Thread: Debian/Ubuntu Dedicated Server Setup

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I. TUTORIAL # 1 > Basic Server Setup > Page - 1, Post - 1

Parts #1-6 > Installing Fluxbox, VNC

II. TUTORIAL # 2 > uTorrent Seedbox > Page - 1, Post - 2

Parts #7-9 > Installing wine, uTorrent, FTP

III. TUTORIAL # 3 > rtorrent Seedbox > Page - 2, Post - 12

Parts #10-15 > rtorrent, lighttpd, rutorrent + authentication

IV. TUTORIAL # 4 > Securing Server PART 1> Page - 3, Post - 24

Parts #16-18 > Securing SSH, FTP, tunneling VNC

V. TUTORIAL # 5 > Proxy. irssi > Page - 4, Post - 32

Parts #19-20 > Using Seedbox as Proxy, irssi setup

VI. TUTORIAL # 6 > Securing Server PART 2 > Page 4, Post 33

Parts #21-22 > Lighttpd (rutorrent) with SSL (HTTPS), Fail2ban

VII. TUTORIAL # 7 > Multiple user ruTorrent setup with own IP address > Page 5, Post 49

Parts #23-28 > Creating another rtorrent + rutorrent user, extra IP

VIII. TUTORIAL # 8 > APACHE WEB-SERVER w/ RUTORRENT > Page 8, Post 75

Parts # 29-30 > Installing and configuring Apache

EXTRA : rutorrent install/update script- Page 5, Post 47

EXTRA : RTORRENT START-UP SCRIPT - Page 8, Post 72



TUTORIAL # 1 - BASIC SERVER SETUP


NOTE :This tutorial contains a complete setup of a seedbox running on a dedicated server. It will feature Fluxbox, VNC, uTorrent, Wine, FTP, rTorrent, ruTorrent and Lighttpd. However, u dont need to install all of this and can choose any torrent client u want or could install both as well. The tutorial is not all in one post and scattered between posts in this thread. I split it up so it wouldnt take up much space all in one post. rTorrent + ruTorrent tutorial can be found here on page 2 > Debian/Ubuntu Dedicated Server Setup

*TO RUN A HEADLESS SERVER* To run a Headless, all CLI server, start here "Tutorial #1", with "PARTS 1-2" (skip Part 3), then continue with "PARTS 4-5". After thats done u can move to "Tutorial #3" and start & finish that tutorial. When all is finished u will be running a Headless Server instead of a GUI.

**This whole tutorial is only for Debian/Ubuntu Distro's. This part is based on installing the GUI or Window Manager. There are other GUI's or Window Managers u can install, but Im going with Fluxbox because its light and low on resources**





PART 1: LOGIN TO SERVER

--Login to your server using Putty or any terminal u like with your username being root and the password provided to u by your provider. After u are successfully logged into your server, u are now connected through ssh in a Putty Terminal.





PART 2 : UPDATE / SECURE SYSTEM

--Now that your logged in with Putty u want to issue a couple of commands to bring your system up to date: Do not type the # sign from this tutorial. That just shows u are logged in as root.

# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade

--Now that your system is up to date, the next step u want to do is change the root password and delete SSH authorized keys as u dont want anyone logging into your server.

# passwd
New Password:
Verify:

# ls .sshauthorized_keys2
# rm .ssh/authorized_keys2

PART 3 : INSTALL DESKTOP / SOFTWARE

--Now u want to install the Desktop enviroment & software:

# apt-get install vnc4server xterm fluxbox firefox
# update-menus
# apt-get install xfonts-base xfonts-75dpi xfonts-100dpi

NOTE : U may have to substitute "iceweasel" for "firefox" and can also use "tightvncserver" on some Distro's.






PART 4 : CREATE USER

--Create another user with "superuser" privileges:

# useradd -m UserName
# passwd UserName
New Password:
Verify:

--Now add your new created user to the sudoers list so u can use the command sudo. If u get error with this command then u need to install sudo - "# apt-get install sudo":

# visudo

NOTE : Press "i" to insert, "esc" to exit insert mode and ":wq" to save + exit vi (text editor). If it opens up in "Nano" (text editor) press "ctrl + o" to save and "ctrl + x" to exit.



--Now look for the following line - "root ALL=(ALL) ALL" - and add your new created user to the file directly underneath the root user then save + exit:

root ALL=(ALL) ALL
UserName ALL=(ALL) ALL

PART 5 : LOGIN WITH NEW USER

--Login with our newly created user. To do this just open up another Putty terminal by right clicking on the Putty title bar and select "duplicate session". Another Putty session will open and then login with our new user.

