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Linux - Configure DNS server IP to resolve errors with apt-get update

Perhaps you have a new install of Ubuntu, and you are about to install docker or any other Linux packages. The first step is to update the application repositories using the sudo apt update command.

There is a very small possibility that you will get the error below if you are using a fresh install of the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver).



This error simply means that Linux is unable to connect to the official repository likely due to a DNS configuration or a network issue.

Here we try to help you resolve the DNS issue.

To resolve this, you must specify a DNS in your network settings. Well, there is one popular DNS that works well: Google's DNS. Follow through, please.

STEP 1: Go to the settings page of Linux (Ubuntu)


STEP 2: This should reveal a plethora of options. On the left pane, simply scroll down and click Network as shown below. This reveals your different network connections, for me, “enp0s3” is the adapter connecter to the internet. So, I must configure DNS for “enp0s3”. If you have more than one network adapter like me and you are not sure which is connected to the internet, click here to find out How many network cards/interfaces do I have and what's their IP.


STEP 3: This reveals a new configuration window as shown below. You should see a few tabs at the top of this new window. Simply click on the IPV4 tab and configure the exact values on the picture below.

That is, first disable automatic DNS, secondly set the DNS or DNS IP-address as 8.8.8.8. then click “Apply” to save the configuration.

 


That’s all, in just 3 steps we have successfully configured the appropriate DNS for the Ubuntu Desktop.

 NB: there were cases where we had to start the server, maybe twice, before we could successfully  use the sudo apt-get update

There are a few other reasons why you may have this error. For example, it could be that you are unable to download extensions from inside Microsoft’s VS Code Editor.

This will promptly fix your issue and give you some peace of mind.

We also tried to fix this issue directly from the command prompt to help those who may be stuck in a server without a graphical user interface. Sadly, this required the use of certain packages which were not shipped by default with the Ubuntu desktop which was used for this article.

Cheers! see you later in another wonderful Linux/System Admin tutorial.


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