Setup Clean Debian OS for Your (Cloud) VPS

Step 1. Preparation

• A clean normally running true virtualization (e.g. KVM) VPS with GRUB 2 and VNC access. This script have been tested on SolusVM KVM VPS & Alibaba Cloud ECS with Debian 9 & Ubuntu 16.04.
• Then check /etc/default/grub with your preferred editor (e.g. nano or vi).
• Set GRUB_DEFAULT to debi select the installer to boot automatically after timeout.
• Make sure there's reasonable number for GRUB_TIMEOUT timeout. You can just set GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 which will be fine.
• Make sure there's no GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET and GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT. Just delete them.

Install dependencies:

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y install ca-certificates whois

Step 2. Run the Script

Replace following <OPTIONS> with your options.

sudo sh -c "$(wget -qO- https://github.com/brentybh/debian-netboot/raw/master/netboot.sh)" -- <OPTIONS>

Remember to enter your current user's password for sudo (if need) and then enter the new user's password (if not specified by --password).

All Options

• --template foobar Selected template (see below)
• --hostname debian Hostname. Precedence: provided value > reverse DNS record > the default value debian
• --protocol http Transport protocol to use with the repository mirror (not for the security mirror). Possible values: http, https, ftp, etc.
• --mirror deb.debian.org Hostname of the repository mirror (not for the security mirror)
• --directory /debian Directory of the repository mirror
• --suite stretch Selected suite to install (stable, testing, stretch, etc.)
• --username debian Username of the administrator account with sudo privilege
• --password secret Password of the account (if not specified, it will be asked interactively)
• --timezone UTC Time zone
• --ntp-server pool.ntp.org NTP server
• --upgrade full-upgrade Whether to upgrade packages after debootstrap (none, safe-upgrade, full-upgrade)
• --security-mirror http://security.debian.org/debian-security Specify a URL for the security mirror or set to true to use the same mirror as the repository mirror instead of the default one
• --filesystem ext4 Filesystem for partition
• --disk-encryption Enable full disk encryption. Since it can't be fully automated currently, you'll need physical console (VNC) access to go through the steps
• --ip 12.34.56.78 Configure network manually with an IP address (the following 3 network related options only work when an IP address is provided here)
• --netmask 255.255.255.0 Netmask for manual network configuration
• --gateway 12.34.56.1 Gateway for manual network configuration
• --dns "1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1" DNS for manual network configuration
• --include "ca-certificates curl fail2ban openssl whois" Include additional packages to install
• --manual Manually configure user account and disk partition, etc. Network connection, the repository and security mirrors, time zone and NTP server are already auto-configured
• --ssh-password installer_secret Enable SSH access to the installer with a password. You can login to installer user and continue installation manually or just check system logs.
• --ssh-keys https://example.com/.ssh/authorized_keys Enable SSH access to the installer with a URL of the file contains authorized public keys. (see above) You can't access with password if authorized public keys are provided here.
• --dry-run Generate preseed.cfg and save to current directory but don't actually do anything
• --architecture amd64 Specify an architecture (useful under CentOS)
• --boot-partition Use / as the boot directory for the GRUB boot entry instead of /boot, useful under LVM machines with an independent boot partition

Templates

You can select a template for quickly applying options. All custom settings will override template values.

china

• --protocol https
• --mirror chinanet.mirrors.ustc.edu.cn
• --security-mirror true
• --timezone Asia/Shanghai
• --ntp-server cn.ntp.org.cn
• --dns "156.154.70.5 156.154.71.5"

cloud

• --protocol https
• --mirror cdn-aws.deb.debian.org
• --security-mirror true
• --ntp-server time.google.com

Step 3. Entering Debian Installer

• Keep your SSH connection and open VNC console on your Provider's control panel.
• sudo reboot with your SSH and the VM should reboot.
• Switch to your VNC window quickly. You should enter the GRUB selection menu now.
• If you've configured correct GRUB_DEFAULT, it should be booted into installer automatically after timeout.
• Or, use your keyboard to select Debian Installer and enter it. Also, be quick, just do not miss the GRUB_TIMEOUT timeout you've set.
• Finally, you should see the screen of Debian Installer now. It will setup all things automatically and reboot when complete.