NOTE : Dont close root session putty window till your successfully logged in with new user. Once logged in u can exit old session. Also u will now see $, this shows u are now logged in as your normal user. Again dont type $ from this tutorial.






PART 6 : CONFIGURE VNC

--CD to your home directory:

$ cd ~

--Next we want to configure VNC:

$ mkdir .vnc

--Now open the xstartup file and add "fluxbox", without quotes, to the file and save (ctrl + o) and exit (ctrl + x). This will start Fluxbox with VNC.

$ nano .vnc/xstartup

--Make the xstartup file executable:

$ chmod +x .vnc/xstartup

--Now start the vnc4server. The first time u start it, it will ask u to create a password no longer then 8 characters:

$ vnc4server :1
Password:
Verify:
view only password:

NOTE: To kill VNC just use this command "vnc4server -kill :1". Never run VNC as root user.



--Now Just Open "VncViewer" on your home computer and type in your "IPAddress:1"and press connect. Then type in your password and bang u are connected to your server using VNC.

NOTE : Thats it for the 1st Tutorial & u now have a basic setup of a Server running a Fluxbox GUI. U can now move to the 2nd tutorial and install uTorrent, FTP or move to the 3rd Tutorial and install rTorrent + ruTorrent. However, u can just follow both 2nd & 3rd Tutorials to install both.. If u have any questions or found any mistakes please dont hesitate to correct me.

**ALL Tutorials were solely written by me (MikeD). However, i did learn all this using several different sources from all over the web and through Trial & Error. So credit & thanks to the author's who helped me setup/crash countless servers over a long period of time. Have Fun and Thanks. Remember if u have any questions, want to add or found mistakes, please post here and i will help u, fix the mistakes and give credit to u**

TUTORIAL # 2 - UTORRENT SEEDBOX

NOTE :This part will be based on setting up a seedbox running uTorrent, Wine and FTP. If u want to skip this step and move to the 3rd tutorial (rTorrent, ruTorrent) on page 2, then i would also install FTP from this tutorial, so u have a working FTP Server. U could just skip to 'PART 9' to install FTP. If u dont want rTorrent , ruTorrent then continue with this tutorial as normal. If u want both then continue as normal as well.




PART 7 : INSTALLING WINE

NOTE : This part will be based on installing "Wine". Wine is an emulator for Windows programs to run on Linux machines, so its vital for running uTorrent. I prefer installing "wine-1.0.1" as i feel it works best. However, I will give two ways to install wine :

--Login through VNC and then right click on the Fluxbox desktop. Find "xterm" terminal in the menu and open it. Xterm is another terminal, just like Putty terminal, and we will be using it to issue commands this time around.

NOTE : Before u install 'wine', search the 'repos' to see what version of wine would be installed. Then install it if its the version u want :

$ apt-cache show wine
$ sudo apt-get install wine

--If u want to install a specific version of wine, first u need to "su" to root user, then find your specific Wine version from the web and compile it:

$ su
Password:

# apt-get build-dep wine
# wget hxxp://sourceforge.net/projects/wine/files/Source/1.0.1/wine-1.0.1.tar.bz2/download
# tar xvjpf wine-1.0.1.tar.bz2
# cd wine-1.0.1/
# ./configure && make && make install

NOTE : To find out what version of wine your running - "$ wine --version"





PART 8 : INSTALLING UTORRENT

--First, if u compiled wine, then exit out of root and 'CD' to the normal users '$HOME' dir. If u are not root and used the 'apt-get' command to install wine, then skip the 'exit' command and just make sure u are in your '$HOME' dir:

# exit
$ cd ~

--Now as normal user install uTorrent:

$ wget http://download.utorrent.com/1.8.4/utorrent.exe
$ wine utorrent.exe

NOTE : uTorrent will now open up as it normally would on Windows. Once uTorrent is open, configure all the uTorrent settings > connections, ports, dir's, etc...


--If your getting an error trying to get newer versions of uTorrent to open, then follow this work-around:

$ wine utorrent.exe /NOINSTALL

--uTorrent will then open and u can configure all settings and close uTorrent. To open it back up just use this command from now on:

$ wine utorrent.exe

NOTE :U can close uTorrent for now, but keep open xterm as were gonna continue to use it.


