Originally Posted by DeX Why do you need a database, php and webserver just to download torrents? If you want to initiate torrents remotely wouldn't some sort of command line command do it?
Anyway, Dugg the article. Definitely nice to see these kinds of software guides available if I need them.
It's required for the remote web access interface. The article mentioned that you could just use VNC to control a GUI torrent client if you were so inclined.
But it's helpful to have those installed anyways if you ever do any kind of development work.
Originally Posted by pendragon nice article.. i'm curious though, has anyone used/setup FreeNX or NoMachine's NXSever ? I hear it's faster than VNC.. but I've been having a bear of a time trying to set the darn thing up :(
I have and it is much better than VNC.
the NX web plugin can be used to access the computer securely from any computer with a web browser as well (just don't try playing games unless you're on gigabit LAN)
Im a total noob with these server things, can someone just answer a few questions:
Is it possible for me to create a website and have it hosted on this server that i create?
Can it be accessed by the public if this is the case? (as in the whole web? )
Im looking to create a website with a friend but dont wish to spend money monthly, can this allow me to host websites and create domains on the internet?
I hope im not too far off the mark in my understanding of this server thingy-me-bob you made :)
Originally Posted by Solidus Im a total noob with these server things, can someone just answer a few questions:
We all were once, don't matter...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solidus Is it possible for me to create a website and have it hosted on this server that i create?
Can it be accessed by the public if this is the case? (as in the whole web? )
Im looking to create a website with a friend but dont wish to spend money monthly, can this allow me to host websites and create domains on the internet?
I hope im not too far off the mark in my understanding of this server thingy-me-bob you made :)
Sure it does, just forward port 80 to the server and it'll be dishing out to the world wide web.
HOWEVER a word of warning/piece of advice. This guide had ease of setup in mind, not security. It has lots of services running, with minimum security. Internally (LAN) that doesn't matter that much. You generally know who is on your network, and what they can do. If you open up the server to the internet you lose that knowledge. There for you need to close up all back doors. I administrate some webservers, and they are all hosted on Debian based servers, so that's not that different from this guide (Ubuntu is Debian based), however, those servers don't have X systems running on them, just CLI. Next to none extra services (mostly SSH/FTP only), with the crucial things (SSH mainly) listening on non standard ports. Also, Apache2 makes use of modules. If you watch the install of apache closely you'll see it add mpm-prefork modules and such. Well, for frontline servers there are more secure modules that get my favour (like mpm-itk, or suphp if the site has PHP scripting).
Creating domains is something that's been done by DNS (if I understand correctly), so that you cannot do with this server.You can however get (buy) a DNS redirect and let it point to your IP. An other piece of advice, if you plan to host a site that gets a few visitors, you'll need a fast uplink (upload speeds). Clients (users that connect to your site) don't like to wait a long time for content to load.
All this just to say, it can be done without much hassle, but it won't be secure. If I were you, I'd look into a more secure way of implementing it. However, if it's just for testing, you're set, you have a Webserver (Apache2), scripting language (PHP5) and a database (MySQL 5) at your disposal. If you need more information about it, just open up a thread, there's plenty of experience floating around this forum, or just PM me to get some links to some good reads.
Well **** me! I never thought I'd see the day Bit-Tech do an article on linux!
Good read and should be enough to get people going.
However if all you want is a NAS then a much better option would have been to use FreeNAS, http://www.freenas.org as it does all the file sharing (FTP, SSH, Samba etc) and uses only 16mb of disk space to run in (they recomend just using the boot cd or installing it to an old USB key. While it wont do torrents or web serving it makes for a great NAS box and comes with easy to set up sotware raid.
I too am a noob as far as Linux goes,never used it and what's more this was probably only my 3rd artical I have ever read about using it. :D so when I say noob I mean it. Most of it faded to a blur which was expected by me and is no reflrction on the quality of the artical but the inability to be able to carry out the read/do MO.
