This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
Ubuntu Server, Debian, and the RHEL family are different operations. The selector records answers you type. It does not download an image and it does not install a host.
Write who will patch it and which package manager they already know. A logo is not a reason. Do not add a distribution the team cannot patch. An image you install later comes from the project you named, not from a random mirror you found while reading.
This page does not upgrade a host. 192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Name the team and the package manager they know.
- Use the selector.
- Write the distribution.
- Name the image source you would trust later.
- Do not install during the reading.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Choosing a Linux Server Distribution goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A choice from a logo.
- An image from a random mirror.
- An install during the reading.
- A family the team cannot patch.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Choosing a Linux Server Distribution: The team can patch it. The package manager is one they know. The image source is named. Nothing was installed. And the selector did not download an image.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The distribution is written. The package manager is written. The image source is named. Nothing was installed. And the reason is the team, not a logo. If one of those fails, stop.
# Choose what the team can patch.
# Do not install during the reading.
# Name the image source.Before you leave the host
Choosing a Linux Server Distribution ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
Tools for this guide
These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.
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