--Now were gonna add uTorrent to the Fluxbox menu for easy open and so there's no need to run "wine command" every time to run uTorrent.

$ sudo nano ~/.fluxbox/menu

--The 'Fluxbox menu' config file will open up in "Nano" (text editor). What u need to do is add this line to the file and save (ctrl+o) & exit (ctrl+x):

[exec] (uTorrent) {wine ~/utorrent.exe}

NOTE : Make sure u put your exact path, ^above^, to the uTorrent.exe if u downloaded it to a different dir.


--Now u can right click the desktop to bring up the Fluxbox menu & u will see uTorrent. U can now use this to open up uTorrent each time instead of using xterm.





PART 9 : INSTALLING FTP

--U need root to install & configure Vsftpd:

$ su
Password:

# apt-get install vsftpd

--Now changes to the vsftpd config file need to made.

# nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

--Make changes to the following lines. If they are commented out with a #, delete the # to uncomment and then save & exit:

anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES

--Restart Vsftpd and have it auto start on boot:

# /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart
vsftpd [ok]

# update-rc.d vsftpd defaults

NOTE : Each time u make a change to the Vsftpd config file u need to restart Vsftpd like above or the changes will not take affect.


--Now exit out of root:

# exit

III. TUTORIAL # 3 > rtorrent Seedbox > FOUND HERE

**Thats it and now your good to go with uTorrent + wine & FTP. U can login to FTP with any FTP client on your home machine. Just use your ssh, normal username & password on port 21.**

Originally Posted by MikeD

2nd part to the tutorial

This part will be based on installing wine + utorrent + vsftpd(FTP)...

Hey man, what about rtorrent/libtorrent and (wtorrent or rutorrent)? I know, I know, quite a few more steps. Sadly, not a lot of people would select that option. I still need to hit you up on how to get authentication under lighttpd to work.

Im gonna do that next. Im working on it right now. No worries i got u covered. Hit me up anythime and ill get u authenticated, lol.

This is absolutely incredible! You have my full & utter support with this dude. Particularly because you have spent probably almost 72 hours now on IRC helping me get my dedicated server setup properly! And for people who aren't familiar with linux they do need to know every step which a lot of other guides miss.
Great Work Pal!!
I assure everyone here you can follow this guys guide and it will work perfectly, just setup IRSSI + Autodownloader (With MikeD's Guidance) and have uploaded around 40gb on SCC in about 1 hour! (I think that part is going to be added!)

3rd part of tutorial coming tomorrow. Setting up rtorrent with 2 front-ends > rutorrent with plugin, authentification & wtorrent running lighttpd webserver. Also setting up screen and irssi and i will show u the basics on how to use autoscripts at any tracker u want.

4th part of the tutorial will be securing & locking down your server so nobody will be able to have unauthorized access to it. This will be done in a couple of days though.

Hope this all helps some and again if anyone wants to add anything feel free. Thanks

TUTORIAL # 3 - RTORRENT SEEDBOX

CONTINUED FROM EARLIER TUTORIAL'S.....

NOTE : U could also use this tutorial to setup a Headless, all CLI Server instead of running a GUI. All u need to do is start with "Tutorial #1", "page #1" with "PARTS : 1-2" (skip PART 3) then continue with "PARTS : 4-5". After thats done, comeback here and start & finish this tutorial. That will make it so u run all CLI instead of running a GUI and u will have an even better, low resource saving Server.

This part of the tutorial is gonna show u how to install screen, rTorrent + ruTorrent with Lighttpd. rTorrent is an ncurses client which uses libtorrent as its Bittorrent library. Its CLI, small, lightweight Bittorent client that uses low resources and is considered the Linux version of uTorrent for Windows. U can find more on or how to use rtorrent from there website > The libTorrent and rTorrent Project

**We are going to be compiling a lot from source so i suggest logging in to your server using Putty [as normal user] so u can just copy & paste from here. **




Part 10 : UPDATING / CLEANING SYSTEM

--Now that your logged in through Putty, as normal user, we should update & clean our system. Again do not type $ or #, they are just to show u who is logged in. $ - means Normal User, # - means Root user.

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get autoclean

Part 11 : INSTALLING RTORRENT / DEPENDENCIES:

--There's actually a guide on T-I already on how to install rTorrent, that follows exactly wtorrent's website tutorial. There's really no need to install all that and u should already have almost all of it installed anyway, so just run these commands in Putty:

UPDATE 5/12/2010 : Due to some updates that break some apps i updated the rtorrent install so that it everything compiles correctly. Thanks to Pure_contact, MadJack & Charizard for bringing this to my attention.

