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Quote:

Originally Posted by jjad (Post 3490610)

In what form is gui a security risk? is it because it has extra services, or is it because the gui invirement?

My take, purely from a logical standpoint and NOT from an experience standpoint is that the short answer is "both."

A "hardened" server has all the unnecessary services (for the server to do it's job, not necessarily to assist us in doing our admin jobs) removed. This allows the server to run more efficiently without spending nanoseconds performing services that are not necessary for it's own functioning, and removing services that might allow others to login or to break the login security. And, from a purely security standpoint, having no gui makes it a lot more difficult for someone to poke around in the operating system. Having a gui means there are icons visible and clickable whereas having no gui would make it where they'd not only have to know the commands to access those same functions, but also the proper options and syntax thereof - even (& especially) if they broke the admin UID & PW (they'd have to know Linux commands)!

I have a Ubuntu 8.10 server running at home. It is not necessarily hardened, but it's got no keyboard or mouse or monitor connected, and no gui. I'm accessing all management functions via PuTTy from my XP Pro desktop. This is not just for security and efficiency purposes, but because I just don't want to have to have space for another keyboard or monitor or mouse. Further, I'm looking to move the server out of our office and put it in another location, locked up with nothing but a UPS and a fan, somewhere that it can vent without heating up the room or house. At this moment, having the 5 HDDs in it requires a hefty (& loud) fan to keep it cool, and it makes our little office (3 workstations, 1 server, router, dsl modem, all-in-1 printer, TV, laptop, and various cell phone and pocket-pc equipment) about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. Adding another monitor (all the others are LCD flat screens but I only have a CRT left for the server if I were going to connect one) would only make it that much warmer.

Like pljvaldez said, a home server (which ours happens to be) might be easier to admin and control with a GUI & monitor/kybd/mouse, and the only security would be to protect yourself (& your family) from yourself (& your family). And, your only concerns are your own.

However, in a professional environment, you would definitely want a professional installation, which means hardening the server as much as possible and making it as secure and reliable as possible. Your only concerns in this situation are to protect your employer/client not only from themselves, but from any possible disaster (testing any or complete disaster recovery is only acceptable BEFORE a disaster strikes, never during - & "disaster" is any breach of security, loss of data, or data leak).

On a home server, you're only liable to yourself. On a professional installation, you (the installer/admin) are liable for all of it, including your employer's/client's loss of productivity due to disasters for which you failed to provide quick and complete recovery plans, methods, and procedures.

I'm sure others will have more direct and to-the-point answers, but that was how I logically figured I'd address the question which I have asked myself at home and would ask myself in a professional environment - even if I was hiring someone else to create the infrastructure.

isn't it ?

Code:

sudo get-apt install gnome-desktop

On my server it works...

installing xfce on ubuntu 9.10

installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my computer but it is very slow and i don't feel like working on the same computer. Now i don't want to uninstall Ubuntu. But as i am not currently planning to upgrade my computer as i will be buying a new PC later i

I can only imagine that if Ubuntu 9.10 is slow, then Windoze would be even SLOWER. So, GottyMann, are you seeking guidance or just complaining? What was your purpose for the computer originally? - workstation? server? other?

Sorry for waking an old thread...

but for all the googlers and readers out there the answer is very simple,

Code:

sudo apt-get update

then

Code:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

that includes open office and extras.

For no extras type:

Code:

sudo aptitude install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-desktop

I get this error:

Code:

mahmood@localhost:~$ sudo aptitude  install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-desktop

aptitude: unrecognized option '--no-install-recommends'

aptitude 0.4.11.11

Usage: aptitude [-S fname] [-u|-i]

      aptitude [options] <action> ...

  Actions (if none is specified, aptitude will enter interactive mode):



 install      - Install/upgrade packages

 remove      - Remove packages

 purge        - Remove packages and their configuration files

 hold        - Place packages on hold

 unhold      - Cancel a hold command for a package

 markauto    - Mark packages as having been automatically installed

 unmarkauto  - Mark packages as having been manually installed

 forbid-version - Forbid aptitude from upgrading to a specific package version.

 update      - Download lists of new/upgradable packages

 safe-upgrade - Perform a safe upgrade

 full-upgrade - Perform an upgrade, possibly installing and removing packages

 forget-new  - Forget what packages are "new"

 search      - Search for a package by name and/or expression

 show        - Display detailed information about a package

 clean        - Erase downloaded package files

 autoclean    - Erase old downloaded package files

 changelog    - View a package's changelog

 download    - Download the .deb file for a package

 reinstall    - Download and (possibly) reinstall a currently installed package

 why          - Show the manually installed packages that require a package, or

                why one or more packages would require the given package

 why-not      - Show the manually installed packages that lead to a conflict

                with the given package, or why one or more packages would

                lead to a conflict with the given package if installed



  Options:

 -h            This help text

 -s            Simulate actions, but do not actually perform them.

