LINUX

New Debian 12 introduction and test server creation

In June, the new Debian 12 was released, one of the classics of the Linux world. In the article, we will see how to install it as a server test environment. In addition, we will also look at what the individual available graphic environments look like and take a look at the overview of the basic packages.

On 6/10/2023, a new version of Debian was released – Debian 12. We will look at the installation and configuration of the system as a server in a virtual environment. In addition, we will show the included versions of the basic software, the installation of packages and a peek at what the available graphical environments look like.

Installation can be done in graphic or text mode. In text mode, it runs in a pseudo-graphical environment and can be controlled with arrows. Both installations do not differ in the layout of the controls. The default is a graphical installation. It can be used even if we are interested in installing without a graphical environment, only the command line. We’ll look at the graphic one, so we’ll select this option on the splash screen. In the next dialog, we choose Czech as the installation language.

We come to the language settings. Next, think about what suits you. Installation and operation in English may be more interesting for the server. We will gradually set our location, keyboard layout. Next, the system will try to automatically set up the network via DHCP. Good for installation. We will manually reset to a fixed IP address later. After setting up the network, we are prompted to enter the name of the computer. If we have a domain serviced by a DNS server, I recommend entering the name here as well as the domain name. Otherwise, we just name the computer appropriately.

We go to the settings of users and passwords. First of all, the password for Root, even if we will not use it normally, we must not forget it. Next, the first user account will be created. We’ll start with the full username, then we’ll query for the username. Finally, we complete the user setup on the third screen by setting a password for the new user.

We come to partitioning the disk. If we are installing a system for a workstation or a production server, I recommend partitioning the disk. You can find more about disk partitioning in this article.

However, we are dealing with the installation of a test environment, where even due to the limited size of the disk, it will be convenient to place all areas in one partition. So we choose the Assisted option – use the entire disk. Next, we get a selection of available discs. In our case, only one disk is available, we will select it. And on the third screen, we choose the All files to one partition option.

After setting the previous options, we will see a summary, which we will then confirm once more on the next screen. If you are installing on a system where you already have some data, pay attention to these screens and check the settings entered. Last chance to prevent possible data deletion.

Next, we set up the installation media. In the vast majority of cases, we just confirm. we continue by choosing a network mirror. On the first screen, we answer that we want to use the mirror. Then we have to choose which ones. First, we select a location. As close as possible to your current location. Next comes the selection of the mirror itself.

Now it’s time to ask about the use of Proxy. If it is not used in our network, we leave it blank. And it’s already installing. Next, this window peeks out at us. Join the survey about the most popular packages. If we don’t want to send anything from our system, we choose no. Now we get to choose the groups of packages that we want to install. Here we install a server without a graphical user interface. This means that we will deselect the GNOME and Debian desktop environments. Then we can install the SSH server here. We will choose.

After selection, the installation of the selected packages will be performed, we will wait a while. Finally, we will set whether we want to install the GRUB bootloader in the main entry. Here we can choose yes without any worries. We have no other system in our virtual machine. Next, we are done and prompted to restart.

After the reboot, we see the system command line. In the next chapter, we will look at the basic system settings for the server.

We will download the installation from https://www.debian.org/

Reporter: Tomáš Němec