Personal server ideas

[Snayler]

Hey community!

I'm currently trying to set up a server@home for personal use, and I'm wondering which services you recommend. The rig is an old iBook G4 laptop, 1,33Ghz processor and 768Mb RAM. I already installed a debian OS, and I'm thinking of implementing the following services:
- SSH (check);
- File Server;
- VPN;
- HTTP Tunnel.

Is there anything else you guys find interesting to have?

Cheers!

[iTpHo3NiX]

Well I guess it depends on what you want to do.

1. SSH
This is used to connect to your server from a computer as usually servers don't have a monitor, so you would use an application like PuTTy to connect and get shell access to your box (terminal command line)

So I would recommend SSH for a server

2. File Server
I guess that would be an FTP, and if you need it look for an FTP daemon (FTPd) You can then send and receive files from the box. If you download torrents, you could even use it as a seedbox, by setting up ruTorrent

3. VPN
Good if you want to connect to this box to mask your IP or gain access to your local network without actually being on your local network

You can set up LAMP as well if you want to set up and/or test web pages (also would be needed for setting up a seedbox)

You can also install something like XBMC and have it stream your music, movies, and pictures to compatible devices (PS3/Xbox[360]/Mobile Phones/Other Computers/etc)

It really just depends on what you want to use it for

[Snayler]

Hey! Thanks for your input skidiot.h. The seedbox idea really attracts me.
As for the File server, I was more inclined to NFS, because I've used smb earlier and I've read that it's a little insecure to use it over the webz. Oh, and I can sFTP to the machine trough SSH, so there's no need for the FTP redundancy. The VPN and HTTP Tunel are for me to be able to bypass firewall restrictions. Maybe a proxy would also do some good.

Well I guess it depends on what you want to do.

One thing I've had in mind for ages is to make my own music server controlled by phone. That way, I could just plug my earphones to an old smartphone and use it as a wireless headset + controller. I would probably set the system up, try it once and never use it again, but making it work is most of the fun for me, so... VLC and Salling Clicker seem like a good way to do it, but I have to research some more and check all my options.

[proxx]

Wellll in that case check this out.
This really awesome.


https://code.google.com/p/android-xbmcremote/


As a matter of fact I was just at the point of setting this up myself.
I let you know how it went.

------


And I dont know how much into security you are nor how much into linux.
But there are some pretty cool things you could do.

Use it as a
1 Gateway
2 Local Caching DNS server (improves web loading times)
3 Squid proxy (Filter Add's ," tracking websites" etc etc etc)


Also dont use samba, blegh.
Samba sucks , SMB sucks.
Indeed SFTP is the way to go.

Tip; Hook in a 1000mbit network card



Are you using linux clients?

[iTpHo3NiX]

Setting up rTorrent/ruTorrent:

https://evilzone.org/tutorials/installing-rutorrentrtorrent-on-debian/

As for using your android as a remote/streaming player, XBMC is the way to go

[Snayler]

Wellll in that case check this out.
This really awesome.
https://code.google.com/p/android-xbmcremote/
As a matter of fact I was just at the point of setting this up myself.
I let you know how it went.

Unfortunately I don't own an Android phone, only a symbian one. But I've already found some xbmc apps for symbian, so maybe I'm in luck. Thanks for the tip!

Tip; Hook in a 1000mbit network card
Are you using linux clients?

Changing the network card won't do any good since my ISP limits upload speeds at 800Kbps (The bastards don't want me hosting services). As for clients, both linux and windows.

I had another idea for the server, use it as a surveillance system, with motion detection and images being sent to a dropbox/Gdrive for access anywhere. It won't do me any good since my room is always locked when I'm not there, but it would be fun to have it working.

[iTpHo3NiX]

Changing the network card won't do any good since my ISP limits upload speeds at 800Kbps (The bastards don't want me hosting services). As for clients, both linux and windows.

I had another idea for the server, use it as a surveillance system, with motion detection and images being sent to a dropbox/Gdrive for access anywhere. It won't do me any good since my room is always locked when I'm not there, but it would be fun to have it working.

1. If its a local server, having a good Ethernet card makes all the difference. You will make local transfers and streaming MUCH faster. If you want your server accessible via internet, then you will get those speeds.


2. LAMP... Linux...Apache...MySQL...PHP/PERL...
Why use a public service like dropbox or Gdrive, use your server to access files anywhere, such as sFTP as was mentioned.

[Snayler]

1. If its a local server, having a good Ethernet card makes all the difference. You will make local transfers and streaming MUCH faster. If you want your server accessible via internet, then you will get those speeds.

2. LAMP... Linux...Apache...MySQL...PHP/PERL...
Why use a public service like dropbox or Gdrive, use your server to access files anywhere, such as sFTP as was mentioned.

I guess you're right. The dropbox idea was in case the server got stolen, I would get the stealer's photo. But I can achieve this with a secondary server hosting sFTP on a different location, which seems to be a better option.

I've been trying to compile XBMC from source, since there are no deb packages for powerpc architecture. It's a PITA having to install all those missing libraries, but I guess it's the way to go.

[iTpHo3NiX]

I've been trying to compile XBMC from source, since there are no deb packages for powerpc architecture. It's a PITA having to install all those missing libraries, but I guess it's the way to go.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_for_Linux

[Snayler]

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_for_Linux

I've read that before, but I actually missed the debian part. I assumed it didn't exist, which was odd. Well, that makes my life so much easier. Thanks!