 -d            Only download packages, do not install or remove anything.

 -P            Always prompt for confirmation or actions

 -y            Assume that the answer to simple yes/no questions is 'yes'

 -F format      Specify a format for displaying search results; see the manual

 -O order      Specify how search results should be sorted; see the manual

 -w width      Specify the display width for formatting search results

 -f            Aggressively try to fix broken packages.

 -V            Show which versions of packages are to be installed.

 -D            Show the dependencies of automatically changed packages.

 -Z            Show the change in installed size of each package.

 -v            Display extra information. (may be supplied multiple times)

 -t [release]  Set the release from which packages should be installed

 -q            In command-line mode, suppress the incremental progress

                indicators.

 -o key=val    Directly set the configuration option named 'key'

 --with(out)-recommends Specify whether or not to treat recommends as

                strong dependencies

 -S fname      Read the aptitude extended status info from fname.

 -u            Download new package lists on startup.

 -i            Perform an install run on startup.



                  This aptitude does not have Super Cow Powers.

Are you sure about that option?

It's not aptitude but apt-get that has the '--no-install-recommends' option.

Can not see such option:

Code:

mahmood@localhost:~$ sudo apt-get --help

[sudo] password for mahmood: 

apt 0.7.25.3ubuntu9.3 for i386 compiled on Sep  9 2010 22:22:02

Usage: apt-get [options] command

      apt-get [options] install|remove pkg1 [pkg2 ...]

      apt-get [options] source pkg1 [pkg2 ...]



apt-get is a simple command line interface for downloading and

installing packages. The most frequently used commands are update

and install.



Commands:

  update - Retrieve new lists of packages

  upgrade - Perform an upgrade

  install - Install new packages (pkg is libc6 not libc6.deb)

  remove - Remove packages

  autoremove - Remove automatically all unused packages

  purge - Remove packages and config files

  source - Download source archives

  build-dep - Configure build-dependencies for source packages

  dist-upgrade - Distribution upgrade, see apt-get(8)

  dselect-upgrade - Follow dselect selections

  clean - Erase downloaded archive files

  autoclean - Erase old downloaded archive files

  check - Verify that there are no broken dependencies



Options:

  -h  This help text.

  -q  Loggable output - no progress indicator

  -qq No output except for errors

  -d  Download only - do NOT install or unpack archives

  -s  No-act. Perform ordering simulation

  -y  Assume Yes to all queries and do not prompt

  -f  Attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in place

  -m  Attempt to continue if archives are unlocatable

  -u  Show a list of upgraded packages as well

  -b  Build the source package after fetching it

  -V  Show verbose version numbers

  -c=? Read this configuration file

  -o=? Set an arbitrary configuration option, eg -o dir::cache=/tmp

See the apt-get(8), sources.list(5) and apt.conf(5) manual

pages for more information and options.

                      This APT has Super Cow Powers.

However, aptitude has "--without-recommends" and I think that will do the job

Code:

 --with(out)-recommends Specify whether or not to treat recommends as

                strong dependencies

Never mind and sorry. I figured it out by myself, but I do not know how to delete my comments.

The original message said:
(

Quote:

Originally Posted by pljvaldez (Post 2329688)

I don't know, but it is easy to add one if you need to. After install, you'd just have to sudo aptitude install x-window-system-core gnome-core (or gnome if you want all the bells and whistles of a full desktop environment). If you also want a gui login, then also install gdm.

In general, servers will be text only out of the box because running X is considered an unnecessary security risk. Servers usually want as few services running as possible to keep them secure and running quickly.

What is the exact command for the GUI login?)

thanks guys, that was really useful..

Webmin might help, easily remote

why install ubuntu server then add gui

You could install a desktop then add server capabilities, that could be a security risk.. but you might just want to extend LTS and have just those gui programs you will be likely to use; a lot easier than installing Arch or Gentoo.
Once the cli is installed you only have to install a few large packages, eg 'gnome-session' 'gkm' and session manager.

Fred.