This brings me to a request, downloadable PDF of the articals plz. :) It's going to help a lot to have readable print next to the smoking debris. Anywhoo downloading the iso as I type, you have caught my interest in Linux and I'll play in the safety of that for a bit after all let's walk before we drown . :(
downloadable pdfs is a fantastic idea could this be done on all articles i would love to have an archive of all the good articles here. im sure the new management structure would be keen on this.
on a side note i set up a home server using ubuntu and a brand new 690 + 3600x2ee computer a couple of months back but it kept losing connection after transfering files, also mp3's played of it would skip. i ditched it the idea of linux for Xp for the time being but this article has got me interested again. would anyone have any idea of why i was getting connection problems?
Well my gob is well and truly smacked . Downloaded the Ubuntu iso for my AMD system then burned to a CD. Set my bios to boot from CD, it did and now I'm typing this on here under Linux. I have not done a single other thing and I'm simply lost for words. First surprise is my wireless mouse found and working, router/internet, graphics card all up and running without a single error or dialog box just perfect.
Going away now to wallow in my found status of Guru.
Thanks for the (enormous) list of typo's... I reread it a couple of times but they seem to have slipped me... Well, Brett has some work to do now ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by airchie Now, lets check if our hard work did it's job. From another workstation (a Windows XP one, for instance), open
\\(whatever the IP of the server is)\homes
Some people may not know how to check and/or change their IP in linux.
Very true... Viewing the IP is easy, in a terminal, do
If you want more Linux guides then I highly recomend that you head over to http://www.howtoforge.com As they have some really great easy to follow guides. Plus the ubuntu forums are really good with plenty of helpful people on them.
If you want more Linux guides then I highly recomend that you head over to http://www.howtoforge.com As they have some really great easy to follow guides. Plus the ubuntu forums are really good with plenty of helpful people on them.
I'm running a server aswell with pretty much the same functionality atm with Debian (Etch/testing) and it runs like dream.
Gbit connection will allow me to move files at 40MB/s to my pc atm.
Services running atm:
SSH
Webmin
Torrentflux
PHP
MySQL
Apache
FTP
AJAX File browser (tip!)
PHP Systeminfo
Folding@Home (for Bit-Tech team 33346 ;))
I only used the command line to configure it, but i think the way it's described here is pretty much the way to go for beginners.
Running a server the way you guys described in the article is nice as a project for people to get familliar with Linux.
Originally Posted by Bluephoenix might as well shoot yourself in the foot now and get it over with.
dude, don't underestimate the speeds you can get with software raid under *NIX or *BSD systems, might i remind you of the fact that the cpu's in most of those servers only have to run a mere 16mb'ish OS (tried FreeNAS myself, works great but was kinda limited for other stuff) only have to transfer some files, so they don't have to bother running other services like windows would have to do.
Remember you have an even faster cpu doing the XOR calculations needed to manage the RAID set then most Areca,Promise, etc. controllers would use.
Attaining speeds of 70~80 MB/s should be no problem at all for a FreeNAS server running a software raid and gbit lan.
Link between them: Regular Gigabit link (no jumbo frames) but through a decent switch.
This resulted in read and write times >100MByte / sec (tested by using a 100MB .iso file that I wrote to and from the mounted share from the local HD (IDE). I actually think the local harddrive was the bottleneck. The load on the fileserver never went above 15%CPU and 50MB RAM
Its not about speed, its about the R in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
with software RAID, it is next to impossible to recover the data if the software governing the array or the OS dies, because unlike with a hardware discrete card doing the work, you can't migrate the array to another system. and the software is unique, whereas if the hardware card dies, just put in another and the computer and the array don't know the difference. and with software, you have the CPU overhead, where with hardware there is no overhead and the array appears as a single drive letter, which makes some tasks much easier.
while software RAID may be faster, it isn't true RAID and I would never use it unless it was for processing only, like using twin Raptors in RAID 0 for paging.
Originally Posted by Bluephoenix Its not about speed, its about the R in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
with software RAID, it is next to impossible to recover the data if the software governing the array or the OS dies, because unlike with a hardware discrete card doing the work, you can't migrate the array to another system. and the software is unique, whereas if the hardware card dies, just put in another and the computer and the array don't know the difference. and with software, you have the CPU overhead, where with hardware there is no overhead and the array appears as a single drive letter, which makes some tasks much easier.
while software RAID may be faster, it isn't true RAID and I would never use it unless it was for processing only, like using twin Raptors in RAID 0 for paging.