EDIT: The xbmc version for my version of debian (squeeze) is 10.0, and the latest stable release is 11.0. I'll keep trying compiling from source and I'll try using the repos if I fail.

[silenthunder]

I've got the exact same laptop sitting at home with a broken harddrive, I'd love to set it up as a personal file sharing server.. but ATA harddrives for laptops are kinda hard to come across:/ I suppose I can try ebay or something.

[Snayler]

Ok, everything from my first post is up and running now. I've taken so long because I'm currently finishing my course's final project (building a whole networking solution for a company who wants to grow overseas), which is consuming most of my time.

Services implemented:
- SSH
- VPN
- HTTP Tunnel
- File Server (NFS)

I had to give up xbmc because although it compiled correctly, the hardware couldn't run it smoothly. But I've showed it to my brother (who has been dreaming of building a media server) and he just loved it. We will be implementing it this holidays on a slightly better machine, just for fun.

Future projects (for after the final project's end):
- Seedbox (thanks, skidiot.h)
- Proxy
- RogueAP
- Backup Solution (I'm thinking rsync with cron, for automation)

Any suggestion, feel free to leave it here.
Cheers!

[iTpHo3NiX]

what you should do is also throw a mame arcade in there and disguies your proxy/seedbox/etc as an arcade and you can even get some buttons and switches a joystick some wood and make it fuckin legit

[Daemon]

Sorry I haven't posted here before snayler, this project is actually almost exactly what I've been planning for awhile now. I'm also going to.be running debian, I'm just waiting until I move to do this (next month, so excited! ) as ill have a ~30mb/s connection which should be decent for a home server imo.
Anyways, some things I've experienced with a testbox at work:
In order to transfer files TO the server, install ssh on the server and download an scp client for your remote box (win7 here) I was able to easily move config files I had saved to my laptop to the server (servers usb port is broken and I'm not allowed to mess with it)
I've also installed tightvnc because I'm following a guide (see end of post) that uses a web panel to create virtual servers for my own enjoyment and pleasure. Its been nice to either pop open ssh if I need a shell, ir connect with a vnc client if id rather access the web browser, am having troubles with the cli, or just because I can!!
Btw, this looks really cool and makes you seem uber smart to non-tech savvy people. Wanna go for the gold? Be all hush hush and act like its a comp. You hacked. Give it a government looking background, and act all secretive. Connect via ssh first and pretend to be hacking it with lots of fancy looking commands like tar -xvf | grep foo | pwd and watch them gasp in awe. Finally close ssh and open up vnc, to show off your "hack" 

Lol but back on topic...
Anyways ill be setting up LAMP on mine and turning a portion of my server into a file server. Then I also want to have hosting for several websites on there as well. I'm leaving off vnc, only ssh scp and sftp protocols will be allowed on it. Though I may add an email server as well...
Ill be sure to let you know man, keep us updated with your project too please.

And good luck with the rest


Edit*
Forgot the link lol
 http://www.howtoforge.com/virtual-multiserver-environment-with-dedicated-web-mysql-email-dns-servers-on-debian-squeeze-with-ispconfig-3

[Snayler]

what you should do is also throw a mame arcade in there and disguies your proxy/seedbox/etc as an arcade and you can even get some buttons and switches a joystick some wood and make it fuckin legit

That's actually a very good idea. I've zero experience with wood work, but I think I can manage. I've also seen some guide on how to build the wood board (with USB connector + buttons + joystick), so I may very well try that idea.
"Officer, that's only an arcade machine. It's not my fault someone hacked it!" 

I'm just waiting until I move to do this (next month, so excited! ) as ill have a ~30mb/s connection which should be decent for a home server imo.

Well, when you compare that with my 1,2mb/s down, ~100kb/s up connection, that's really good! If only I could find a decent Internet connection in my neighbourhood...

Btw, this looks really cool and makes you seem uber smart to non-tech savvy people. Wanna go for the gold? Be all hush hush and act like its a comp. You hacked. Give it a government looking background, and act all secretive. Connect via ssh first and pretend to be hacking it with lots of fancy looking commands like tar -xvf | grep foo | pwd and watch them gasp in awe. Finally close ssh and open up vnc, to show off your "hack" 

LOL! That reminded me of a few days back, when I was at a friend's house and someone started torrenting like hell, making it impossible for the others to access the internet, so I just fired up nmap to see how many people were connected. I just said "Ok, there are 9 people connected to the same network" and one of the guys who was with us started acting all excited like "OMG ur a hacker? That's so cool!". I mean , it was just nmap running on a terminal window, but somehow, all those characters running down the terminal made his eyes glow. Don't get me started on his reaction when I started a simple mitm attack.

Anyway, I don't like others to look at me like I'm a hub3r 1337 h4x0r, because I'm not. I have some knowledge, and I learn quick (genetic gift from my father), but I'm just a person like everyone else. And I think it brings unnecessary attention on me, which could turn against me someday... ("So, I heard you're a hacker... And someone hacked my bank account... 1 + 1 = 2").

Anyway, back on topic: Thanks for the link Daemon, I'll look into it. If I finish the arcade part, I'll also post some photos to show you the final result.

Cheers!