Ubuntu - RepoCloud Documentation

Ubuntu on RepoCloud

Ubuntu VPS gives you a clean Ubuntu 24.04 LTS virtual private server with nothing pre-installed — just the operating system and root access. Start from a blank slate and build whatever you need: web servers, databases, development environments, CI runners, monitoring stacks, VPN endpoints, or anything else that runs on Linux.

Clean Slate

Minimal Ubuntu 24.04 LTS — no bloatware, no opinionated configuration, just the OS and apt package management

Full Root Access

Root SSH access from deployment with an auto-generated Ed25519 key pair sent in your deployment email

10-Year Support

Canonical’s standard security maintenance for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS covers patches through April 2034

Flexible Pricing

Start from $3/month (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM). Scale up any time. Dedicated IPv4 included with every server.

Snapshots

Create point-in-time snapshots before risky changes and roll back with one click

Browser Console

Serial console access from the RepoCloud dashboard for emergency recovery without SSH

Deploying Ubuntu on RepoCloud

Find Ubuntu in the Marketplace

Go to the RepoCloud marketplace and search for “Ubuntu”. Click on the Ubuntu VPS listing.

Enter a Project Name

Choose a friendly name for your project (e.g., “my-server”).

Choose Resource Settings

Select a tier for your server. All tiers are available starting from Tier 1 (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, $3/month). A dedicated IPv4 address is included with every VPS at no extra charge. Servers can be upgraded to a higher tier but not downsized.

Deploy

Click Deploy Ubuntu and wait 1–2 minutes. Ubuntu bare-metal provisioning is faster than application VPS apps because there is no software installation step.

Check Your Email

Once deployment finishes, you receive an email with:

SSH command — ssh root@<your-ip>
SSH Private Key — save it to a file, chmod 600, and use it to connect
Manage Instance button — link to the RepoCloud manage page

Ubuntu VPS does not show a URL on the dashboard because it is a bare server with no web application. Access it exclusively through SSH or the browser console.

Connecting via SSH

Save Your Private Key

Your deployment email includes an Ed25519 private key. Save it to a file on your local machine:

# Paste the key contents into a file
nano ~/.ssh/repocloud_ubuntu

# Set correct permissions (required — SSH refuses keys with open permissions)
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/repocloud_ubuntu

Connect

ssh -i ~/.ssh/repocloud_ubuntu root@<your-ipv4-address>

Your IPv4 address is shown in the RepoCloud manage page under Access.

Add More SSH Keys

You can add additional SSH keys from the RepoCloud manage page (SSH Keys section) or directly on the server:

# On the server
cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys << 'EOF'
ssh-ed25519 AAAA... your-other-key
EOF

Initial Server Setup

After connecting via SSH, here is a recommended baseline setup:

Update Packages

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Configure the Firewall

Ubuntu ships with UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) available but not enabled:

ufw allow 22/tcp     # SSH
ufw allow 80/tcp     # HTTP (if hosting a website)
ufw allow 443/tcp    # HTTPS (if hosting a website)
ufw enable

Create a Non-Root User (Optional)

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

# Copy SSH authorized keys
mkdir -p /home/deploy/.ssh
cp ~/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/deploy/.ssh/
chown -R deploy:deploy /home/deploy/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/deploy/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/deploy/.ssh/authorized_keys

Set the Timezone

timedatectl set-timezone UTC    # or your preferred timezone

Enable Automatic Security Updates

apt install -y unattended-upgrades
dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades

Common Use Cases

Web Server (Nginx)

apt install -y nginx
systemctl enable nginx
ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

Place your site in /var/www/html/ or configure virtual hosts in /etc/nginx/sites-available/. For HTTPS, install Certbot:

apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Database Server (PostgreSQL)

apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib
systemctl enable postgresql

# Create a database and user
sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive
sudo -u postgres createdb mydb

Development Environment

# Node.js (via NodeSource)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs

# Python
apt install -y python3 python3-pip python3-venv

# Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | bash

VPN Endpoint (WireGuard)

apt install -y wireguard
wg genkey | tee /etc/wireguard/privatekey | wg pubkey > /etc/wireguard/publickey

Configure /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf with your network settings, then:

systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
systemctl start wg-quick@wg0

CI Runner (GitHub Actions)

# Download the runner
mkdir actions-runner && cd actions-runner
curl -o actions-runner-linux-x64.tar.gz -L \
  https://github.com/actions/runner/releases/latest/download/actions-runner-linux-x64-2.321.0.tar.gz
tar xzf actions-runner-linux-x64.tar.gz

# Configure (use the token from your GitHub repository settings)
./config.sh --url https://github.com/your-org/your-repo --token YOUR_TOKEN
./svc.sh install
./svc.sh start

RepoCloud Manage Page

Your Ubuntu VPS has a dedicated manage page in the RepoCloud dashboard:

Access

View your server’s IPv4 address and SSH connection command. Ubuntu does not show a clickable URL because there is no web application — use the SSH command directly.

Power

Power Off stops the server (data preserved on disk). Power On starts it again. Reboot performs a graceful restart.

Console

Browser-based serial console for emergency access. Invaluable when SSH is unreachable — for example, after a firewall misconfiguration (ufw blocking port 22) or a failed kernel update.

