Topic: Headless Home Media Server with Ubuntu Server 10.04

[baustin]

I finally built/configured a Linux based Headless Media Server that is up and running exactly how I had hoped. The goal was to build a machine that could serve audio and video files to my Windows 7 machine. This is not intended to be a RAID machine as most of the data stored here is already on external drives. I simply wanted to be able to access all of the music without swapping drives.

My girlfriend's mom was tossing an Intel Core 2 Quad with 3GB of RAM and a motherboard with 5 sata connections. I picked up a somewhat future proof case from Newegg and snagged 2 (I should have gotten more) Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB drives that were on sale. More drives will be added shortly. Transfer speeds seem to be limited by my roommate's old router which apparently is not a gigabit router. 1080p MKV from the Ubuntu box are playing flawlessly on the Win 7 machine as I type.

For those that might be nervous, this setup was super easy and very quick.

Ubuntu Server 10.04 Installation

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/step-by-step-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx-lamp-server-setup.html
-This is for a LAMP server, there are a few things I did differently
-Partitioning:
--As I used a small IDE strictly for the OS and no RAID, I chose Guided, Entire disk w/ LVM
--I did not partition the data drives (I did that later)
--I did not encrypt the home directory
-Chose NO automatic security updates
-For Software I chose (Space Bar) Samba


Ubuntu Server 10.04 GUI Installation

Ubunbtu Server is command line, so I installed a GUI:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91E7rhnsyCw

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
sudo reboot


Boot Directly to [user] and ROOT access

As this is a machine without a monitor, mouse or keyboard, I set the unit up to bypass the login screen. Once the machine has booted and you've logged into the desktop for the first time:

system>administration>login screen>log in as [your user name]

Also, for some of this stuff you'll need root access. ubuntu wants to keep newbs like me from mucking anything up, so you have to gain root access.
in the terminal:
$ sudo passwd root

For the most part, I made many changes with the GUI, so I logged out of my [user] account and logged back in as root.


Power Management

System>preferences>Power Management
-Never put the computer to sleep
-spin down disks when possible
-When the power button is pressed: shutdown

   
ROOT: Manage the Data Drives - Formatting and Mounting

Format:
system>administration>disk utility
-find the data drive and format to ext4
-TaperJ suggested this command to get the most space out of the drive
My data drive was labeled as sdb1, you may need to adjust
tune2fs -c0 -i0 -m0 /dev/sdb1

Auto Mount the drive at system startup:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/ubuntu-tips-and-tricks.htm#Auto-Mount-Drives-at-System-Startup
-I realized that my data drive was not mounting at startup
-in addition to the suggested permissions, i also selected: allow any user to mount, allow a user to mount/unmount, the owner of the device can mount (this is the step that actually started mounting my data drives on boot)


ROOT: sharing the drive over the network

The samba protocol was added during installation, but you'll need a GUI.
Navigate to the software center, search for Samba and install the GUI.

Once the Samba GUI is installed
system>administration>samba
-click the plus button to add a new share
-browse to the directory (mine shows up as /media/sdb1)
-give a share name
-allow writable and visible
-allow access to everyone

you may also need to make samba start on boot, i think this is the command:
update-rc.d smbd defaults

also did this. may not have been necessary, but its working:
places>file system>media>sdb1
-right click>properties
-Permissions
--i set allow owner, group and others to create and delete files
--apply permissions to enclosed files
-Share
--share this folder
--allow others to create/delete files
--create share


Map the Network drive in Windows 7

At this point, the computer should:
-boot directly to the desktop as [user] without a log in screen
-samba should be running with your data drive being shared
-the drive should be visible in windows

Map the network drive in Windows
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-a-shortcut-to-map-a-network-drive


