turning a desktop install into a server

[Tom H]

On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 2:14 AM, David Curtis <dcurtis at uniserve.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:54:54 -0700
> Joshua Solomin <jsolomin at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I recently installed the Ubuntu desktop edition, and got things
>> working; but what I really want to do is to make it a server-like box
>> that is exclusively logged into remotely (from other machines on my
>> home network).  I powered it down, unplugged monitor/keyboard/mouse,
>> put it in its new location, and turned it on -- but as far as I could
>> tell, the (wireless) networking didn't even start; I had to lug over
>> the periphals and plug them in, then log in to Ubuntu, then unplug
>> them again.
>> So now I have a box that I can remotely access (and on which I'm
>> actually still logged in locally).  But what if I have to reboot --
>> how can I set it up such that it doesn't need the peripherals at all,
>> and I can log into it remotely without having to log in locally first?
> You need to configure networking on boot in the /etc/network/interfaces
> file.
> http://nixcraft.com/ubuntu-debian/13278-etc-network-interfaces-wireless-wifi-example.html

If you would prefer to have all your networking in one file rather
than two like the nixcraft link above, you can put all your entries
into /e/n/i (this is for a static IP and WPA2):

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address x.x.x.x
netmask x.x.x.x
network x.x.x.x
broadcast x.x.x.x
gateway x.x.x.x
wpa-ap-scan 1   # 2 for a hidden ssid
wpa-driver wext
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-pairewise CCMP
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-psk xxx
wpa-ssid xxx