Vietnam National University,

International School

FINAL REPORT

OPERATING SYSTEM
Install Ubuntu Server and study on file access permision

Lecturer: Dinh Tan Pham

Course Code: INS207602

Class: AIT2022

Group: 4

Ha Noi, 05/ 2024

  Member list and Tasks:
No Name Student’s ID Tasks
1 Đặng Công Minh 22070298 Support code, write report and slides
2 Nhâm Minh Huy 22070245 Install Ubuntu Server operating system
3 Mai Văn Quang 22070037 Run demo on file access permission control

 Project Requirements:
- Install Ubuntu Server operating system on a virtual machine
- Demo on file access permission control on Ubuntu Server

I. Introduction and Overview:

1. About Ubuntu
 Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-
source software. Ubuntu is officially released in multiple editions: Desktop, Server, and
Core for Internet of things devices and robots. The operating system is developed by the
British company Canonical, and a community of other developers, under a meritocratic
governance model. As of April 2024, the most-recent release is and the current long-term
support release is 24.04 ("Noble Numbat").
 As with other Linux distributions, all of the editions can run on a computer alone, or in a
virtual machine. An upgrade to Ubuntu is released every six months, with long-term
support (LTS) releases every two years. Canonical provides security updates and support
for each Ubuntu release, starting from the release date until the release reaches its
designated end-of-life (EOL) date. Canonical generates revenue through the sale of
premium services related to Ubuntu and donations from those who download the Ubuntu
software.
Ubuntu is named after the Nguni philosophy of ubuntu, "humanity to others" with a connotation
of "I am what I am because of who we all are". Since the release of the first version in 2004,
Ubuntu has become one of the most popular Linux distributions for general purposes and is
backed by large online communities like Ask Ubuntu. Numerous community-editions of Ubuntu
also exist. It is also popular for cloud computing, with support for OpenStack.

2. History of Ubuntu
 The history of Ubuntu begins in 2004 when South African entrepreneur Mark
Shuttleworth founded Canonical Ltd., a company dedicated to developing and promoting
open-source software. Inspired by the philosophy of Ubuntu, which emphasizes
interconnectedness and sharing, Shuttleworth aimed to create a Linux-based operating
system that would be freely available to everyone.
 On October 20, 2004, the first version of Ubuntu, known as Ubuntu 4.10, was released. It
was based on the Debian distribution of Linux and featured the GNOME desktop
environment. The initial release focused on delivering a user-friendly and intuitive
computing experience, making Linux more accessible to a wider audience.
 Ubuntu quickly gained attention for its simplicity, stability, and strong community
support. The project's commitment to providing regular updates and security patches,
along with its emphasis on usability, attracted a growing number of users and
contributors. The Ubuntu community played a crucial role in shaping the development of
the operating system, contributing to its growth and success.
  In 2006, Ubuntu introduced its Long-Term Support (LTS) releases, which are designed to
provide an extended support period for stability-focused environments such as servers
and enterprise deployments. LTS releases occur every two years and receive five years of
security updates and maintenance, providing users with a reliable and predictable
platform.
 Over the years, Ubuntu expanded its offerings to include different flavors tailored to
specific desktop environments. For example, Kubuntu uses the KDE Plasma desktop,
Xubuntu utilizes the Xfce desktop, and Lubuntu is designed for low-specification
hardware using the LXQt desktop. These flavors allow users to choose the desktop
environment that best suits their preferences and hardware requirements while still
benefiting from the underlying Ubuntu infrastructure.
 In 2011, Ubuntu made a significant change to its user interface with the introduction of
Unity, a shell for the GNOME desktop environment. Unity aimed to provide a more
streamlined and touch-friendly interface, aligning with emerging trends in mobile and
tablet computing. While Unity received mixed reactions from the community, it
showcased Ubuntu's commitment to innovation and adaptation.
 In 2017, Ubuntu announced that it would be transitioning from Unity back to the
GNOME desktop environment, starting with Ubuntu 17.10. This decision was made to
consolidate efforts and leverage the broader GNOME community's expertise. Returning
to GNOME allowed Ubuntu to focus on delivering a more polished and cohesive user
experience while benefiting from upstream GNOME development.
 Since its inception, Ubuntu has become one of the most popular Linux distributions
worldwide. It has gained recognition and adoption in various domains, from personal
computers and servers to cloud infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Ubuntu's influence extends beyond its own ecosystem, as it serves as the foundation for
other popular distributions such as Linux Mint and elementary OS.
 In addition to the desktop and server editions, Canonical has also introduced Ubuntu
Core, a version of Ubuntu designed specifically for IoT devices, and Ubuntu Touch, a
mobile operating system for smartphones and tablets. These initiatives further reflect
Ubuntu's commitment to expanding its reach and embracing new technologies.
 Throughout its history, Ubuntu has remained true to its core principles of openness,
accessibility, and collaboration. The Ubuntu community continues to play a vital role in shaping
the operating system's development, ensuring that it remains a reliable, user-friendly, and free
platform for individuals, organizations, and communities around the world.