Sorry to burst your bubble, you can... Mdadm rebuilds arrays based on headers on the disks, regardless of the system they are in (presonally witnessed a mobo change). If your entire system, excluding your HD's fails (power surge), software RAID is safer then hardware IMHO. Also on dedictated server boxes (like this one), the CPU overhead isn't a problem. In workstations I fully agree, get HW RAID cards, but on dedicated boxes, let the CPU handle it.
And I wouldn't call software RAID 'not true raid', it uses the drives redundantly... just like HW raid does...
it depends on what software you use, most software is finicky when it comes to rebuilding, and is very easy to screw up, there are a few that do indeed work, such as the one you mentioned, but it still isn't advisable for someone without good knowledge to attempt it. the hardware offers the alternative of being very easy to deal with, and also is (relatively) idiot-proof by comparison.
the other major aspect is rebuild time, because of the complexity it takes much longer for a user to transfer and rebuild a software array then simply moving the disks and card or replacing the card and moving.
mostly my point was coming from the bootable array point of view, if you were using a cheap RAID1 card for the bootable set, and using the software for the larger storage array, that would make sense. but if you were booting off the software array and the motherboard goes, then you're up the creek with no paddle.
Originally Posted by Bluephoenix it depends on what software you use, most software is finicky when it comes to rebuilding, and is very easy to screw up, there are a few that do indeed work, such as the one you mentioned, but it still isn't advisable for someone without good knowledge to attempt it. the hardware offers the alternative of being very easy to deal with, and also is (relatively) idiot-proof by comparison.
RAID shouldn't be done without knowledge...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluephoenix the other major aspect is rebuild time, because of the complexity it takes much longer for a user to transfer and rebuild a software array then simply moving the disks and card or replacing the card and moving.
About 4 hours on a 1800 MHz cpu, for a 3*200GB RAID 5 array, so not too shabby IMHO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluephoenix mostly my point was coming from the bootable array point of view, if you were using a cheap RAID1 card for the bootable set, and using the software for the larger storage array, that would make sense. but if you were booting off the software array and the motherboard goes, then you're up the creek with no paddle.
Bootable is something else, that requires some extensive knowledge, because the raid tools have to be loaded before the root filesystem is loaded.
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But it's helpful to have those installed anyways if you ever do any kind of development work.
I have and it is much better than VNC.
the NX web plugin can be used to access the computer securely from any computer with a web browser as well (just don't try playing games unless you're on gigabit LAN)
Is it possible for me to create a website and have it hosted on this server that i create?
Can it be accessed by the public if this is the case? (as in the whole web? )
Im looking to create a website with a friend but dont wish to spend money monthly, can this allow me to host websites and create domains on the internet?
I hope im not too far off the mark in my understanding of this server thingy-me-bob you made :)
HOWEVER a word of warning/piece of advice. This guide had ease of setup in mind, not security. It has lots of services running, with minimum security. Internally (LAN) that doesn't matter that much. You generally know who is on your network, and what they can do. If you open up the server to the internet you lose that knowledge. There for you need to close up all back doors. I administrate some webservers, and they are all hosted on Debian based servers, so that's not that different from this guide (Ubuntu is Debian based), however, those servers don't have X systems running on them, just CLI. Next to none extra services (mostly SSH/FTP only), with the crucial things (SSH mainly) listening on non standard ports. Also, Apache2 makes use of modules. If you watch the install of apache closely you'll see it add mpm-prefork modules and such. Well, for frontline servers there are more secure modules that get my favour (like mpm-itk, or suphp if the site has PHP scripting).
Creating domains is something that's been done by DNS (if I understand correctly), so that you cannot do with this server.You can however get (buy) a DNS redirect and let it point to your IP. An other piece of advice, if you plan to host a site that gets a few visitors, you'll need a fast uplink (upload speeds). Clients (users that connect to your site) don't like to wait a long time for content to load.
All this just to say, it can be done without much hassle, but it won't be secure. If I were you, I'd look into a more secure way of implementing it. However, if it's just for testing, you're set, you have a Webserver (Apache2), scripting language (PHP5) and a database (MySQL 5) at your disposal. If you need more information about it, just open up a thread, there's plenty of experience floating around this forum, or just PM me to get some links to some good reads.
Good read and should be enough to get people going.
