This applies if you choose the following OS template:
debian-7.3.0-amd64-netinst.iso
This first step after getting your welcome email is to go to your VM in the account manager and start it up.
Give it a couple seconds to boot and then click on the Console button
The console uses Java, so you will need that to be installed. You may also need to confirm that you want to run the console.
The first screen you'll see is the Debian installer. Here is where you can choose what kind of install you want to do. We're going to do the install with the GUI.
The installer screen might not fit into the console area. You can click the Options button and change the scaling of the screen.
We need to choose the location, language, and keyboard we want to use for the system.
Since we haven't setup our network yet, you'll get a misconfiguration error. This is normal, just continue through the process.
This is where we setup the network. Use the following settings:
IP Address: Provided in your welcome email
Netmask: 255.255.255.192
Gateway: 69.10.62.129
Name Server Addresses: 8.8.8.8
Now we need to enter our hostname. This can be any unique name to identify the system.
Now we need to create a root password. We recommend 12+ characters and a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Using a password generator is a good idea.
Then we need to create a non-root account to login with. Pick the name, username, and password you want to use.
Now we need to select the timezone that we want to use. The server is physically located in the Eastern US timezone.
Now we need to setup our disks. To make things easier you want to use the guided mode and setup LVM.
You will only have one drive here to select. Everything on it will be deleted, but it's brand new so there's nothing there.
If you want to use this for hosting websites you'll want to setup separate /home, /usr, /var, and /tmp partitions. These are standard hosting partitions.
Confirm that you want to make the changes to your disk.
Now we need to choose the location to use for the package manager. This is where Debian downloads the software it needs. You'll want to choose United States.
Then choose the mirror to use. Using ftp.us.debian.org is generally recommended.
Unless you know that you want to connect through a proxy leave this blank. Normally this won't be used.
You can choose to particicate in their anonymous usage survey.
Now we need to select the software to install on the system. You can always add and remove features later. The ones selected in this image are standard for a hosting server. This step will run for several minutes while everything is installed.
Since there won't be any other OSes on the disk, we'll install the GRUB boot loader.
Everything is setup. The last step is to reboot the server.
When the login screen comes up that means everything has been installed correctly.
