Installing a Linux server

We will need a Debian-based server for our development Odoo server. If these are your first steps with Linux, you may take note that Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux distribution, so they are very similar.

Odoo is guaranteed to work with the current stable version of Debian or Ubuntu. At the time of writing, these are Debian 9 Stretch and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus.

We do recommend you choose Ubuntu, since it is easier to install than Debian. Ubuntu ISO images can be downloaded from https://www.ubuntu.com. It is recommended to use the latest LTS (long-term support) version available.

If you're just getting started with Linux, a ready-to-use image can be easier to start with. TurnKey Linux provides easy-to-use preinstalled images in several formats, including ISO. The ISO format will work with any virtualization software you choose, even on a bare-metal machine you might have. A good option might be the LAPP image, which includes Python and PostgreSQL, and can be found at http://www.turnkeylinux.org/lapp.

We should make sure we have an OpenSSH server installed, to be able to remotely work on the server. Ubuntu has that option available in the setup assistant, but it can also be installed from the following command line:

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server

After this, we can use any SSH client to connect to our Odoo host. In a Windows machine, a popular option is to use PuTTY. It can be downloaded from http://www.putty.org.

We can check our server's IP address, using:

$ ip addr show

Using an SSH client not only allows you to work on a remote server, it is also more comfortable to work with than the virtual machine console screens, providing better copy/paste support, and allowing you to choose window size, font type, and so on.