VPS-setup

Creating an Arch linux host from scratch (with transip.eu BladeVPS)

You will find in this README a memo I use for basic Arch Linux installation on these VPS.

All you get when installing Arh Linux onto a VPS is a basic prompt: root@archiso ~ # so let's start from there.

Change the keymap to match our keyboard's:

loadkeys fr_CH

1) Partition Table and File System Creation

Start fdisk to partition the virtual drive:

fdisk /dev/vda

At the fdisk prompt, delete old partitions (if there is any) and create a new one:

Type 'o'. This will clear out any partitions on the drive.
Type 'p' to list partitions. There should be no partitions left.

1.1 Boot partition

Type 'n', then 'p' for primary, '1' (Default) for the first partition on the drive, press ENTER to accept the default first sector, then type '+100M' for the last sector.
Type 't', then 'c' to set the first partition to type W95 FAT32 (LBA).
Type 'a', then '1' to toggle bootable flag on Boot partition.

1.2 Extended partition

Type 'n', then 'e' for extended, '2' (Default) for the first partition on the drive, press ENTER to accept the default first sector, then ENTER for the last sector (Extended partition will take all the available space left).

1.3 Root Partition

Type 'n' : All space for primary partition is in use, so fdisk will automatically add a logical partition.
Adding logical partition 5
Press ENTER to accept default first sector, then '+49G' (eg) for root partition size.
Type 't', partition number should be 5, press ENTER, then '8e' to set the first logical partition to type Linux LVM.

1.4 Swap partition

Type 'n' : All space for primary partition is in use, so fdisk will automatically add a logical partition.
Adding logical partition 6
Press ENTER to accept default first sector, then ENTER again for default last sector.
Type 't', partition number should be 6, press ENTER, then '82' to set the second logical partition to type Linux Swap.

Type 'p' to check how partition table is looking, if everything looks good, write the partition table and exit by typing 'w'.

1.5 Create and mount the FAT file system (-n is for label option):

mkfs.vfat /dev/vda1 -n B00T
mkdir /mnt/boot
mount /dev/vda1 /mnt/boot

1.6 Create and mount the ext4 file system (-L is for label option):

mkfs.ext4 /dev/vda5 -L vr00t
mount /dev/vda5 /mnt

1.7 Create and mount Swap file system (-L is for label option):

mkswap /dev/vda6 -L sw4p
swapon /dev/vda6

NB: recent archiso had DNS resolution deactivated by default.

It is mandatory to install packets from remote arch linux mirrors

Here is how to check if it is activated:

systemctl status systemd-resolved.service

If inactive, you can start and enable it as follow:

systemctl enable systemd-resolved && systemctl start systemd-resolved

2) Now we can start Installation

2.1 To install the base and development packages:

pacstrap /mnt linux linux-firmware base base-devel

2.2 Configure the system

Generate an fstab file (use -U to define mountpoints by UUIDs or -L for LABELs):

genfstab -pL /mnt  /mnt/etc/fstab

2.3 Change root into the new system:

arch-chroot /mnt

2.4 Create the /etc/hostname file.

echo myhostname >> /etc/hostname

2.5 Set the time zone:

ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich /etc/localtime

2.6 Uncomment the needed locales in /etc/locale.gen, then generate them with:

locale-gen

Add at least LANG=your_locale in /etc/locale.conf

nano /etc/locale.conf
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_TIME=en_GB.UTF-8

2.7 Add console keymap and font preferences in /etc/vconsole.conf:

echo /etc/vconsole.conf >> KEYMAP=fr_CH

2.8 Configure kernel options with /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:

Add virtual machine support:

MODULES="virtio virtio_blk virtio_pci virtio_net virtio_ring"

Create a new initial RAM disk with:

mkinitcpio -p linux

If you get these warnings:

== WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: wd719x
== WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: aic94xx

[You can safely ignore them !](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/mkinitcpio### Possibly_missing_firmware_for_module_XXXX)

2.9 Set the root password:

passwd

3) Install a boot loader (GRUB):

pacman -S grub
grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/vda
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

4) Create a user with administrator rights:

useradd -m -g users -G storage,power,wheel -s /bin/bash "username"
nano /etc/sudoers and uncomment the %wheel line
passwd "username" to define a password and su "username" to login as newly created user

5) Install further build utilities, a network manager (I pick netctl) and useful options:

sudo pacman -S multilib-devel git jshon wget netctl ifplugd dhcpcd openssh

7) Configure Network

cd /etc/netctl
install -m640 examples/ethernet-dhcp internet
sudo nano internet
Inteface=ens3
netctl enable internet && sudo netctl start internet

8) Should you want to install a desktop environment and some fancy packages:

pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies slim xorg wget baobab mlocate binutils firefox p7zip xarchiver

9) Configure Xfce

Create .xinitrc:

nano ~/.xinitrc and "starxfce4" then save
Edit slim.conf default username and autologin yes for autologin.
starxfce4'

9) Commplete installation and restart VPS system

Now we can assume our Installation and basic setup is finished:

exit && umount -R /mnt
reboot