Can a Linux 7.0.0-27-generic be upgraded or patched to become a server?

[ericvander33]

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, Linux 7.0.0-27-generic, New installation.

I want to use this new box as my home server, but It seems that this ‘generic’ release does not have all the features I need.

Can I upgrade or patch it, or must I re-install with a different ISO?

I do have some linux experience, but I’m revisiting after 20 years away from it so I’m effectively a newbee.

FYI, Installed pastebinit. wireless-info ran ok but (maybe) had send failures. Installed inxi.

[ogra]

@ericvander33

I want to use this new box as my home server, but It seems that this ‘generic’ release does not have all the features I need.

You have to be a bit less “generic” with your question, what are these bits you are missing ? Can you give us some more detail ?

[Ernmander]

Welcome to the community. Can you provide more detail as to what you are after?

[ericvander33]

Thank you for your incredibly quick reply.

As a newbee, I know what I want, but don’t actually know what I need! And I’m not familiar with the tools.

I want to be able to set this new box up as a server. But I cannot ‘see’ my other devices.

I have another box that I want to connect to. It’s running Windows11 and is very sick and so I need to recover things from it. But that’s just my first goal.

Currently I cannot ‘see’ it from Ubuntu. (or see any of my other PCs/Phones/Whatever) .

pinging it’s IP4 did not get a response.

Both boxes can connect to internet with no problems, and I have no obvious problems with my router.

[graymech]

You have just changed the question.

We can install many things on a Linux kernel. And Linux 7.0.0-27-generic is a Linux kernel. Ubuntu Desktop edition runs on the Linux kernel. So does Ubuntu Server edition. The main differences, as far as I remember, is that Ubuntu Desktop comes with a selection of desktop applications and Ubuntu Server comes with server type applications.

We can install server type applications in a Ubuntu Desktop installation and desktop type applications in a Ubuntu Server installation.

That is why you are being asked: What do you mean by “server.”

What Ubuntu offers has expanded greatly in the last 20 years. Check out

Ubuntu products

As for networking two or more machines - well, that is a different question. How are you connecting these two machines. WiFi through a router?

This might help:

Access a remote desktop

Or this:

Share your desktop remotely

Now you also know that Ubuntu has extensive official documentation.

Regards

[tea-for-one]

@ericvander33

As a newbee, I know what I want, but don’t actually know what I need

I would imagine that you should explore openssh-server

[tea-for-one]

@ericvander33

I have another box that I want to connect to. It’s running Windows11 and is very sick and so I need to recover things from it. But that’s just my first goal.

On your Windows 11 PC, you could boot into a “Try Ubuntu” live session and simply copy the files/folders you need to an external disk or USB.
Server software not required for this task.

[ericvander33]

@graymech

The main differences, as far as I remember, is that Ubuntu Desktop comes with a selection of desktop applications and Ubuntu Server comes with server type applications.

Yes, it’s the server type applications that I think i need. I don’t know what/which they are or their names.

I’m also a newbee (or well our of date) WRT general linux networking. Yes, the ubuntu documentation is extensive and well structured BUT it is not particularly newbee-friendly.

Regarding my O.P… So far, I’ve learnt that I probably don’t need to re-install with the Ubuntu Server version ISO.

Please excuse my rushing.

[ericvander33]

Thanks. Yes, I believe I need SSH.

That other box is SO sick and un-fixable (according to Win recovery) that I would prefer not going that path, at least for now. Can boot old box to Win safe mode with internet. But that’s about it.

Tried direct ethernet cable too. No success for this newbee.

[masonreed11t123454]

You likely don’t need to reinstall. The generic kernel is the default, and most features can be added with apt. Share what you’re missing or any errors you’re seeing, and the community can suggest the right packages or settings.

[peterwhite23]

@ericvander33

As a newbee, I know what I want, but don’t actually know what I need! And I’m not familiar with the tools.

Then how about telling us what you want? You should probably stop thinking in terms of server/client and just describe what it is you want to do.

I have another box that I want to connect to. It’s running Windows11 and is very sick and so I need to recover things from it. But that’s just my first goal.

So you don’t actually want your Ubuntu box to be a server in that case; you need server software on the other box, e.g. Windows Remote Desktop Server, to which Ubuntu will connect as a client. Or perhaps you just want to share files between the two?

Currently I cannot ‘see’ it from Ubuntu. (or see any of my other PCs/Phones/Whatever) .

pinging it’s IP4 did not get a response.

When even ping doesn’t work, something is seriously off. Have you checked the IP address you were trying to ping? Does the Windows Firewall drop ICMP (ping) requests? What are the IP addresses of all systems involved, including the router?

[Dennis_N]

The computer you are connecting TO is the one that needs the server software. So that would be on Windows.

To just recover data, I would take out the Windows disk, plug into Ubuntu USB port using appropriate cables. Ubuntu can read NTFS file system with the right package - I think it’s called ntfs-3g.

[peterwhite23]

Also, if all you want is to get your files from the Windows box to the Ubuntu one via the network, you can just run the live session in “Try Ubuntu” mode on the Windows box and connect to your Ubuntu system with SSH/SFTP. All you need is to install openssh-server on the latter:

sudo apt install openssh-server

Run above command in a terminal and take note of the IP address of the Ubuntu box.
Then, in the live session on the Windows box, open Files → Network and enter the IP address of the Ubuntu box into the field at the bottom, e.g. ssh://192.168.0.123.

That will open your home directory on the (remote) Ubuntu box and you can treat it like any other directory, e.g. copy files to it, just like with Windows Shares, only better.

[paddylandau]

I’m going to come at this from a different angle. I had your same question, but at that point I hadn’t yet installed anything; I was still exploring.

