Install prerequisites

Install qemu and supporting utilities:- sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-bin ubuntu-vm-builder bridge-utils virtinst

Download Ubuntu

At the time of writing, 18.04 is the latest. I usually store ISOs in a separate directory to the VM images, so feel free to adjust the below to suit. wget http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04.1/ubuntu-18.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso

Create a guest

Create a guest VM. Again, the below settings are really a minimum requirement, so adjust to your tastes. virt-install --name=dokku --vcpus=1 --memory=1024 --cdrom=ubuntu-18.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso --disk size=10 This will open up virt-viewer so you can see the console. Alternatively, you can use the --graphics vnc option to enable the VNC server.

Install Ubuntu

Install Ubuntu. You can accept the defaults. You might need to enable the universe repository, which you can do by editing /etc/apt/sources.list (see here for more information).

Install Dokku

Download the Dokku installer:- wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dokku/dokku/v0.12.12/bootstrap.sh Have a look at bootstrap.sh before running it, making sure nobody’s snuck anything nefarious in there. If you’re feeling particularly paranoid, bootstrap.sh itself pulls the Docker install script, so you might want to grab that too and give it a once-over before continuing. Run the installer:- chmod +x bootstrap.sh sudo ./bootstrap.sh

Configure Dokku

Open http://<your vm IP>/ in a browser, and tell Dokku:-

• your SSH public key
• a hostname
• whether you want to enable virtualhost naming

Once you hit Finish Setup, Dokku will shut down the web server and redirect you to http://dokku.viewdocs.io/dokku~v0.12.12/deployment/application-deployment/, giving you the first steps to deploying apps to Dokku.