Router Basic Debian / Ubuntu Server Setup

Basically the same as Ubuntu, except I tried with Debian Buster (10). I updated to Debian Bullseye (11) with no major problems.

Having used Ubuntu for the past many years I have grown use to netplan. This is not native on Debian Buster, so needs to be installed: sudo apt install netplan.io it basically just seems to work.

One of the benefits of Debian is no Snap! Also a whole pile of other Ubuntu crud is not there!

Download the latest Ubuntu Server amd64 ISO file from the Ubuntu website. I setup the IPMI KVM to provide virtual storage to the Ubuntu ISO file and started up the Router. The Ubuntu software loads up of the ISO across the KVM virtual storage setup and can be then setup as normal. When setting up Ubuntu below are some the of keypoints:

• I set-up Ubuntu to use LAN port 2, as I want to use LAN port 1 as the Router WAN port.
• I do not encrypt the home directory. (See How to install Ubuntu Server - 20.04LTS for an explanation.)
• I just use standard set-up for one main partition, which basically gives one large data partition using all the disk space, save that allowed for the SWAP partition. The SWAP partition is automatically sized based upon detected memory. (I have never been one for multiple partitions.)

Another reason to move away from Ubuntu.
Ubuntu snap system sucks, to disable:

• snap list # to show what snaps are installed
• sudo snap remove program # to remove snaps listed
• sudo apt purge snapd
• sudo apt-mark hold snapd
• apt list –installed | grep snap

It seems like Ubuntu want Snap to work and actively tries to make this so.