--- title: Why Ubuntu Became My Cloud Engineering Home Base | daily.dev description: A cloud engineer shares why Ubuntu Server became their go-to Linux distribution for cloud work. Key reasons include APT package management simplicity, LTS... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-ubuntu-became-my-cloud-engineering-home-base-eywlpkvj7 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why Ubuntu Became My Cloud Engineering Home Base | daily.dev og:description: A cloud engineer shares why Ubuntu Server became their go-to Linux distribution for cloud work. Key reasons include APT package management simplicity, LTS... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-ubuntu-became-my-cloud-engineering-home-base-eywlpkvj7 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/eYWlpkvJ7.png og:image:alt: Why Ubuntu Became My Cloud Engineering Home Base og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why Ubuntu Became My Cloud Engineering Home Base **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A cloud engineer shares why Ubuntu Server became their go-to Linux distribution for cloud work. Key reasons include APT package management simplicity, LTS releases with five years of security patches, official hardened images on AWS, Azure, and GCP, and an unmatched community. A practical example covers scripting baseline security hardening across 40 servers using Ubuntu's built-in tools. Recommended as the best starting point for beginners entering cloud computing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why is Ubuntu so commonly used as the default OS for cloud tutorials and EC2 instances? Ubuntu is the most widely used Linux distribution on public cloud platforms, so documentation, community support, Terraform examples, and Stack Overflow answers overwhelmingly default to it. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud all maintain official hardened Ubuntu images, and LTS releases like 22.04 and 24.04 get five years of security patches, making it a practical starting point for beginners. _Cloud beginners choosing a Linux distribution can find more real-world takes like this on daily.dev._ ### How can I quickly harden multiple Ubuntu servers for a compliance audit? Ubuntu's built-in unattended-upgrades and ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) tools make scripting baseline security straightforward. One engineer reported hardening a fleet of 40 servers in a single afternoon using these tools, a task that would take days on a less beginner-friendly distribution. _Engineers scripting server hardening at scale can find similar practical experiences on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Ubuntu Server: a platform made for enterprise scale](https://daily.dev/posts/ubuntu-server-a-platform-made-for-enterprise-scale-sxm3fjmtq) · Ubuntu · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [I ignored Ubuntu Server for many years because of its Desktop counterpart's reputation, but it's better than I expected](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ignored-ubuntu-server-for-many-years-because-of-its-desktop-counterpart-s-reputation-but-it-s-bet-t7vzxnkad) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Hands-On: Setting Up My First Production-Ready Ubuntu Server](https://daily.dev/posts/hands-on-setting-up-my-first-production-ready-ubuntu-server-bbfuvve1z) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Ubuntu LTS is the best Proxmox LXC base, even though Debian seems like the obvious choice](https://daily.dev/posts/ubuntu-lts-is-the-best-proxmox-lxc-base-even-though-debian-seems-like-the-obvious-choice-mohrv7q2v) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#cloud](https://daily.dev/tags/cloud), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#ubuntu](https://daily.dev/tags/ubuntu) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-ubuntu-became-my-cloud-engineering-home-base-eywlpkvj7) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why Ubuntu Became My Cloud Engineering Home Base","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-ubuntu-became-my-cloud-engineering-home-base-eywlpkvj7","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-ubuntu-became-my-cloud-engineering-home-base-eywlpkvj7"},"datePublished":"2026-07-17T19:34:02.018Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:48:50.943Z","description":"A cloud engineer shares why Ubuntu Server became their go-to Linux distribution for cloud work. 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