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To change the hostname from the command prompt, type:

sudo bash

Enter account password, then type:

/bin/hostname newhostname

After installing Ubuntu 9.10 - without the GUI (X11), I needed to configure the network settings - IP, DNS etc.

To configure network settings you need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file.

From a command prompt, type:

sudo bash

Enter the account password.

Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file. Type:

vi /etc/network/interfaces

A normal DHCP setting will look like:

# The primary network interface - use DHCP to find our address
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

To change to a static address, re-configure the file:

# The primary network interface

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.3.90
gateway 192.168.3.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.3.0
broadcast 192.168.3.255

After entering all the details you need to restart networking services using the following command:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

To set up DNS:

Add the hostname and IP addresses to the file /etc/hosts

To save the file, hit ESC, then type:

:wq!

Likewise Open simplifies the configuration needed to authenticate a Linux machine to an Active Directory domain. The package is based on winbind and integrates Ubuntu authentication into an existing Windows network.

Tested on: Ubuntu 9.10 / 9.04 - both installs did not run desktop GUI - (X11).

NB. The below commands should be run as root or with sudo commands. To get root, type:

sudo bash

Then enter the root account password.

To install the package, type:

apt-get install likewise-open5

After the install has completed, it’s time to join the domain. To successfully join, the following is required:

1. Access to an AD user with rights to join the domain.

2. The Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the domain you want to join.

3. DNS must be set up correctly on the domain.

Type the following command to join the domain:

domainjoin-cli join example.com Administrator

Where example.com is your domain name and Administrator is the user name of the account with the rights to join the domain.

After joining the domain, you must reboot before trying to authenticate with a domain user. Type:

reboot

** If you receive the error:

The configuration stage ‘open ports to DC’ cannot be completed automatically.
Please manually perform the following steps and rerun the domain join:

Some required ports on the domain controller could not be contacted. Please
update your firewall settings to ensure that the following ports are open to
dc.domain.com:
    88  UDP
    389 UDP
    464 UDP
    123 UDP

Make sure the Windows Time service is running on the domain controller.

After successfully joining to the Active Directory domain you can authenticate using any valid AD user. To login you will need to enter the user name as ‘domain\username’. For example to SSH to a server joined to the domain enter:

ssh ‘example\username’@hostname
To leave the domain, type:
domainjoin-cli leave

For more info on this package, search - Likewise Open. The homepage has the changelog and
more up to date instructions and troubleshooting tips.

To logoff a SSH session in Putty hit Ctrl + d

Many Linux admin tasks can be carried out without access to the server console by installing a package called openssh-server. Programs such as Putty can be used to connect to port 22 (SSH) after installing this package.

NB. this has been tested on version 9.04 & 9.10 - without GUI (X11).

If OpenSSHServer wasn’t installed when the system was built, type the following commands to install the default package:

sudo bash

type account password.

Then type:

apt-get update

apt-get install openssh-server

Now open Putty, enter the server name or IP address and choose port 22, with SSH as the connection type.

 A security alert will be raised by Putty the first time you access the system by IP or Hostname, choose to trust the host or not…

Log in with a valid username and password to continue.

I was playing around with Ubuntu on ESXi 3.5 (free edition) when I ran into some trouble installing the VM Tools package on my guest VM. After successfully installing it on Ubuntu server 9.04 - with GUI, I decided to create a new VM and install Ubuntu Server 9.10 - without the desktop GUI (X11).

After researching many forums and help files, I was able to install the package. Many thanks to all who helped me out a long the way! Now back to it.

The package to install is called open-vm-tools. It’s been released by VMware as an open source project. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include an installer so several steps have to be followed to compile and install it.

NB. All commands must be run with root level access or via sudo commands. Before attempting the below steps, make sure you have console access to the server. During the install network connectivity is lost. If a SSH session is used you won’t be able to finish the install.

After installing the server, log in and gain the necessary access, type:

sudo bash

then enter the account password.

Then type:

apt-get update

Then type:

apt-get dist-upgrade

Now that the linux kernel has been updated, the system should be rebooted. Type:

reboot

When the system comes back up, log in and gain root access as above. Then type:

apt-get install open-vm-tools

This is the point where network connectivity fails; it has to be restarted. Type:

modprobe pcnet32
/etc/init.d/networking restart

Now the installer needs to be built and installed. Type:

module-assistant prepare open-vm
module-assistant auto-install open-vm

** If the above command fails, refer to the troubleshooting section below.

Now that the package is installed, the “initramfs” file needs to be modified so the VMware accelerated NIC will be loaded at boot time. To modify the file, type:

echo vmxnet >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
update-initramfs -u

Now another reboot is required, type:

reboot

VM Tools is installed…
Troubleshooting:

If installing on Ubuntu 9.04, the command: module-assistant auto-install open-vm will fail. There is a patch available though. It get it type:

cd /usr/src

Then type :

wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/25819719/vmhgfs-2008-11-18-jaunty-lenny.diff

To install the patch, type:

patch -p0 < vmhgfs-2008-11-18-jaunty-lenny.diff

Now the auto-install command can be re-run. Type:

module-assistant –not-unpack auto-install open-vm

NB. There are 2 dashes before the word not-unpack. EG. - -not-unpack (no space between dashes)

Continue on and modify the initramfs file. Reboot to complete the install.