VirtualBox version (Screenshots may not be updated)

VirtualBox is a virtualization open source software that runs on Linux, Windows and Mac OS.

  • Download latest VirtualBox and VirtualBox Extension Pack here based on your platform (Windows in this tutorial).

  • Install VirtualBox with default settings.

  • Install VirtualBox Extension Pack.

Download Linux Image

For this tutorial Ubuntu Desktop Linux will be used.

If you want to use another distro check the Popular Linux Distributions list.

  • Download the latest Ubuntu Desktop LTS .iso file here.

Create Virtual Machine

  • Run VirtualBox.

  • Click on the New button to create a new virtual machine (VM)

  • Click on Expert Mode

  • Set the VM Name, the machine folder to store the VM, type (Linux) and version (Ubuntu 64bit).

  • Set the Memory size (RAM) at 4096 MB (4GB) or use the default settings 1024 MB

  • Select Create a virtual hard disk now

  • Proceed with the Create button

  • Set the File size (disk size) at 20 GB

  • Set the Hard disk file type as VDI - Dynamically allocated

  • Proceed with the Create button to initialize the machine.

  • Select the new VM in the manager windows and click on the Settings button.

  • Navigate to the Sistem tab and:

    • remove Floppy from boot order

    • set Chipset to PIIX3 (default)

    • Enable PAE/NX in the Processor menu

    • check Acceleration menu to have Default Paravirtualization and Enable Nested Paging checked

  • Navigate to the Display tab and increase the Video Memory to 128 MB

  • Graphics Controller must be VMSVGA to be able to use VirtualBox Guest Additions

Install Linux Image

  • Select the new VM and click on the Start button to start it

  • Click on the file icon to open the Optical disk selector

  • Use the Add button to select the .iso file previously downloaded, select it from the list and Choose it

  • Click on the Start button to start he machine with the mounted ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso (in this case)

  • Wait for the Ubuntu boot and installation menu

  • Select your language and click Install Ubuntu

  • Select your Keyboard layout and continue

  • Choose Normal installation and check both Other options boxes (you must be connected to the Internet)

  • Choose Erase disk and install Ubuntu and continue the installation without enabling encryption

    • I suggest using LVM for better dynamic disk management

  • Select your Location and time zone from the map screen

  • Create your login details as hostname, username and password

  • Proceed with the Continue button that will start Ubuntu installation

  • Restart your VM once the installation has completed.

Install VirtualBox Guest Additions

Guest Additions software unlocks some advanced features of VirtualBox to better integrate the VM and the host machine, as well as improved video support using VMSVGA graphics controller.

  • Complete the VM first boot and login to Ubuntu desktop

  • On the VirtualBox menu select Devices - Insert Guest Additions CD image...

  • Run the VBox_GAs disk inside the virtual machine desktop

  • Run the installation when prompted

    • If the prompt do not auto-start, open the disk, right-click on the autorun.sh file and Run as a Program

    • Enter your password to install it

  • Restart the VM

  • Right-click on the disk and Eject it

  • Activate the shared clipboard from the Devices - Shared Clipboard - Bidirectional menu

Update Linux

Keep the Ubuntu O.S. updated using one of the next methods.

  • Update it via the Software Updater app

  • Open a Terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and update the system with the next command.

    • This can be used when connected via SSH too.

sudo apt -y update && sudo apt -y dist-upgrade && sudo apt -y autoremove && sudo snap refresh

📌 Refer to the official documentation of the distribution for instructions on installing alternative Linux distributions.

Configurations

# TIMEZONE
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Rome

# Set OS DARK MODE
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme 'prefer-dark'

# DISABLE AUTOMATIC UPDATES
sudo sed -i 's/1";/0";/' /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily{,-upgrade}.timer
sudo systemctl mask apt-daily{,-upgrade}.service

# If not using Ubuntu PRO:
# Disable Ubuntu Pro ESM Hook and MOTD Spam - thanks to UnspamifyUbuntu
sudo mv /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20apt-esm-hook.conf /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20apt-esm-hook.conf.disabled
sudo sed -Ezi.orig \
  -e 's/(def _output_esm_service_status.outstream, have_esm_service, service_type.:\n)/\1    return\n/' \
  -e 's/(def _output_esm_package_alert.*?\n.*?\n.:\n)/\1    return\n/' \
  /usr/lib/update-notifier/apt_check.py
sudo /usr/lib/update-notifier/update-motd-updates-available --force

# Change "root" user password
sudo passwd root

SSH-keys

  • Generate an SSH Key Pair on the local HOST

cd
mkdir -p ~/.ssh
cd ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t ed25519
# Type a secure passphrase when asked

chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/*

# Add the SSH private key to the ssh-agent
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)" && ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

  • Add the Public Key to a system/sudo user on a potential Ubuntu Server VM

# Local HOST (Ubuntu Desktop VM)
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# copy the string
# Should start with ssh-ed25519 AAAA... or ssh-rsa AAAA... (if rsa)

# Ubuntu Server VM
echo "pubkey_string" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
# Set permissions
chmod -R go= ~/.ssh
ssh <sudo_user>@<remote_Server_IP>

Tools

Basic Tools

# Tools
packages=(
    apt-transport-https
    aptitude
    btop
    ca-certificates
    coreutils
    curl
    duf
    eza
    filezilla
    flameshot
    flatpak
    fonts-firacode
    fonts-noto-color-emoji
    gdu
    git-all
    gnome-shell-extensions
    gnome-shell-extension-manager
    gnupg
    gpg
    htop
    iftop
    imagemagick
    locate
    nano
    neofetch
    net-tools
    nload
    npm
    pipx
    software-properties-common
    speedtest-cli
    sysstat
    terminator
    tmux
    tree
    ugrep
    vim
    wget
    xclip
    zsh
    # Add package here
)
# Install apt packages
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y -o Debug::pkgProblemResolver=yes "${packages[@]}"

Sublime

sudo sh -c '
    wget -qO- https://download.sublimetext.com/sublimehq-pub.gpg | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/sublimehq-archive.gpg
    echo "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/sublimehq-archive.gpg] https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list
    apt update && apt install -y sublime-text
'

  • Run it with subl command.

