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Open Source I want to take my NAS to the next level

Discussion in 'Software' started by Cleggmeister, 7 Jan 2016.

  1. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I would say so, ubuntu tends to stay fairly static in terms of storage usage. Although I do recall, I had to clear out old kernels on possibly a boot partition because I ran out of space after a number of updates. I'm a little hazy on the details to be honest. But if it was a boot partition I probably only allocated a few hundred megabytes, so if you just stick it all on one partition or just have a separate root and home partition you are unlikely to see this.
     
  2. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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  3. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Chaps, a (possibly) daft question. I would normally download and install the latest version of software however I'm aware that Ubuntu comes with a LTS package. I like the sound of this and wonder what others have gone for - stability/support or newer releases with more features?

    And while I think on, I really need a GUI at this stage of my journey - command line is fine but I'm not knowledgeable enough yet. Does Ubuntu Server come with a GUI or do I need to install X or similar?

    Many thanks again.
     
  4. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I typically go for LTS unless something doesn't work that can be fixed in a newer version. Personally I never notice huge differences between versions. Also you only have to update ever 4 to 6 years with LTS which I think is preferred if everything is working OK for you.

    There should be a new LTS in April. So keep that in mind as well.
     
  5. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    LTS for servers, standard for desktops. (He says, typing on a desktop running 14.04 LTS...)
    You really, really don't need a GUI. For the stuff you're installing, there is no GUI: all you'd be doing is opening a terminal from the desktop and using the command line anyway, so you might as well SSH into the server and save yourself a monitor and keyboard.

    But no: Ubuntu Server does not come with a GUI installed, and installing one - while easy - basically just turns it into Ubuntu Desktop.
     
  6. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    This is really the kind of thing I probably should have done, but I was lazy and just installed a copy of Windows Server I had, but it does mean it's heavier on the server, although the remote desktop is nice.

    This thread may make me get of my backside and try to sort it out (mixture of sorting out HDDs and then also adding stuff like online access etc)

    Sorry for the slight derail, I'll be keeping an eye on this!
     
  7. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Thanks chaps, all good to know (and secretly I'm glad there's no GUI). I'm familiar with SSH and look forward to long, drunken PuTTy sessions :)

    My new 60GB SSD turned up this morning. I'm just waiting on a Molex - SATA power adapter and a longer SATA data lead and the build will commence!

    Stay tuned :)
     
  8. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Help please chaps!

    I now have all the hardware required to commence build. My plan is to do this tonight however I need to have the server running again before leaving for work in the morning.

    So, here's my plan:

    Make bootable USB drive with the Ubuntu Server LTS image
    Boot from this and install US LTS to my new SSD

    Simple I guess, but then I'll need to mount my four data drives, install Samba and install Asset UPnP for access to my music. I have no idea how to do this!

    Any CLI help gratefully received !

    Many thanks,

    Cleggy.
     
  9. phuzz

    phuzz This is a title

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    OK, 1) it's entirely possible that Ubuntu will automatically add your other harddrives, but if not, then the first part is to work out what they're detected as.
    Note, most of these commands will need to be executed as root, to do this, just put sudo in front of the command
    Usually each drive will be detected as /dev/sda /dev/sdb etc. Your SSD may well end up as sda, each partition on the drive will be labelled sda1 sda2 etc. You can use fdisk -l (you'll have to run it as sudo) to display all the drives and partitions it can see. Once you've worked out the partition label you can mount the partition as a directory. First create the directory (mkdir /media/my_harddrive), then mount it: mount /dev/sdb5 /media/my_harddrive
    Once you've checked that it works you'll need to make an entry in fstab to get it to mount on every boot (info here).

    2) Installing Samba is as simple as using apt-get install samba (IIRC you also get the option to install it during the install process), configuring it is a bit more of a hassle, but there's lots of good documentation.

    3) Not heard of Asset before, but there is a Debian installer, and Ubuntu is based on Debian so it should work with no problems. There's official instructions here, but it looks like you just download the file, unzip it (using tar), and then just run an executable. There's a little bit more work making it auto start on boot.


    Generally Ubuntu is really well documented, just googling "<thing you need to do> + Ubuntu" will set you straight. To keep Ubuntu updated and to install most software you'll be using apt-get.
     
