14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical has laid down their plans for the Ubuntu Server installer for the upcoming Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) operating system series.
During the development cycle of the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS operating system, which should debut in late April 2020, Canonical wants to make the Ubuntu Server installer faster and more comfortable for its server users by dropping support for the Debian-installer based classic server installer and replacing it with their more modern, in-house built subiquity server installer.
"With [Ubuntu] 20.04 LTS, we will be completing the transition to the live server installer and discontinuing the classic server installer based on debian-installer (d-i), allowing us to focus our engineering efforts on a single codebase. The next-generation subiquity server installer brings the comfortable live session and speedy install of Ubuntu Desktop to server users," said Michael Hudson Doyle, software engineer at Canonical.
New features coming to the Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS installer
Among the new features that have already landed in the server installer during the development cycle of Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS, we can mention the implementation of the autoinstall specification, enablement of SSH (Secure Shell) into an installer session, a new guided resilient install option, as well as support for vtoc (Volume Table of Contents) partition tables used by direct-access storage devices (DASD) on the s390x (IBM System z) architecture.
However, since the initial release as part of the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system, the Ubuntu Server installer received RAID and LVM support, including support for encrypted LVMs for offline installs, support for arm64, ppc64el, and s390x architectures, self-update support, Netboot support, integrated error reporting, support for installing latest updates during installation, the ability to reuse of existing partitions, support for configuring network bonds and VLANs, as well as to switch to a shell for debugging purposes.
Canonical invites those curious to experience the new Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS installer to give it a try by downloading the Ubuntu Server live server daily images. Dubbed Focal Fossa, the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS operating system will be Canonical's 8th LTS (Long-Term Supported) release and promises numerous new features and improvements, as well as all the latest GNU/Linux technologies and Open Source components.
