Rackspace Cloud servers are ultra-reliable and robust cloud based servers that can be configured with a variety base OS images. This walkthrough will take you step by step through creating and setting a base install of the popular Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx). Later walkthroughs will pick up where this walkthrough leaves off with setting up common webserver platforms and frameworks.

We begin by logging into our Rackspace Cloud Server control panel.

1. Add new server instance.
2. Select Linux tab, then Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid).
3. Type a unique name to identify the new server.
4. Select the desired hardware. I started with the least expensive; it is easy to scale up later if needed.
5. The Rackspace panel will give you a pre-generated password. Save this for later reference.
6. While the server is building you will want to install an SSH Client. If you are on Windows we recommend Bitvise Tunnelier (free for individual use).
7. Once the server build is complete, you will get an email with the public IP address and the root/admin password for your new Linux server.
8. Open your SSH Client and connect to the new server with the public IP address as the Host, Default Port 22, root for the username, and the auto-generated password from earlier for the password.  On successful connection you should get a console command window.
9. The first thing we should do is changed the root password. Since the auto-generated one was sent unencrypted via email it can no longer be considered safe. At the console prompt, type the command: passwd and hit enter. You will be prompted for the new password twice. Be sure to use an unique password that is fairly long, contains a mix of letters, numbers and at least one punctuation character. Save the new password in a secure location.

At this point you will have a working base install of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid) running on a Rackspace Cloud Server. The next walk through will help take you step by step for Installing the LAMP Frawework stack.

LAMP is an acronym for the Linux Apache MySQL PHP stack, which is a very popular web development framework. This walkthrough will guide you step by step the process of installing a base LAMP stack on a clean Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) server. If you do not already have an Ubuntu server, our previous walkthrough Creating a Rackspace Ubuntu Cloud Server will take you up to the point that this walkthrough picks up.

SSH into your Ubuntu server (see our Ubuntu setup walkthrough if you need help with this step)

1. Update the installer source repositories by typing the following command:
   sudo apt-get update (hit enter)
2. Install Apache:
   sudo apt-get install apache2 (hit enter)
   Type Y to confirm.
3. Once the Apache install is finished, you can confirm it works by opening a new browser window and browsing to either the local or public IP (http://ip-address) of your Ubuntu server. You should see a page that says "It Works!" if all went well.
4. Install MySQL Server:
   sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.1 (hit enter)
   Type Y to confirm.
   Enter a new password for the root MySQL user. Be sure to use a unique password that is fairly long, contains a mix of letters, numbers and at least one punctuation character. Save the password in a secure location.
5. Install PHP 5:
   sudo apt-get install php5 (hit enter)
   Type Y to confirm.

6. Install the GD library for PHP:
   sudo apt-get install php5-gd (hit enter)
   Restart Apache:
   /etc/init.d/apache2 restart (hit enter)

7. Finally we now install the MySQL module for PHP:
   sudo apt-get install php5-mysql (hit enter)

Now we have a clean base install of a LAMP server running on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx). If you are using a Hyper V server or the Rackspace Cloud, now would be a great time to make a snapshot backup of your server. We will pick up from here on the next walkthrough with installing and configuring Drupal.