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#1 2012-05-25 16:09:25

sobering
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From: Canada
Registered: 2012-04-12
Posts: 15
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[SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

Hey guys,

I'm not asking for any troubleshooting help in this thread, I'm just looking for some advice on the right way to approach setting up a home file/media server. Also, I understand that Arch is not necessarily a server distro. I like Arch, though.

These are the primary goals of the server:
- Store media (music, movies, books, documents) in a single place
- SSH + GNU Screen + rTorrent so I can SSH in and manage torrents from my work/phone
    - The completed downloads would be automatically organized into the shared folders
- Mediatomb to access media from PS3
- Samba to access the share from other computers in the house
- Minecraft server for me and my buddies

I don't really need too much help with installing the software, but my current approach is completely flawed and I'm just looking for my advice.

Right now I've just created a new user for myself called "sobering" and another user called "sharedfiles." I SSH in and run rTorrent as the "sobering" user and when the downloads are done they get sent to the "sharedfiles" home folder, which is the folder that my family and PS3 are currently retrieving media from via Samba and MediaTomb respectively.

That just seems so wrong to me. How would you suggest I go about setting this up? I'm not too terribly new to Linux, but this is my first time setting up a home server and I just want to learn some of the best practices. What kinds of users would you create to handle what tasks, would you create a dedicated user to own all of the shared media, dedicated user for the minecraft server?, etc.

Again, installing and general configuration I'm alright with doing, no problems there. I just need to learn how to properly approach and setup this kind of thing. I just feel like installing everything in my personal user account is flawed.

Thanks for any help you guys can give,
Wannabe Sysadmin

Last edited by sobering (2012-05-27 19:33:17)

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#2 2012-05-26 17:11:23

tritron4
Member
Registered: 2012-04-14
Posts: 153

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

Well I have all this running on server with 14TB of hard drive space. I have xen that runs number of server 2008 instances and few arch linux instances. I have installed subsonic for music and logitech media server. My outdoor speakers are are hooked up to amp and sound card  and  squeezeslave this let me play music in my back yard. I can control music from any device (android ios and etc). I use subsonic so my family friends can play music on their devices. I have samba and mysql server to serve xbmc boxes. I also have mythtv to record tv and then the shows are transcoded and stored on server. Flexget with transmission lets me download shows and puts them in proper folders.
The key is to configure samba to give optimal performance. You dont want 5 mb/s over gigabit.

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#3 2012-05-26 23:16:07

anrxc
Member
From: Croatia
Registered: 2008-03-22
Posts: 834
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

I don't really need too much help with installing the software, but my current approach is completely flawed and I'm just looking for my advice.
Right now I've just created a new user for myself called "sobering" and another user called "sharedfiles." I SSH in and run rTorrent as the "sobering" user and when the downloads are done they get sent to the "sharedfiles" home folder, which is the folder that my family and PS3 are currently retrieving media from via Samba and MediaTomb respectively.

Why is it flawed? Mount your storage in /mnt and setup /mnt/storage/{Backup,eBooks,Videos,Music} directories for your primary user. Then export storage and parts of it with appropriate servers; NFS, Samba, Lighttpd, minidlna, mediatomb, edna or other audio server, etc.


Edit: My question is already answered

I just feel like installing everything in my personal user account is flawed.

Well hopefully you detached your media storage from your OS installation, ie. on a separate RAID array, so they are not dependant on each other. Then see above again.

Last edited by anrxc (2012-05-26 23:32:01)


You need to install an RTFM interface.

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#4 2012-05-27 19:29:52

sobering
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2012-04-12
Posts: 15
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

@triton4 Thanks for the info! It's not quite the information I was looking for, but thanks for taking the time to give your input.

@anrxc This is exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks for your advice. My media storage is currently dependant on the OS installation but that's only because I don't have a separate drive to put it on. That's the next step.

Thanks again for all your replies. I'll mark this as solved.

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#5 2012-05-27 19:34:57

swanson
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2011-02-05
Posts: 759

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

For bittorrent Tranmission and Transdroid for the phone is great!

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#6 2012-05-27 20:38:14

sobering
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2012-04-12
Posts: 15
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

swanson wrote:

For bittorrent Tranmission and Transdroid for the phone is great!

Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately I got rid of my Android phone for an iPhone 4. I regret that decision now, but at the time I couldn't find an Android phone that I really liked. Right now my solution to managing torrents on my Mac is using an iPhone SSH client to log into my server and manage my torrents with rTorrent.

Also, I use Transmission on my Mac, but on any Arch I really like rTorrent. I guess I could do some quick research and find this out, but does the Transmission command line interface support magnet URLs?

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#7 2012-05-27 21:42:35

swanson
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2011-02-05
Posts: 759

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

Don't know that but Transmission in general supports magnet links.

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#8 2012-05-28 02:47:51

bneate
Member
Registered: 2005-08-21
Posts: 36

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

Transmission also has a nice webui which I use to manage torents on my server.  And yes both cmd line and gui have support for magnet links

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#9 2012-05-30 01:32:57

anrxc
Member
From: Croatia
Registered: 2008-03-22
Posts: 834
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

My media storage is currently dependant on the OS installation

It doesn't necesarily have to be very bad but people tend to ruin their OS. Or media eats up all the space.


You need to install an RTFM interface.

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#10 2012-05-31 16:13:01

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Need some advice on my approach to a file/media server

Consider switching mediatomb for ps3mediaserver... I have used a fair amount of DLNA-servers and pms(-svn) is superior in features and it is actively maintained. It does come with java as a dep, though.

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