Remote desktop connection to view your ubuntu desktop from windows

http://www.liberiangeek.net/2010/08/update-connect-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx-rdp-windows/

in ubuntu terminal, to install xrdp (program to communicate with windows remote desktop):
-sudo apt-get install xrdp

in ubuntu terminal:
-type ifconfig to find your inet addr (the computer's LAN address)

in windows remote desktop
-type the above number into windows remote desktop

There is an issue with this step caused by a conflict between samba and xrdp. The Remote Login works, but only once until the system is reset.
You can read about the issue here. The solution is at Step 12: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xrdp/+bug/321040

Solution
-Login as ROOT
-use the text editor in ubuntu to open up the /etc/pam.d/common-auth and /etc/pam.d/samba files
-cut the string [auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate] from file /etc/pam.d/common-auth
-paste the string [auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate] to file /etc/pam.d/samba right under string [@include common-auth]


Boot from Command Line

Once you are done configuring your system, you may want set it to boot to the command line rather than the GUI.

Notes:
-This will simply disable the GUI, NOT uninstall it
-You will still be able to start the GUI from the command line
-You can still use the Remote Desktop Connection listed above to Log In to the desktop from Windows (the Ubuntu box will remain on Command Line)
-From what I can tell, much like the GUI setup, you simply need to start the machine and all settings are in place (ie - no need to log in as [user])

To disable the GUI on boot:
-From the Command Line: sudo gedit /etc/default/grub (this will open the Ubuntu Boot Loader in the text editor with Root permission)
-Change the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" (mine simply said quiet) to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"
-Update Grub: sudo update-grub

To start the GUI from the command line:
startx &

[baustin]

If any of you Linux gurus out there have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

[rastasean]

I have a ubuntu server with 10.10 (which you will have after you update and then upgrade) with a couple IDE drives. Since I mostly use linux in my house, I use NFS and mount the drives from the server (jackknife) to my other machines. works very nice.

I would recommend installing torrentflux so you can have the ubuntu server use this application to download/upload torrents without it being on your main machine. Once the download of a particular torrent is done, you can copy to windows 7, play from ubuntu server directly, or copy to some media player.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TorrentFlux
http://sourceforge.net/projects/torrentflux/
This article is a little out of date but it will still contain some helpful information: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=268985


This is also what I would recommend...
have the ubuntu server run with the GUI for a little bit so you can see what linux looks like and how you interact with it but then change the boot startup to just be text based and use something like putty to ssh into the machine when you need to make changes.
Most linux distros you would edit the runlevel to tell it if you want cli or gui but ubuntu is different. These couple articles may help explain how to disable the gui when it boots up
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/prevent-xorg-from-starting-in-linux/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1607830
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1769615&highlight=disable+GUI

here's putty for w7 machine: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

have fun!

[sparkey]

pegging the thread....

[baustin]

any reasons as to why you would not run the GUI?

also, can you explain to me how to move the string as mentioned here?

There is an issue with the above step that can be found here.
The solution is at step 12: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xrdp/+bug/321040

If somebody explain how to safely make this adjustment, I'd be super grateful!

I guest all of you have samba installed in the System (If no it can be any additional package that has own pam authorizatuion schema). I will show what is wrong on the example with samba.
When you install samba package the installer adds an authorization method string into /etc/pam.d/common-auth file, it looks like:

auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate

From the outer hand file /etc/pam.d/sesman contains inctruction:

@include common-auth

So this way the samba authorization method take part in authorization and sesman crashes on it.
The solution is just move string [auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate] from file /etc/pam.d/common-auth to file /etc/pam.d/samba rigth under string [@include common-auth] and all will be fine.

[Gordon]

Transfer speeds seem to be limited by my roommate's old router which apparently is not a gigabit router.

get a gigabit switch.  run a cable from the router to it.  then plug the server and windows machine into the switch.  that's what I did.  works great and I got a 5 port switch for $30 after rebate.  rebate came pretty fast as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122128

[sparkey]

My only suggestion would be to add hosts entries to each of the boxes so that you can resolve by name, rather than IP....

in ubuntu terminal:
-type ifconfig to find your inet addr (the computer's LAN address)

in windows remote desktop
-type the above number into windows remote desktop

[rastasean]

If your ubuntu server cannot ping the w7 by name (and if your w7 cannot ping US by name) I would do what sparky says and add w7 and US in their hosts files.

