Everything I Plan on Forgetting

notes and cool things on the stupid stuff i do

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My ubuntu new server checklist

Ok so I setup a new ubuntu server every once in a while and I have a hard time figuring everything out.  So here's my checklist of the stuff I end up painstakingly look up to do over and over again.


  1. Create New User
    • sudo useradd -d /home/NEWUSER -m NEWUSER (the d flag is to set the home directory and the m flag is to create the directory)
  2. Change Password
    • sudo passwd testuser
  3. Add User to admin group OR do #4
    • usermod -g admin NEWUSER
  4. Give Sudo Access in /etc/sudoers (the first is no password asked for sudo, and the 2nd asks for password to sudo)
    • user1  ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL 
    • user2  ALL=(ALL) ALL
  5. Enable Bash Script on new user
    • Go to /etc/passwd and change line to something like this: user1:x:1001:1001::/home/user1:/bin/bash
  6. SSH disconnecting?  Well, keep the connection alive.
    • Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    • Add line TCPKeepAlive yes
  7. Bash rc stuff
    • Edit ~/.bashrc
    • grep auto-coloring: export GREP_OPTIONS='--color=auto'
    • rails env: export RAILS_ENV=staging