The answer that I got was that although you can convert a desktop installation to a server installation, it means that you’ll still be left with the desktop installed, which takes up resources. For me, that was a problem because my physical server hardware is old. If you have a modern computer, it probably won’t affect you.

You also need to know what to install to make your desktop into a server. You’ll learn that through asking (as you’ve already done), and trial and error!

The conclusion that I reached was that it is far easier to install Ubuntu Server up front than to try to convert Ubuntu Desktop into a server.

Your circumstances are obviously different from mine because you already have Desktop installed, and you’ve had some great replies, so the decision is yours!

[ericvander33]

Many great answers thanks to all.

I’ve learnt quite a bit and my Linux muscle-memory is coming back. I turned 70 this year (whoopee?) I come from a open software background and will be installing on other boxes. Next one will get the full bottle (server wise).

So no shortage of grunt for my needs Paddy.

Installed both oppenssh-server and client. I’ll just go slowly. Cheers

[peterwhite23]

@ericvander33

So no shortage of grunt for my needs Paddy.

If that’s the case and assuming, as a Windows refugee, you’re more comfortable with a server that has a GUI (graphical user interface) available, you might be interested in this short rundown of how to “convert” Ubuntu Desktop to a server:

@peterwhite23

[…] why not start with “Desktop” installation on your server? Just install whatever server software you like after the obligatory installation and configuration of OpenSSH Server — don’t forget to disable GDM3 when going headless, otherwise the machine will auto-suspend after 15 minutes. Maybe install some sort of remote desktop solution […]

@peterwhite23

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

multi-user.target is everything but the graphical desktop stuff. That’s how one can switch to headless server mode in an easily accessible and well-defined way.
Some services, however, might have install directives pointing to default.target:

# /usr/lib/systemd/system/some.service
# [...]
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

If such are installed (systemctl enable ..., e.g. by package install scripts) they will run even in multi-user.target, since it will be aliased to default.target — pipewire and friends, which are somewhat useless on a server, come to mind. So you may need to disable a few additional services (find them by running systemctl list-dependencies default.target), but, in general, I don’t see that one cannot make a desktop system into a trimmed down server. And if you need the desktop stuff (on demand), just run systemctl isolate graphical.target in an SSH session and login via remote desktop or locally, if you have a screen attached.

If you really want to trim the installed packages to the absolute minimum, I cannot recommend aptitude’s TUI highly enough. Start by minimizing the number of packages marked as manually installed: sudo apt-mark minimize-manual. Then I’d find ubuntu-desktop-minimal, mark it for removal (not actually committing the change just yet) and then wade through all its dependencies to manually install the ones I absolutely think necessary for a server with a GUI frontend, akin to Windows Server. Or, if I felt like it, I’d create my own ubuntu-server-gui metapackage, which only depends on the ones I’d have installed manually — here’s a real example of the workflow.

Perhaps also consider replacing NetworkManager with systemd-networkd; the latter being somewhat more befitting a server. Maybe the migration can be taken care of by simply installing ubuntu-server-minimal after marking NetworkManager as automatically installed. Be warned, though, that you could end up without SSH access if something goes wrong. I have never done it myself and don’t know what to look out for.

If you have the storage space to spare, you can skip the aptitude stuff; software that isn’t running can’t consume resources either, except for the storage space and update bandwidth. So it pretty much depends on your preference. If you want your Desktop to double as a server, you already have it, since you installed the SSH server.

There shouldn’t be too much hassle involved in hunting down services that don’t make much sense on a server and exclude those from multi-user.target. I am effectively running my laptop as a server; it’s been booting into multi-user.target ever since I boiled down my “Desktop” to a bare bones Sway(wm) session, which, in my case, is essentially just a console capable of running Firefox — I don’t like to waste any resources on stuff like GDM3 and full-blown Desktops, for instance; I can run exec systemctl --user --wait start sway-session.target manually just fine.

[oldfred]

I have not installed server for use, just a test install.

Have seen suggestions for new users to add a lightweight gui as server is command line only and takes a bit to learn terminal commands.

Lightweight Desktop environment
Ubuntu Server + lxde or openbox or fluxbox

You can install full desktop, but that include all the large standard desktop apps like libreOffice. Full list of apps in download list as manifest. You can compare server & desktop, if desired.

noble-desktop-amd64.manifest

[peterwhite23]

@oldfred

Lightweight Desktop environment
Ubuntu Server + lxde or openbox or fluxbox

Personally, I’d find that too much hassle; just install vanilla Ubuntu Desktop and stick to the “Default selection”:

That effectively just installs the ubuntu-desktop-minimal metapackage, plus the App Center snap. The benefit of sticking with vanilla Ubuntu Desktop is that there is no second-guessing about LTS and Pro support.

A few words of caution, though. IIRC, the migration process to netplan during the 24.04 release upgrade involved some automagic detection of the role of the Ubuntu installation, to decide if the frontend should be systemd-networkd or NetworkManager. I believe the detector looked for the presence of ubuntu-desktop* and/or ubuntu-server* metapackages. There is also this note in the description of ubuntu-desktop-minimal:

Package: ubuntu-desktop-minimal
[…]
Description: Ubuntu desktop minimal system
[…]
It is also used to help ensure proper upgrades, so it is recommended that
it not be removed.

So one should bear that in mind, when deciding on the role of the machine. Is it a Desktop doubling as a server? Keep ubuntu-desktop-minimal. If it’s a Windows Server rip-off, think about replacing it with ubuntu-server-minimal.

You can install full desktop, but that include all the large standard desktop apps like libreOffice. Full list of apps in download list as manifest. You can compare server & desktop, if desired.

That info seems to be outdated (see above).