Many tutorials for creating an Ubuntu Server for Steem projects fail to point out the importance of creating a non-root user to perform actions. This is true for any server you may create. Almost under all actions unless specifically directed (and even then with a high amount of caution) you should not be logged into your server as root.
Following are very simple instructions for creating and using a non-root user for an Ubuntu Server:
Ubuntu 16.04
Logged on as root
$ adduser yournewusername
It will ask you for a password and then confirm plus five additional questions which you can just hit enter and then enter Y (please use very strong password, I won't preach here, it's your responsibility).
$ usermod -aG sudo yournewusername
(Above action unique to Ubuntu 16.04) This just added you new username to the sudo group and when you login as your new user you can perform most actions as root by:
$ sudo action
for instance:
$ sudo apt-get update
Ubuntu 14.04
Logged on as root
$ adduser yournewusername
It will ask you for a password and then confirm plus five additional questions which you can just hit enter and then enter Y (please use very strong password, I won't preach here, it's your responsibility).
$ gpasswd -a yournewusername sudo
(Above action unique to Ubuntu 14.04) This just added you new username to the sudo group and when you login as your new user you can perform most actions as root by:
$ sudo action
for instance:
$ sudo apt-get update
Logging Into Server Ubuntu 14.04 & Ubuntu 16.04
Regardless of your OS or client you simply change root and rootpassword with yournewusername and password.
root@server.com / rootpassword
becomes:
yournewusername@server.com / yournewstrong password
Sources:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/initial-server-setup-with-ubuntu-16-04
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/initial-server-setup-with-ubuntu-14-04