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Upgrade Ubuntu 14.x server to Ubuntu 15.04

It’s already april again and that means that Canonical has updated Ubuntu. This one has the name Vivid Vervet and has the number 15.04.

It is very easy to upgrade this from a Ubuntu 14.04 or 14.10 server. It’s just the same as upgrading from 14.04 to 14.10 which we discussed earlier in this post.

Keep in mind that upgrading takes a couple of minutes and that you make sure you have a backup!

Requirements

  • Ubuntu 14.04/14.10 server
  • SUDO-rights

1. Update-manager-core

Make sure you have update-manager-core by trying to install it. If your server already has update-manager-core installed there will be no problem.

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core

2. Edit release-upgrades file

Use nano or vi(m) to edit the file /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

The file will open and in the bottom you’ll find Prompt=lts, change it to Prompt=normal

You can save in nano by pressing ctrl+o and hitting enter. You can close nano by pressing ctrl+x.

This way the update manager will look for every new version that came out, not only the LTS-versions.

3. Upgrade the system to Ubuntu 15.04

Execute the following command, it will upgrade your server to Ubuntu 15.04

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

Follow the instructions on the screen. These can be different for your server and are therefor not discussed here.

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Login to server with RSA keys and PuTTY

Connecting to your VPS with PuTTY on Windows is quite easy. But it can be even easier and faster with RSA keys. In this tutorial we will discuss how to connect to your VPS with RSA keys and PuTTY on Windows.

Requirements

  • Have a (Ubuntu 14.04) VPS
  • Have PuTTY installed
  • Have PuTTYgen installed

Generate RSA keys

  1. Openup the program PuTTYgen
  2. Click on ‘generate’
  3. Move your mouse over the area.
  4. Save your publickey in a folder you won’t lose
  5. Save your private key in a folder you won’t lose (ex. Dropbox)

Upload RSA key to VPS

  1. Login to your VPS using PuTTY and the username password you already had
    1. Enter the IP in putty
    2. Change the port if needed
    3. Press ‘open’
  3. Copy paste the value from your previously saved public key to this file on your VPS
  4. Save the file (ctrl+o in nano)

Save RSA key in PuTTY

  1. Open PuTTY
  2. Enter your IP and port
  3. Type a name for your VPS under ‘Saved sessions’ and press ‘Save’
  4. Now go to connection->SSH->Auth and browse for your private key file at the bottom of this screen.
  5. Go to connection->data and enter an auto-login username to login with (ex. root or your name)
  6. Go back to Session in the tree on the left
  7. Save your session again

Disable password login

  2. Find PermitRootLogin and change that line to PermitRootLogin without-password
  3. Save the file using ctrl+o on nano