I say no gui because it will take more RAM and anything you can do in GUI can be done in CLI.

A gigabit switch will increase the transfer speeds between the two systems no doubt about it since you're using SATA.

[baustin]

thanks for the feedback so far!

the remote connection step works fine however it only allows 1, onetime remote log in. once the machine is rebooted, you can log back in (again, only once).

the problem is caused by a conflict between samba and xrdp

there is a solution (listed below) which requires moving an authorization string from one file to another (which is above my knowledge level)

The solution is just
-move string [auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate]
-from file /etc/pam.d/common-auth to file /etc/pam.d/samba rigth under string [@include common-auth]

Remote desktop connection to view your ubuntu desktop from windows

http://www.liberiangeek.net/2010/08/update-connect-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx-rdp-windows/

in ubuntu terminal:
-type ifconfig to find your inet addr (the computer's LAN address)

in windows remote desktop
-type the above number into windows remote desktop

There is an issue with the above step that can be found here.
The solution is at step 12: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xrdp/+bug/321040

If somebody explain how to safely make this adjustment, I'd be super grateful!

I guest all of you have samba installed in the System (If no it can be any additional package that has own pam authorizatuion schema). I will show what is wrong on the example with samba.
When you install samba package the installer adds an authorization method string into /etc/pam.d/common-auth file, it looks like:

auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate

From the outer hand file /etc/pam.d/sesman contains inctruction:

@include common-auth

So this way the samba authorization method take part in authorization and sesman crashes on it.
The solution is just move string [auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate] from file /etc/pam.d/common-auth to file /etc/pam.d/samba rigth under string [@include common-auth] and all will be fine.

[rastasean]

So this just tells you to edit the file and move some text around.

You can use a text editor from ubuntu and open up the /etc/pam.d/common-auth and /etc/pam.d/samba
to make the switch.

You can also do this with the terminal using a simple text editor like nano

Code: [Select]

nano /etc/pam.d/common-authand

Code: [Select]

/etc/pam.d/samba

I hope this will help you out.

[baustin]

worked like a charm. thanks!

not that i need to be logging into the ubuntu computer regularly... i need it right now to transfer data from external drives and eventually control torrents.

So this just tells you to edit the file and move some text around.

You can use a text editor from ubuntu and open up the /etc/pam.d/common-auth and /etc/pam.d/samba
to make the switch.

I hope this will help you out.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Cool. I'm in the process of turning a Pogoplug / Seagate FreeAgent Dockstar into a Torrent server. The device cost $40 and you can install Linux on it.

I've got Linux installed and running (no GUI), and pretty sure I have rTorrent installed correctly.

Next I have to get ruTorrent running so I can have a graphical interface via my Win7 machine (through the browser). And finally I need to figure out how to share the files with my network (SAMBA) so I can transfer my download files to my computer and vise-versa.

I'll probably grab another Pogoplug in the near future to use as a media server. Depends on if I can get it to work with my PS3 and also a Sonos.

I'm doing this on the Dockstar which seems to be a bit more expensive now. I also just bought a Pogoplug to keep stock (at least for now). You can do the same thing with it. I'm keeping mine stock for now. I'm going to put the Pogoplug over at my brothers house to send backups to over the internet.

Basically what I want to do is have all of my media available to me wherever I go, and use the least amount of electricity as possible. Right now I have everything (streaming, torrenting, etc) running on an old computer that is on 24/7. It's a bit overkill for most of the things I do. My only issue I think I will have with the Pogoplug type devices is streaming video on my LAN since that needs a little more processing power.