However if all you want is a NAS then a much better option would have been to use FreeNAS, http://www.freenas.org as it does all the file sharing (FTP, SSH, Samba etc) and uses only 16mb of disk space to run in (they recomend just using the boot cd or installing it to an old USB key. While it wont do torrents or web serving it makes for a great NAS box and comes with easy to set up sotware raid.
This brings me to a request, downloadable PDF of the articals plz. :) It's going to help a lot to have readable print next to the smoking debris. Anywhoo downloading the iso as I type, you have caught my interest in Linux and I'll play in the safety of that for a bit after all let's walk before we drown . :(
on a side note i set up a home server using ubuntu and a brand new 690 + 3600x2ee computer a couple of months back but it kept losing connection after transfering files, also mp3's played of it would skip. i ditched it the idea of linux for Xp for the time being but this article has got me interested again. would anyone have any idea of why i was getting connection problems?
Going away now to wallow in my found status of Guru.
Fixed, thanks! -- Da Dego
Changing it is a bit harder. Again in a terminal:
auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.0.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 192.168.0.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255 gateway 192.168.0.1for an IP of .100, with a gateway of .1Save and exit, restart the networking to apply
If you want more Linux guides then I highly recomend that you head over to http://www.howtoforge.com As they have some really great easy to follow guides. Plus the ubuntu forums are really good with plenty of helpful people on them.
Thanks I'll take wonder over and see. ;)
Gbit connection will allow me to move files at 40MB/s to my pc atm.
Services running atm:
SSH
Webmin
Torrentflux
PHP
MySQL
Apache
FTP
AJAX File browser (tip!)
PHP Systeminfo
Folding@Home (for Bit-Tech team 33346 ;))
I only used the command line to configure it, but i think the way it's described here is pretty much the way to go for beginners.
Running a server the way you guys described in the article is nice as a project for people to get familliar with Linux.
might as well shoot yourself in the foot now and get it over with.
dude, don't underestimate the speeds you can get with software raid under *NIX or *BSD systems, might i remind you of the fact that the cpu's in most of those servers only have to run a mere 16mb'ish OS (tried FreeNAS myself, works great but was kinda limited for other stuff) only have to transfer some files, so they don't have to bother running other services like windows would have to do.
Remember you have an even faster cpu doing the XOR calculations needed to manage the RAID set then most Areca,Promise, etc. controllers would use.
Attaining speeds of 70~80 MB/s should be no problem at all for a FreeNAS server running a software raid and gbit lan.
peace
Fileserver (iSCSI): AMD Athon 1200, 256MB RAM, Debian unstable, software RAID 5 with an Logic Volume on top.
Receiver: Intel Xeon 2.8GHz, 1GB ECC, Debian unstable.
Link between them: Regular Gigabit link (no jumbo frames) but through a decent switch.
This resulted in read and write times >100MByte / sec (tested by using a 100MB .iso file that I wrote to and from the mounted share from the local HD (IDE). I actually think the local harddrive was the bottleneck. The load on the fileserver never went above 15%CPU and 50MB RAM
I completely agree, you may not get the speeds that you would with some high end raid cards, but not everyone can afford those items.
FreeNAS brings NAS boxes to the masses in true opensource spirit (the base for it is FreeBSD).
with software RAID, it is next to impossible to recover the data if the software governing the array or the OS dies, because unlike with a hardware discrete card doing the work, you can't migrate the array to another system. and the software is unique, whereas if the hardware card dies, just put in another and the computer and the array don't know the difference. and with software, you have the CPU overhead, where with hardware there is no overhead and the array appears as a single drive letter, which makes some tasks much easier.
while software RAID may be faster, it isn't true RAID and I would never use it unless it was for processing only, like using twin Raptors in RAID 0 for paging.
And I wouldn't call software RAID 'not true raid', it uses the drives redundantly... just like HW raid does...
the other major aspect is rebuild time, because of the complexity it takes much longer for a user to transfer and rebuild a software array then simply moving the disks and card or replacing the card and moving.
mostly my point was coming from the bootable array point of view, if you were using a cheap RAID1 card for the bootable set, and using the software for the larger storage array, that would make sense. but if you were booting off the software array and the motherboard goes, then you're up the creek with no paddle.