Configuration:
- Operating system
- Secure Shell
- Music streaming
- DVB streaming
- Samba network folder
- Network monitor
- HTTP Server
Operating system
The Linux operating systems are most suitable for (home) server. There are various variations available like Debian, centOS, Arch or Linux distributions from software companies like Canonical, Suse or RedHat. I prefer the ubuntu server suite at the moment for my home server project:http://www.ubuntu.com/
The installation is quite easy and already well documented. By the way, the following wiki is always a good reference for any upcoming questions:
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Startseite
You can also use the desctop ubuntu version or you can install the gnome core desctop environment on your ubuntu server, too. However, we do not need a Graphical User Interface for our server but sometimes it's just comfortable uing a GUI...
Typically, a combined internet modem and router with enabled DHCP server is used which works in 24/7 mode (:=all the time). A home server is typically not running in 24/7 mode. We should take care of a fast system start and stop behavior and we should not neglect security and stability issues!
Secure Shell
A Secure Shell server and client is needed. I choose openSSH: You can use "PuTTY" on windows-systems:http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/PuTTY
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Xming
Xming is a X-server which enables you to open and use graphical user interfaces from your server on your windows client system.
Music-streaming
You can do:→ host your music
→ play your music
→ stream your music
Copy your music to a storage system which the server can use (e.g. a the internal hard disc drive or your NAS). If the home server has a sound card, it can be used to play music from your HIFI system. However, you can also stream the music to your smart phone. I use "Music Player Daemon": You can control it with a comand line tool: Or if you prefer a GUI, you can use "gmpc" or "Sonata" for Linux systems:
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/GNOME_Music_Player_Client
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Sonata
There are also clients for Windows and Android availabe. Just search and try it out and choose the one you prefer... Do not forget to enable external access in the configuration file: Just ensure that: The "Music Player Daemon" can also handle web radio. The only thing you have to do is to add a "radio.m3u" file with radio station URLs in your "playlist_directory". This directory is specified in the configuration file, too. Then you have to type: Do always ensure to "STOP" playing music if your music session ends. "Pause" is really a pause and will not stop traffic...
As usual you can start, stop the service with: Do not forget to use a root-shall or "sudo". By the way, you can also use "MPD" on a Raspberry Pi, too:
Rapture: Digital technique: Raspberry Pi: OS
This solution is somehow old-fashioned. Today "UpnP" with DLNA equipment is on everyone's lips. However, I do not use it at the moment.
DVB-streaming
Digital Video Broadcasting is the "new" TV standard and used for satelite (DVB-S/S2), cable (DVB-C/C2) and radio (DVB-T/T2). It is just practical to watch TV on every device in every room. Just stream the TransportStream (TS) from a DVB signal through your IP network. This can be done with: You can then use the web-interface to configure everything:http://<ServerName>:9981
It might be that you have to install your DVB-card/stick first:
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/DVB-Karten
I use "XBMC" as client. TV on every device in every room is just cool. Try it and you will be amazed to feel the future.
Samba network folder
If you have also Windows-clients then you can use "Samba" to share directories. You will need "samba-common" and "samba" on your server. Samba is somehow strange concerning users. However, if ensure that "<username>" is a linux user and then type: and choose an arbitrary password. You can share a directory "<path>" with a "<username>" as follows: That's it. You can use "<Sharename>" on your windows client as common network-drive. If you like to share the drive with all users: "<username>"="Everyone". Details about all drives are available with following commands: A drive can be removed with: It is also possible to edit the following file: If you use symbolic links, then add following lines: By the way, you can test to deactivate "Remote Differential Compression" in your Windows 7 "windows-functions". Maybe you can achieve a faster file transfer...Network monitor
There are various programs available for network monitoring. I do use:HTTP Server
A simple and fast HTTP Server for pure HTML/CSS/JavaScript development can be set up with Python: You can access the files in the current directory with:http://<ServerName>:8000/
This simple HTTP server can be used to test your static webpages. A more advanced server is needed, if you have to test a server-dynamic webpage (e.g. a webpage using PHP or SQL database). The de facto standard webserver is "Apache":
http://httpd.apache.org/
This program is often combined with a script language (e.g. PHP, Python or Perl) and a database (e.g. MySQL, MariaDB, etc.). If everything is installed on linux, it is often called LAMP (Linux,Apache,MySQL,P{HP,ython,erl):
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/LAMP
You can install this package in a virtual machine. It is also possible to set up your own production system for webpages. I do not recommend that for a private environment, because it cause maintenance incessantly.