SSH Keys

Lists all registered SSH public keys. Add keys for team members or other machines. Remove old keys when access should be revoked.

Resize

Switch between tiers. All tiers are available (no minimum restriction for Ubuntu). Disk cannot be shrunk after an upgrade — to downsize disk, create a new instance.

Snapshots

Create up to 5 point-in-time snapshots. Best practice: snapshot before upgrading the kernel, changing firewall rules, or any other potentially destructive operation. To restore, click Restore next to the target snapshot. If newer snapshots exist, the confirmation dialog lists exactly which ones will be permanently destroyed by the ZFS rollback — the target snapshot itself always survives. The server restarts during restore (~10–25 seconds) and the page refreshes automatically when complete.

Custom Domain

Point your own domain to the server by creating a DNS A record to your dedicated IPv4 address.

Danger Zone

Permanently delete the server, all data, snapshots, and any IPv4 reservation.

Snapshots and Backup Strategy

Snapshots capture the entire disk state at a point in time. Use them as safety nets:

Before upgrades: apt upgrade, kernel updates, or major configuration changes
Before experiments: testing new software stacks, network configurations, or security policies
Regular intervals: create a weekly snapshot and delete old ones (5 max)

Restoring a Snapshot

Click Restore next to the snapshot you want to roll back to. If newer snapshots exist between the target and the current state, a warning lists them — those snapshots will be permanently destroyed because ZFS rollback cannot preserve them. The target snapshot itself always survives. The server restarts during the restore operation (typically 10–25 seconds) and the page refreshes automatically when complete. For off-server backups, consider:

rsync to another server or local machine
restic or borgbackup to S3-compatible storage
Database-specific dump tools (pg_dump, mysqldump) for database backups

Resizing

You can change tiers at any time from the manage page — resizing takes a few minutes. Resizing to a larger tier permanently increases the disk allocation; you cannot resize back down to a smaller tier afterward.

When to Resize

CPU-bound workloads (compilation, encoding): move to a tier with more vCPUs
Memory-bound workloads (databases, caches): move to a tier with more RAM
Storage-bound workloads: note that disk cannot be shrunk after upsizing

Troubleshooting

Cannot SSH after deployment

Verify you saved the private key with chmod 600. Ensure you are using the correct IP from the manage page. If all else fails, use the browser console from the manage page.

Locked out by UFW

If you accidentally blocked SSH with a firewall rule, use the browser console from the RepoCloud manage page. The serial console bypasses the network stack entirely. Run ufw allow 22/tcp and ufw reload to restore SSH access.

Server unreachable after kernel update

A bad kernel update can prevent boot. Use the browser console to access the GRUB menu and select the previous kernel. If that does not work, restore from a snapshot.

Disk full

Check usage with df -h. Clean package caches: apt clean. Remove old kernels: apt autoremove. Check /var/log for large log files. If you need more space, resize to a larger tier from the manage page.

Use Cases

Ubuntu VPS is ideal for:

Developers who need a clean Linux environment for coding, testing, or running dev tools
System administrators setting up custom infrastructure (web servers, databases, monitoring)
DevOps engineers running CI runners, build servers, or deployment pipelines
Network engineers deploying VPN endpoints, DNS servers, or reverse proxies
Students and learners practicing Linux administration in a real cloud environment
Anyone who needs a dedicated Linux server without the opinions of a pre-installed application

Next Steps

Deploy Ubuntu

Launch your Ubuntu VPS from the RepoCloud marketplace

Ubuntu Server Guide

Read the official Ubuntu Server documentation from Canonical

Coolify

Deploy a pre-configured PaaS instead of building from scratch

VPS Apps Overview

Learn about all VPS Apps and the RepoCloud manage page

​Ubuntu on RepoCloud

Clean Slate

Full Root Access

10-Year Support

Flexible Pricing

Snapshots

Browser Console

​Deploying Ubuntu on RepoCloud

​Connecting via SSH

​Save Your Private Key

​Connect

​Add More SSH Keys

​Initial Server Setup

​Update Packages

​Configure the Firewall

​Create a Non-Root User (Optional)

​Set the Timezone

​Enable Automatic Security Updates

​Common Use Cases

​Web Server (Nginx)

​Database Server (PostgreSQL)

​Development Environment

​VPN Endpoint (WireGuard)

​CI Runner (GitHub Actions)

​RepoCloud Manage Page

​Snapshots and Backup Strategy

​Restoring a Snapshot

​Resizing

​When to Resize

​Troubleshooting

​Use Cases

​Next Steps

Deploy Ubuntu

Ubuntu Server Guide

Coolify

VPS Apps Overview

Ubuntu on RepoCloud

Deploying Ubuntu on RepoCloud

Connecting via SSH

Save Your Private Key

Connect

Add More SSH Keys

Initial Server Setup

Update Packages

Configure the Firewall

Create a Non-Root User (Optional)

Set the Timezone

Enable Automatic Security Updates

Common Use Cases

Web Server (Nginx)

Database Server (PostgreSQL)

Development Environment

VPN Endpoint (WireGuard)

CI Runner (GitHub Actions)

RepoCloud Manage Page

Snapshots and Backup Strategy

Restoring a Snapshot

Resizing

When to Resize

Troubleshooting

Use Cases

Next Steps