II. Project
1. Install Ubuntu server operating system on a virtual machine:
 Step 1: Access Download Ubuntu Desktop | Ubuntu to download Ubuntu iso file

 Step 2: Access to VMWARE Workstation to create new virtual machine

 Step 3: Chose Typical then click next

 Step 4: Browse to Ubuntu iso file then click next
 Step 5: Enter information of personalize Linux then click next
 Step 6: Select Browse to choose where the operating system will be saved and
downloaded then click next
 Step 7: Setting Maximum disk size: 20GB then chose Store virtual disk as a single file
then click next
 Step 8: Click customize Hardware to set Memory to 4096 MB then click Finish to
complete process
2. Demo of file access permission control on Ubuntu Server:
 For a demo of controlling access to files on Ubuntu, you can use the following method:
 - Step 1: Create a file: First, create a file for demo. You can create a file by using the
“touch” command:
touch testfile.txt
- Step 2: Check access: Use the ls -l command to check file access:
ls -l testfile.txt
- Step 3: The permission structure in the result of the ‘ls -l’ command in Ubuntu is
displayed as follows:

-rwxr-
xr--

 In which:
First character: Interface for the object type (file, folder, or link symbol). It may be:
- '-' : The object is a file.
- 'd': Object is a directory.
- 'l': Object is a link symbol.

 Next 9 characters: Representation of file/folder permissions. It is divided into three

groups, each with 3 characters, describing the permissions of owners, groups and other
users:
- Read (R): Allows reading the content of files or listing directories.
- Write (W): Allows modifying the content of a file or creating, deleting or renaming files
in a directory.
- Execute (X): Allows executing this file if it is a program or accessing files in the
directory if it is a directory.

 For example, if you see '-rwxr-xr--':

- The owner has read (r), write (w) and execute (x) permissions.
- The group has read (r) and execute (x) permissions.
- Other users have read permission (r).
- This right applies to three different subjects:
- User (U): Owner of the file or folder.
- Group (G): Group of files or folder properties.
- Other users (O): Everyone except the owner and group.4. To control access to files on

 To set access permissions for the owner, group, and everyone else on Ubuntu, you can
use the chmod command. Here is the basic syntax of the chmod command:
chmod [permissions] [file/folder path]
 In there:
- [permissions] represents the permissions you want to set for the file or folder. This
permission can be represented using symbols such as u (owner), g (group), o (everyone
else) combined with + (add permission), - (remove permission) and = ( replace
permission). Permissions can be r (read), w (write), x (execute), or numeric symbols
(permission digitization).
- [file/folder path] is the path to the file or folder for which you want to change
permissions.
- For example, to set read and write permissions for the owner, read permissions for the
group, and no access permissions for everyone else on a specific file, you can use the
following command:
chmod u=rw,g=r,o= my_file.txt

 In this example:
- u=rw sets read and write permissions (‘rw’) to the owner (‘u’).
- g=r sets read permission (‘r’) for group (‘g’).
- o= does not give everyone else (‘o’) any rights (‘=’).
- Note that you need administrator rights or ownership of files/folders to be able to change
their access permissions.

 You can change file permissions at runtime using ‘chmod’ and ‘sudo’ commands. The
‘sudo’ command is used to execute a command as root (administrator), allowing you to
make changes to the system that require special permissions.

Here's how you can do this:

- Use the command sudo chmod to change file permissions. For example:
sudo chmod u+rwx my_file.txt

In there:
- ‘sudo’: allows you to run commands as root.
- ‘chmod’: is the command to change file permissions.
- ‘u+rwx’: sets read, write, and execute permissions to the owner of the file.
- ‘my_file.txt’: is the name of the file for which you want to change permissions.

After entering the above command, the terminal will ask you to enter the owner's password or
administrator password (depending on the system's configuration). Please enter the
corresponding password and press Enter.
When you enter the password and press Enter, the system will execute the chmod command as
root and change the file's permissions according to your requirements. Note that you need
administrator rights to use the sudo command and change file permissions.

 Change the owner and owner group of the file: To change the ownership of a file in
Ubuntu, you can use the ‘chown’ command. Here is the syntax of the command:
chown [username/username:groupcode] [file/folder path]

In there:
- [username]: is the new username you want to make the owner of the file or folder.
- [groupcode]: is the new group number (optional) that you want to set for the file or
folder. If you don't specify a group code, the user is added to their default group.
- [file/folder path]: is the path to the file or folder for which you want to change
ownership.
- For example, to change the owner of file "example.txt" to user "user1" and group
"group1", you can use the following command:
sudo chown user1:group1 example.txt