$ sudo apt-get install subversion libncurses5 libncurses5-dev libsigc++-2.0-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev build-essential screen curl apache2-utils lighttpd lighttpd-doc php5 php5-cgi php5-cli php5-common php5-curl libwww-perl libwww-curl-perl irssi

Part 12 : REQUIRED SOFTWARE:

--First lets make a dir for our software :

$ cd
$ mkdir apps
$ cd apps

--Then download our software :

$ svn co https://xmlrpc-c.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xmlrpc-c/advanced xmlrpc-c
$ wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downlo...-0.12.6.tar.gz
$ wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downlo...t-0.8.6.tar.gz

Part 13 : INSTALLING / COMPILING :

--Xmlrpc-c

$ cd xmlrpc-c
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ cd ..

--Libtorrent-0.12.6/Rtorrent-0.8.6

UPDATE > 3-8-2010 : Theres a known problem getting the rtorrent svn/trunk versions after r1143 to communicate with rutorrent due to 'xmlrpc'. I updated the following below with compiling rtorrent from source tarball instead of through svn. If u already have the svn version installed then dont update past r1143 right now. If u want the rtorrent svn version instead then make sure u specify r1143 or below when downloading. I will update this in the future when there is a fix.


--U should be back in your "/home/user/apps" dir, but if not "CD" to this dir by - "$ cd ~/apps". Now extract and compile lib/rtorrent :

$ tar zxfv libtorrent-0.12.6.tar.gz
$ tar zxfv rtorrent-0.8.6.tar.gz
$ cd libtorrent-0.12.6
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ cd ../rtorrent-0.8.6
$ ./configure --with-xmlrpc-c
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ sudo ldconfig
$ cd ..
$ rm *.tar.gz
$ cd ~ && mkdir rtorrent && cd rtorrent
$ mkdir .session downloads torrents
$ cd

NOTE : To update this in the future u need to remove this version first, then follow all steps to complie rtorrent over again.



--Create rtorrent config file (.rtorrent.rc). U can just copy + paste this into Nano, but remember to check to see if anything needs to be changed or if it was correctly copied into nano : #This s is an example resource - Anonymous - Tpq2VpXR - Pastebin.com

$ nano .rtorrent.rc

--Now were gonna start rtorrent in screen. "rt" is just the session name and u can change that to anything u like. Just remember that when u want to re-attach the session:

$ screen -S rt rtorrent

NOTE : To detach session > ctrl a + d, re-attach the screen session > "$ screen -x rt". To see a list of all running sessions > "$ screen -list"




NOTE : If u want to use APACHE WEB-SERVER with rutorrent instead of LIGHTTPD then that tutorial can be found here :

TUTORIAL # 8 > APACHE W/ RUTORRENT - FOUND HERE



PART 14 : LIGHTTPD

--This was installed already and should be running. Lets see if its started:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/lighttpd start

NOTE : If u get error trying to start Lighttpd then u need to remove, kill apache or configure Lighttpd on Port 81 > "$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 stop" or to configure on Port 81 open the config file with the next command and change or uncomment this line > "server.port =81" and restart Lighttpd again.



--Now lets open & make some changes to the Lighttpd config file:

$ sudo nano /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

--Look for line "server.modules" & add this to the file, exactly how i have it typed, right on top of the other "mod's" :

"mod_scgi",
"mod_fastcgi",
"mod_auth",



--Now scroll all the way down and add this at the very end of the file and when done save + exit. Its important to note that we are putting the 'RPC2' mount inside the rutorrent dir for security. If u leave the RPC2 mount outside and un-protected, u are leaving a huge open hole to your server and this is not good. Always protect the mount and also, if u want to add other dir's to protect, just add them at the end and follow the pattern.

