Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is landing next week, and I’m pretty excited about it. Every two years when a new LTS drops, it’s a good excuse to revisit how I’m doing things — whether that’s spinning up fresh VMs, upgrading servers that have been running for a while, or just making sure my post-install checklist is still where I want it. This release is no different, and I’ve got a series of articles planned around it.
Rather than scatter everything across the site and have you hunting for it, I’m using this post as a central hub. As I publish each piece in the series, I’ll update this article with links so everything stays in one place. Bookmark this one if you’re planning to do anything with Ubuntu 26.04 and want to follow along.
Why Ubuntu Server?
If you’ve followed CHNS.tech for any amount of time, you know Ubuntu Server is the backbone of pretty much everything I run in my homelab. It’s what sits under my Docker hosts, my Proxmox VMs, and most of my self-hosted services. When a new LTS comes out, I take it seriously — LTS releases are what I actually run in production (or as close to production as a homelab gets), so getting comfortable with the new version early matters.
Ubuntu 26.04 continues the LTS tradition with a five-year support window, which is exactly what I want for servers I’m not going to be rebuilding every year. Whether you’re spinning up something new or carrying forward an existing setup, this release is worth your attention.
What I’m Publishing
This series is going to cover three things I do every time a new LTS drops:
Installing Ubuntu Server 26.04 on a New Server A walkthrough of a clean install — what I choose during setup, what I skip, and the decisions that matter. Good starting point if you’re building something new or provisioning a fresh VM.
Upgrading an Existing Ubuntu Server to 26.04 Not everything gets rebuilt from scratch. I’ll cover upgrading a running server from 24.04 to 26.04, what to watch out for, and how to verify things didn’t break in the process.
My Post-Install Setup for Ubuntu Server 26.04 This is the one I find most useful to write and re-read. After the OS is on, there’s a checklist of things I always do before I consider a server ready — security hardening, tooling, configuration. I’ll walk through all of it.
Series Links
I’ll update this section as each article goes live. Check back here if you want to follow the full series.
- Installing Ubuntu Server 26.04 — Coming soon
- Upgrading an Existing Server to Ubuntu 26.04 — Coming soon
- My Post-Install Setup for Ubuntu Server 26.04 — Coming soon
Follow Along
If you don’t want to keep checking back, I do have an RSS feed — that’s the easiest way to catch new posts as they drop. I’ll be publishing these over the next few weeks as Ubuntu 26.04 releases and I get hands-on time with it.
More to come soon.
