Some old note I gathered for installing a new debian/ubuntu image. This may be somewhat general and a better versionmay be available somewhere :). Do check it out.
apt-get install debootstrap
debootstrap --arch i386 [ubuntu version] /vz/private/1?? http://archive.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu
vzctl set 1?? --applyconfig vps.basic --save
Set the name of the template:
echo "OSTEMPLATE=ubuntu-?.?" >> /etc/vz/1??.conf
# Ignore this if it shows - Warning: configuration file for distribution ubuntu-?-? not found default used
vzctl set 1?? --ipadd 192.168.x.y --save
vzctl set 1?? --nameserver 192.168.x.z --save
Update the sources list in /vz/private/1??/etc/apt/sources.list if needed
vzctl start 1??
vzctl exec 1?? apt-get update
vzctl exec 1?? apt-get -u upgrade
vzctl exec 1?? apt-get install ssh libedit2 openssh-client openssh-server
vzctl exec 1?? sed -i -e '/getty/d' /etc/inittab
vzctl exec 1?? rm -f /etc/mtab
vzctl exec 1?? ln -s /proc/mounts /etc/mtab
### Now the vps is ready to either run or to create a template
vzctl set 1?? --ipdel all --save
vzctl stop 1??
cd /vz/private/1??
tar czf /vz/template/cache/ubuntu-?.?-minimal.tar.gz .
# now cleanup
vzctl destroy 1??
To deploy use -
vzctl create 10? --ostemplate ubuntu-?.?-minimal --config vps.basic
