How to setup Ubuntu server

Once you have created ubuntu instance or EC2 file, you will need to connect to instance using SSH

SSH to instance

cmod 400 ssh-2026-01-01.key
# connect to instance
ssh -i ssh-key-2026-01-01.key ubuntu@<server-ipv4-address>

ensure OS is up to date

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

create swap file:

A swap file (or swap partition) acts as overflow memory when your physical RAM fills up. If you are using instance with RAM of just 1 or 2 GM, you might have issues while installing node modules however if you create swap file, this process will be smooth.

Here's how to create swap memory on Ubuntu:

# Create a 2GB swap file
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile

# Set correct permissions
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

# Set up the swap space
sudo mkswap /swapfile

# Enable the swap
sudo swapon /swapfile

# Verify it's working
sudo swapon --show
free -h

This will create a swap file but it is temporary and it will be lost when you reboot, to make it permanent, Add this line to /etc/fstab:

# Edit fstab
sudo nano /etc/fstab

# Add this line at the end:
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

Recommended swap sizes:

• 2GB RAM → 2-4GB swap
• 4GB RAM → 2GB swap
• 8GB+ RAM → 2-4GB swap (or less if you have plenty of RAM)

Optional: Adjust swappiness (how aggressively system uses swap)

# Check current value (default is usually 60)
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

# Set to 10 (use swap less aggressively - good for systems with decent RAM)
sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10

# Make permanent
echo 'vm.swappiness=10' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf

To check your current swap:

free -h
swapon --show