linuxexpert-practice-labs/labs/ubuntu-server/2-1-automated-installs/README.md

Ubuntu Server 2.1: PXE, autoinstall and cloud-init

Writing and checking a cloud-init user-data file and an autoinstall file.

Booting a new VM from the files, and the chapter's PXE task, need more than one VM and aren't part of this lab: try them on your own VMs once the files pass here.

Before you start

The lab makes the directory /root/cloud for your two files. This VM came from a cloud image, so cloud-init is already installed.

Tasks

1. Write /root/cloud/user-data that creates a user deploy with your SSH public key and sudo rights, installs htop, and writes the text built by cloud-init to /etc/motd. Check it: sudo cloud-init schema -c /root/cloud/user-data says "Valid schema".
2. Write an autoinstall file /root/cloud/autoinstall.yaml for a server named db1 with a user dbadmin (password hash made with openssl passwd -6), SSH installed with password logins off, the LVM layout, and the package postgresql. sudo cloud-init schema -c accepts it, it starts with #cloud-config, everything is under autoinstall: with version: 1, and the password is a $6$ hash.

Hints

• #cloud-config on the first line; users: with name, groups: [sudo] or sudo: "ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL", shell, ssh_authorized_keys; packages:; write_files: with path and content. ssh-keygen if you have no key yet; cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub.
• autoinstall: with version: 1, identity: (hostname, username, password), ssh: (install-server, allow-pw), storage: layout: name: lvm, packages:. Quote the hash: it contains $.