Here is a good deal on the Pogoplug:

http://www.adorama.com/COCPOGOE02.html?utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Shopping%20Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase


Install Debian onto the Pogoplug:

http://jeff.doozan.com/debian/


Install rtorrent:

http://forums.rutorrent.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=588414659c5407c13e5f52fc46e42bb6&topic=256.0


SAMBA instructions (still haven't tried this):

http://www.liquidsilver.org/2010/07/expanding-your-pogoplug/


More Pogoplug related links:

http://hackaday.com/2009/08/21/openpogo-an-alternative-to-pogoplug-software/

[H₂O]

If you ever connect it to a "head" or TV, you may want to try XBMC - a Kick but media player (that can be controlled through an iphone/ipad or andriod device).

You may want to consider setting up a uPNP server so you can stream the content without Samba, i.e. VLC, etc (heck XBMC may work as well)

Any reason you installed the "Server" edition?  I think the desktop edition is good enough for using as a media server and simplifies some of your steps.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

XBMC has a upnp server built into it. Also, you can run headless and use the XBMC web interface for many tasks.



 

[rastasean]

Any reason you installed the "Server" edition?  I think the desktop edition is good enough for using as a media server and simplifies some of your steps.

if he wants to run as headless, he doesn't need the GIU and it sounds like that's the plan so the CLI is very easily the best solution.

[rePat]

I'll chime in with another plug for my favorite Open Source project.

 http://www.amahi.org 

It has all this stuff, and much, much more pre-configured out of the box.  I have used it since 2008.  It takes the pain out of setting up Samba Shares, VPN, SSH, etc.  There are tons of Apps packaged for one-click install, like DLNA, UPnP, many Multimedia apps, as well as, Developer apps.  Amahi itself is free, but a nominal fee is charged for the packaged apps to help fund the project.  Current version is based on Fedora 14, but there is a Unbuntu/Debian version in development.  There is an active Community and IRC channel (#amahi on freenode.net).  Although I've been toying with Linux since 1995, I am no command line guru, so love the ease of use of Amahi. 

I do have to admit I am biased,  I like it so much that I volunteer my time as part of the Core Team. 

I urge anyone interested in a home server, to check out the above link, and/or drop by the IRC Channel if you have questions.


Thanks,

Pat

[baustin]

Edit to add boot to GUI instructions

I'll chime in with another plug for my favorite Open Source project.

 http://www.amahi.org 

It has all this stuff, and much, much more pre-configured out of the box.  I have used it since 2008.  It takes the pain out of setting up Samba Shares, VPN, SSH, etc.  There are tons of Apps packaged for one-click install, like DLNA, UPnP, many Multimedia apps, as well as, Developer apps.  Amahi itself is free, but a nominal fee is charged for the packaged apps to help fund the project.  Current version is based on Fedora 14, but there is a Unbuntu/Debian version in development.  There is an active Community and IRC channel (#amahi on freenode.net).  Although I've been toying with Linux since 1995, I am no command line guru, so love the ease of use of Amahi. 

I do have to admit I am biased,  I like it so much that I volunteer my time as part of the Core Team. 

I urge anyone interested in a home server, to check out the above link, and/or drop by the IRC Channel if you have questions.


Thanks,

Pat

I actually considered Amahi. It looks pretty stacked... maybe too stacked for what I need for a headless unit?

[baustin]

And while I have the attention of couple of you...

Using the command: top
-my RAM usage when booting from the command line seems to be about 300MB out of 3GB of available RAM and a 6GB swap
-when sitting idly, the only running process is INIT
-if I stream a 1080p MKV file to my Win 7 machine, it pops up to 350MB
-of course, when streaming, SMBD (samba) pops into the process list

Does this sound about right? Seeing as how I'm using such a small amount of RAM, would it save me power to pull out 2 of the 4 sticks of RAM bringing me down to a total of either 1GB or 2GB? Again, this machine will ONLY be seeding music and video to my main machine.

