The Default Choice
Ubuntu Server is the OS I reach for at KnausDev when I’m setting up anything that needs to just work: client Hetzner machines, Proxmox VMs, production deployments. It’s the default for most businesses, most hosting providers ship it as an option, and most documentation assumes you’re running it. That ubiquity is the feature.
While NixOS runs my personal workstation and I genuinely prefer its declarative approach, Ubuntu Server is what I deploy for clients because it’s what their teams already know, what their ops people can maintain, and what won’t surprise anyone when they inherit the infrastructure.
How I Use It
Ubuntu Server shows up in nearly every project at KnausDev. It’s the OS underneath the Docker containers, the Nginx reverse proxies, and the PostgreSQL databases.
Where Ubuntu Server runs
- Client production servers: the standard OS on Hetzner dedicated machines I provision for client workloads
- Proxmox VMs: the default guest OS for most virtual machines in my homelab cluster
- Docker hosts: the base OS running containerized Laravel, Mailcow, and other services
- CI/CD runners: build environments that match production exactly
- Handoff-ready infrastructure: when a client will eventually manage their own servers, Ubuntu is what they’ll expect
Status
Active: default server OS for client and production infrastructure.