PHP Code:

scgi.server = (
"/var/www/rutorrent/RPC2" => # RT_DIR
 ( "127.0.0.1" =>
  (
   "host" => "127.0.0.1",
   "port" => 5000,
   "check-local" => "disable"
  )
 )
)

fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => ((
       "bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php-cgi",
       "socket" => "/tmp/php.socket"
)))

auth.backend = "htdigest"
auth.backend.htdigest.userfile = "/etc/lighttpd/.passwd"
auth.debug = 2

auth.require = ( "/rutorrent" =>
                 (
                   "method" => "digest",
                   "realm" => "Authenticated Users",
                   "require" => "valid-user"
                 ),
                 "/rutorrent/RPC2" =>
                 (
                   "method" => "digest",
                   "realm" => "Authenticated Users",
                   "require" => "valid-user"
                 ) 
               ) 


Part 15: INSTALLING / AUTHENTICATING RUTORRENT:

UPDATE JUNE 2, 2010 : I changed this part of the tutorial from rutorrent 2.8 to rutorrent 3.1 as 2.8 is an older version and 3.1 is much more stable with tons of options. Just continue as normal to install rutorrent 3.1.

NOTE : U can also find another rutorrent 3.1 tutorial written by me here: How to install ruTorrent 3.1 on Server - I wrote that strictly for rutorrent 3.0, but since its an svn version its actually updated to 3.1 now as well.


--First, lets install ruTorrent which is very easy. Follow all steps :

$ cd /var/www
$ sudo svn co http://rutorrent.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/rutorrent
$ sudo chown www-data:www-data rutorrent -R

NOTE : ruTorrent is now installed, but we still need to create our authentication file and show u how to get some plugins. Also, to update rutorrent in the future just 'cd' to the rutorrent dir > '$ cd /var/www/rutorrent' and run the command '$ sudo svn up'



--Now its time to add plugins & this is what to do. The 1 plugin im gonna give an example for is just to make it easier for rtorrent to talk to rutorrent. It will also protect the /RPC2 mount as well, but since we did this manually there is no need to install it. This is just an example :

$ cd /var/www/rutorrent/plugins
$ sudo svn co http://rutorrent.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/plugins/rpc
$ cd ../.. && sudo chown www-data:www-data rutorrent -R

NOTE :Whenever u want to install plugins just download them to this location > '/var/www/rtorrent/plugins' < and they will be installed. However, make sure your webserver user owns the files. To update the plugins in the future just do the same as what u do for rutorrent. 'CD' to the plugin dir u want to update > '$ cd /var/www/rutorrent/plugins/rpc' and '$ sudo svn up'.



--Now for authenticating ruTorrent. We already added the authentication to the Lighttpd config file for ruTorrent and now we just need to make a password file. Run this command in Putty to create the password file :

$ sudo htdigest -c /etc/lighttpd/.passwd 'Authenticated Users' UserName
Password:
Verify:

NOTE : This is what u use to login to ruTorrent so remember what u put.



--Now we need to specify the "RPC2" mount in the rutorrent config file. Do not skip this step or u will have problems.

$ sudo nano /var/www/rutorrent/conf/config.php

--Then look for the line "XMLRPCMountPoint" and add this line to that file after the =

/var/www/rutorrent/RPC2



--When u add this line to the rutorrent config file, make sure u add it in between the quotes that are there or u will get errors. It should look like this when finished >

$XMLRPCMountPoint = "/var/www/rutorrent/RPC2";



--Restart Lighttpd and then we're finished:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/lighttpd restart

NOTE : Now u can reach rutorrent in your browser at Hxxp://server-ip/rutorrent


IV. TUTORIAL # 4 > Securing Server PART 1> FOUND HERE



**Thats it and now u have rtorrent, rutorrent authenticated & screen installed. Please correct me if u find some mistakes or if i missed something. Also any questions dont hesitate to ask. If u encounter any type of errors please post them here and i will help u. I had to copy & paste some of this tutorial from the other one on T-I cause i was starting to get lazy. Thank goes out to Sraosha for that. Again i hope this helps and look forward to finishing this thing**

Yo Mike, I figured out what I was doing wrong. If you remember, I was telling you that I was getting a prompt, but I could never authenticate. Well the problem was that I was entering the wrong password, doh. Actually I setup the wrong password in the backend password file. When you use the htdigest method, and you want to be lazy like me and not install apache, you have to create your own md5 hash of the password. I was feeding md5sum the right pieces, but I was leaving on a newline special character, which obviously isn't supposed to be there. All this time, and it was just one dumb mistake.

Anyway, thanks for tutorial. I hope more people decide to abandon the the graphical interface, and make use of a quality app like rTorrent.

man this is great. I tried to install wtorrent + rtorrent with lighttpd but failed miserably. Then tried rTorrent + ruTorrent + apache but failed in scgi port. Anyway in next couple of day i will try your suggested method. thanks
kind regards
fahim