[H₂O]

Any reason you installed the "Server" edition?  I think the desktop edition is good enough for using as a media server and simplifies some of your steps.

if he wants to run as headless, he doesn't need the GIU and it sounds like that's the plan so the CLI is very easily the best solution.

Maybe but the second item in the setup list was to install the Ubuntu GUI - I was just suggesting a way to simplify the setup. 

Server also installs a bunch of other memory hungry components such as mysql, etc (I can't remember if these are enabled by default but they do get installed).   You can manually add in any of the server components to the desktop install as well.

X11/Windows isn't going to cripple a quad core media server and should not affect video playback - heck it's been around since 1984 - you may get some additional bloat with the newer Window Managers but not like the MS bloat.

[baustin]

Any reason you installed the "Server" edition?  I think the desktop edition is good enough for using as a media server and simplifies some of your steps.

if he wants to run as headless, he doesn't need the GIU and it sounds like that's the plan so the CLI is very easily the best solution.

Maybe but the second item in the setup list was to install the Ubuntu GUI - I was just suggesting a way to simplify the setup. 

Server also installs a bunch of other memory hungry components such as mysql, etc (I can't remember if these are enabled by default but they do get installed).   You can manually add in any of the server components to the desktop install as well.

X11/Windows isn't going to cripple a quad core media server and should not affect video playback - heck it's been around since 1984 - you may get some additional bloat with the newer Window Managers but not like the MS bloat.

i think mysql, samba, etc are optional installs:


also, ubuntu server system requirements are far less than that of ubuntu desktop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29#System_requirements
300mhz vs 1ghz processor
128mb ram vs 384mb

basically i went with server because i was thinking it would have a smaller footprint

[H₂O]

that's fair - but regardless the bloat for the desktop is not that bad - better than Windows.

[baustin]

that's fair - but regardless the bloat for the desktop is not that bad - better than Windows.

without question. that's the main reason i went with linux for the server box over say windows server.

i've toyed with linux installations before, but this is the first time that i've actually put a machine to use. i will definitely consider linux as a main OS in the future.

the installation of this server setup was SUPER easy after i figured out what i was doing. that's the main reason i put together this "tutorial". once the OS and GUI are installed (which is easy but takes time), the rest of the tweaks literally take 5 minutes.

[H₂O]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

It is pretty good and can definitely replace a windows PC, i.e. Open Office works very well, (Not for the hardcore Excel users though, etc).

[rastasean]

I'll chime in with another plug for my favorite Open Source project.

 http://www.amahi.org 

This is a really cool project. here's an interview some people may like: http://twit.tv/show/floss-weekly/112

[rastasean]

I wouldn't worry about trying to save power from having less ram. Voltage on ram is nearly the equivalent to plug in power. 

Glad to hear the ubuntu server install went so well for you. maybe you can download http://www.virtualbox.org/ for your w7 and play around with other distros.


A sidenote, slackware 13.37 was surprisingly easy to install. I read the book before doing it and read people many people who said it was hard and complicated but I found it easy and I installed from usb to hard drive. One nice thing about slackware is that you don't need to download crap to update it like you do with many of the other distributions.

[H₂O]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

Maybe I should have been clearer - the early slackware days when you installed it from 20 or so floppies (you would dl the floppies from a ftp server at UNC for the components you wanted, then make the disks and install).  I am talking around '94-'95 timeframe.

[rastasean]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

Maybe I should have been clearer - the early slackware days when you installed it from 20 or so floppies (you would dl the floppies from a ftp server at UNC for the components you wanted, then make the disks and install).  I am talking around '94-'95 timeframe.

  that would be a bitch. 

[rjp]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

Maybe I should have been clearer - the early slackware days when you installed it from 20 or so floppies (you would dl the floppies from a ftp server at UNC for the components you wanted, then make the disks and install).  I am talking around '94-'95 timeframe.

  that would be a bitch. 

Been there, done that - except it was by modem to a long-distance BBS to get the floppy images. Public access internet was still a rare bird in those days.