How can I make Ubuntu server always install updates without asking?

Question

I would like to set some Ubuntu Server VM's to always pull updates (nightly) with out asking?

Answer 1

Have a look at cron-apt

Answer 2

There is an article here that will tell you how to disable the update pop-up.

You then need to run

apt-get update
apt-get -y upgrade

from root's crontab

Answer 3

i wouldn't recommend unattended updates, but you can do something like this:

create a file... update.sh for example, throw it in /usr/local/sbin/

#!/bin/sh
apt-get update
apt-get -y dist-upgrade

run chmod 700 /usr/local/sbin/update.sh and chown root.root /usr/local/sbin/update.sh

then in root's crontab, add a line:

15 03 * * * /usr/local/sbin/update.sh

this will kick off your apt-get update and apt-get -y dist-upgrade every night at 3:15am

or just:

15 03 * * * /usr/sbin/apt-get update && /usr/sbin/apt-get -y dist-upgrade

in root's crontab sudo crontab -e to edit it.

if you want to download only:

15 03 * * * /usr/sbin/apt-get update && /usr/sbin/apt-get -yd dist-upgrade