One-Click Wireguard

Hey there, welcome! :)

One-Click Apps are run at the moment your Linode is deployed, so you wouldn't be able to deploy a Debian 9 Linode then use OCA to setup WireGuard.

If you'd be happy with a Debian 9 Linode running WireGuard, you can just go ahead and deploy with our OCA. A Nanode should be fine for this.

If you're interested, you can take a peek under the hood and see what the WireGuard OCA does here:

• https://cloud.linode.com/stackscripts/401706
• https://cloud.linode.com/stackscripts/401712 (this is a helper script that the OCA uses to call a few functions)

Debian is the upstream parent of Ubuntu. In Canonical-speak, Ubuntu "adds value" to Debian -- most notably a fancy desktop environment that some people find easy to use. However in a server environment, the desktop environment just adds unneeded overhead and (IMHO) spyware.

I moved to Debian 10 last year after using Ubuntu since 12.04. If you want a rock-solid system, use Debian. If you want bells/whistles (that you probably won't be able to use…with the requisite accompanying bugs) and being bombarded with advertising for Canonical services, use Ubuntu. YMMV.

What I would do is set up your nanode with Debian 9 & Wireguard & then upgrade it to Debian 10. Again, YMMV.

-- sw

P.S. If you do go with Ubuntu, eschew all releases but LTS (long-term support) releases. They come around every two years. The current LTS release is 20.04. 18.04 was the LTS before that.

@stevewi

I respect your opinion, but I'd just to like to share my own thoughts as another point-of-view:

In Canonical-speak, Ubuntu "adds value" to Debian -- most notably a fancy desktop environment that some people find easy to use. However in a server environment, the desktop environment just adds unneeded overhead and (IMHO) spyware.

The Server distribution of Ubuntu (that Linode deploys) has no desktop environment. There is no "spyware". It is very minimal. A clean installation of 18.04 LTS I've just done this morning is using <100MB RAM.

If you want bells/whistles (that you probably won't be able to use…with the requisite accompanying bugs) and being bombarded with advertising for Canonical services, use Ubuntu.

The only advertising in a server environment is a few plain-text messages in the message of the day. You can see what they are at any time by going here: https://motd.ubuntu.com/

You can turn this off editing the /etc/default/motd-news file and changing ENABLED to 0. You can even change the URL to your own web page if you don't want Ubuntu's news.

I've been using Ubuntu since 14.04, and I've only encountered one bug - and that was a conflict between an Ubuntu update and a third party repository I was using. It wasn't Ubuntu's fault, but it was still resolved within 24 hours. Of course YMMV.

Two really useful features I use that are Ubuntu/Canonical-specific:

• PPAs - install the latest versions of software using PPAs (effectively Canonical-hosted APT repositories)
• Live kernel patching - reduces reboots for critical security updates. Yes this is commercial, but it's free for 3 machines (which is enough for me) or included in the Ubuntu Advantage support subscription

Thank you, @_Brian, this is very helpful information. I didn't want to setup an initial Debian 9 linode (or Nanode), then attempt the OCA for Wireguard only to discover I couldn't do that. This is exactly what I needed to know. I will use the OCA and then select the plan that I want during the OCA installation process.

I don't have any issues using Debian 9 or 10 as opposed to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS since I've used Debian many times in the past on my own daily driver PCs and quite like the distro.

Thank you, again, everyone for your quick responses.