Typora

sudo sh -c '
    wget -qO - https://typora.io/linux/public-key.asc | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/typora.gpg > /dev/null
    echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/typora.gpg] https://typora.io/linux ./" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/typora.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y typora
'

## Install Typora-Themeable theme
cd ~/.config/Typora/themes/ \
  && curl -L https://github.com/jhildenbiddle/typora-themeable/releases/latest/download/typora-themeable.zip -o typora-themeable.zip \
  && unzip typora-themeable.zip \
  && rm typora-themeable.zip

Emote

sudo snap install emote

Brave

sudo sh -c '
    apt install -y curl
    curl -fsSLo /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg
    echo "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    apt update && apt install -y brave-browser
'

VirtualBox

sudo apt install -y virtualbox
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER

# Download VirtualBox Extension Pack and open it with VirtualBox to install

DBeaver

sudo sh -c '
    sudo wget -O /usr/share/keyrings/dbeaver.gpg.key https://dbeaver.io/debs/dbeaver.gpg.key
	echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/dbeaver.gpg.key] https://dbeaver.io/debs/dbeaver-ce /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dbeaver.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y dbeaver-ce
'

Postman

sudo snap install postman

Flameshot

sudo apt install flameshot

  • Set this as a custom Keyboard shortcut to make flameshot work with Gnome

 script --command "flameshot gui" /dev/null

DevOps Tools

VSCode

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y software-properties-common apt-transport-https wget

sudo sh -c '
    wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg > /dev/null
    echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf signed-by=//usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y code
'

EXTENSIONS=(
	ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
	streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker \
	mhutchie.git-graph \
	esbenp.prettier-vscode \
	redhat.vscode-yaml \
	Tim-Koehler.helm-intellisense \
	oderwat.indent-rainbow \
	ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools \
)

for EXT in "${EXTENSIONS[@]}"; do
	code --install-extension "$EXT"
done

  • Open VSCode. From File > Preferences > Settings, search for telemetry, and set the Telemetry: Telemetry Level setting to off.

PyCharm

sudo snap install pycharm-community --classic

Docker - Ubuntu

# Install Docker Engine via APT repository

for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove $pkg; done

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg

sudo sh -c '
    curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg
    sudo chmod a+r /usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg

    echo "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu "$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME")" stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
'

sudo systemctl enable docker --now
sudo gpasswd -a "${USER}" docker

# On Debian and Ubuntu, the Docker service starts on boot by default, if not run
sudo systemctl enable docker.service
sudo systemctl enable containerd.service

# Reboot and Test
reboot
docker run hello-world

Docker commands

docker ps -a
docker exec -it <CONTAINER-ID> bash

e.g. Ubuntu Docker instance

docker run -it ubuntu bash

e.g. Wordpress Docker instance

🔗 Thanks to AppSecExplained for the yml file.

sudo mkdir /opt/wordpress
sudo nano /opt/wordpress/docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
  database:
    image: mysql
    restart: always
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: wppassword
      MYSQL_DATABASE: wpdb
      MYSQL_USER: wpuser
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: wppassword
    volumes:
      - mysql:/var/lib/mysql

  wordpress:
    depends_on:
      - database
    image: wordpress:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: database:3306
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wpuser
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: wppassword
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wpdb
    volumes:
      ["./:/var/www/html"]
volumes:
  mysql: {}
cd /opt/wordpress
docker compose up

  • Open the Wordpress site

http://localhost/wp-admin/

  • Fix localhost with the VM's IP address in the Wordpress General Settings.

Homebrew

# Install brew
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

(echo; echo "eval \"\$(/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/brew shellenv)\"") >> /home/$(whoami)/.zshrc
eval "$(/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

k9s / kubectl

# Install k9s
brew install derailed/k9s/k9s
brew upgrade

# Install kubectl
sudo sh -c '
	sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl
	curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.30/deb/Release.key | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
	echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.30/deb/ /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
	sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y kubectl
'
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo touch -f $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube && chmod 700 $HOME/.kube
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config && chmod 600 $HOME/.kube/config

minikube

  • Enable VT-X/AMD-v for the VM.

# Install minikube
curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube_latest_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i minikube_latest_amd64.deb

Helm

sudo sh -c '
    curl -fsSL https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
    sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https
    echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y helm
'

Terraform

# Install Terraform
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y gnupg software-properties-common
sudo sh -c '
    wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
    #TR_DIST=$(lsb_release -cs)
    TR_DIST="jammy"
    echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $TR_DIST main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y terraform
    terraform -install-autocomplete
'

Ansible

pipx install --include-deps ansible
pipx ensurepath

Azure Cli

sudo sh -c '
    curl -sLS https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/microsoft.gpg > /dev/null
    #AZ_DIST=$(lsb_release -cs)
    AZ_DIST="jammy"
    echo "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/azure-cli/ $AZ_DIST main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/azure-cli.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y azure-cli
'

# Azure kubelogin
sudo az aks install-cli

gcloud CLI

# GCloud CLI, Gloud-auth-plugin
sudo sh -c '
    sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg curl
    curl -fsSL https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg
    echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list
    sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y google-cloud-cli google-cloud-sdk-gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
'
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