Tag: Linux

Keeping your Ubuntu server secure and up-to-date is crucial to minimizing the risk of vulnerabilities. One effective way to ensure timely patching of critical security issues is to enable automatic updates using unattended-upgrades. Here’s how to configure it step by step.

Cronjob Onliner:

/usr/bin/apt-get update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive /usr/bin/apt-get --assume-yes upgrade && reboot

Or the real deal 🙂

TLDR;

sudo apt install unattended-upgrades
sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades
sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades
sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades

Step 1: Install unattended-upgrades

First, you need to install the package that handles automatic updates. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo apt install unattended-upgrades

This will install the necessary package to automate the upgrade process.

Step 2: Configure unattended-upgrades

Once the package is installed, you need to configure it. Run the following command to launch the configuration process:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades

During this process, you’ll be asked whether you want to enable automatic updates. Make sure to select “Yes” to enable it.

Step 3: Adjust Configuration Files

To further customize the behavior of automatic updates, you can modify some configuration files.

1. Open the main configuration file to specify which packages to automatically update:

   sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

In this file, you can select specific origins or repositories from which packages should be updated, such as security updates.

2. Open another configuration file to control the frequency of updates:

   sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades

In this file, you can specify the interval for how often the system should check for updates. It typically looks something like this:

   APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
   APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

These settings indicate that the package list is updated daily, and the system performs unattended upgrades once a day as well.

Conclusion

With these steps, you’ve successfully set up automatic security updates on your Ubuntu server. This will help keep your system secure without needing constant manual intervention. While this is a good practice for keeping your server updated, it’s always important to regularly check logs and ensure everything runs smoothly.