Getting Started with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on Your VPS

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) is the current stable long-term support release with support until April 2027. Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution for VPS hosting. Debian-based, user-friendly, and ideal for production servers.

About Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Release date: April 2022
• LTS support until: April 2027
• Package manager: apt/dpkg
• Init system: systemd
• Based on: Debian

Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-vps-ip

# Or with SSH key
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa root@your-vps-ip

Update System

# Update package lists
apt update

# Upgrade packages
apt upgrade -y

# Enable automatic security updates
apt install unattended-upgrades
dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades

User Management

# Create new user (best practice instead of root)
useradd -m -s /bin/bash ubuntu

# Set password
passwd ubuntu

# Add to sudo group
usermod -aG sudo ubuntu

# Switch to user
su - ubuntu

Configure Firewall

# Install UFW (Ubuntu Firewall)
apt install ufw -y

# Enable firewall
ufw enable

# Allow SSH (critical to avoid lockout!)
ufw allow 22/tcp

# Allow HTTP and HTTPS
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp

# Check status
ufw status

Install Essential Packages

# Development tools
apt install -y curl wget git build-essential

# Common utilities
apt install -y vim htop tmux zip unzip

# For web hosting
apt install -y nginx mysql-server php-fpm

Check Storage

# Disk space usage
df -h         # Overall
du -sh /*     # Per-directory

# Memory usage
free -h

# List mounted disks
lsblk

Next Steps

• Install a control panel (aaPanel, CloudPanel) if managing websites
• Configure SSH key-based authentication (disable password login later)
• Set up monitoring and log rotation
• Configure automated backups
• Deploy your application (web, API, database, etc.)

Related: OS comparison | Choose your OS | VPS setup | Linux basics

Related articles