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  10. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    Googling is great but I find man pages very useful. They do take some effort to learn how to navigate, interpret and apply. But you become more knowledgeable about the programs you use as a result. Plus you can check programs for functionality.
     
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  11. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Don't create the fstab entries using the device name (/dev/sdb5, in this example): there's absolutely zero guarantee that they'll have the same device name when you reboot. Instead, use the UUID (a876e1e2-d84a-439d-ae58-fc4eeb373a7d, to pick one of the partitions on my server at random) which will never, ever change.

    You can get a list of disks on your system by doing:

    ls /dev/disk/by-uuid

    That, though, doesn't help much when it comes to telling which disk is which. For that, you'll want this:

    blkid

    That'll show you every disk and partition on your system, mounted or otherwise, with the device name, label (if present), UUID, and type (if present). Use the UUIDs (or labels) in fstab, not the device names.

    Oh, and you'll probably need to futz around with permissions when you create the mount point.

    sudo chown youruser:users /media/mountpoint

    is probably a good place to start, otherwise you'll likely find that you can read from the drives but not write to 'em.
     
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  12. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Many thanks all - I'm in debt for all your thoughtful research and support; legendary the lot of you!

    I get the UUID thing - bizarrely I learnt when installing Asset on my OMV box. Since there was no plugin I downloaded it and installed manually via CLI (in the same way I'll do for the Ubuntu Server build). I couldn't find any music by pointing it at my /share/music folder until I pointed it at the UUID. All sorted.

    True story! :)

    Anyway, thanks again. I have the confidence to get this done - just regrettably not the energy now (longer day at work than planned) so I'll defer until tomorrow. Proper Friday night rock and roll... :)

    Cleggy.
     
  13. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Houston...

    Installation seemed to go well, partitioned the new ssd as ext4/swap, chose my packages (smb, SSH, LAMP, etc) and got as far as the final reboot cycle... Removed the USB boot image as instructed however the server will not boot under its own steam. BIOS/POST proceeds as normal and I've chosen the ssd as my boot device however the server stalls at a flashing cursor (and indeed the whole screen seems to flash off and on with the cursor, or ast least the LCD backlight does). Very weird. GRUB did install normally from what I recall.

    Any thoughts?!
     
  14. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    Plug in the usb. If it boots into the install and not the live instance it means part of the installation ended up on the usb.

    If this happens reformat the usb with the live image. Reinstall and select "something else" and manually edit and choose your partitions.
     
  15. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Many thanks Shadow. Something's not right - here's what happens so far (I've not changed anything yet since my last post).

    Server will not boot from SSD, though does not display "no operating system" error - just blank/flashing cursor
    With USB stick (boot stick) inserted and BIOS set accordingly, server boots into Ubuntu Server, and shows the installation on the SSD with 50GB free (proving that it's on the SSD and not running from the USB). I eject the USB at this point and all continues to run as normal, again supporting my theory that the installation is indeed on the SSD.

    Is GRUB my answer here maybe, or something within my BIOS?

    Anyway, all that aside, I unwittingly managed to install Ubuntu Desktop, Firefox, Mozilla, etc last night (I just ticked all the boxes) hence I'm starting afresh with a minimal install (plus smb and ssh) as I type.

    I'll resume after work tonight (late one, we're exhibting at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, pop in and say Hi!) and post back, though any thought meantime on why I couldn't boot straight from the SSD would be welcome.

    Many thanks and warm regards as always!

    Cleggy
     
  16. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    That's happened to me once or twice. It's a pain in the arse. I think it's the boot folder or partition that ends up on the USB stick. I'm not really sure to be honest I've never spent time figuring out how to fix it. I just begin reinstallation then when it gets to the where do you want to install point I nuke the partitions on the disk, and manually set them up and manually assign them to root home swap or whatever.

    Edit. I'm just looking at a picture of that screen there's a drop down menu on the bottom called "Device for boot loader Installation" that was probably set to your USB.
     
  17. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Thanks buddy.

    More weirdness - I've started from scratch, made a new USB with unetbootin, and boot to the main installation menu. I have the usual options, but on closer inspection some are confusing.

    I have an option to Install
    and an option to Install Ubuntu Server

    Selecting just the "install" option proceeds normally as it did last night.
    Selecting "Install Ubuntu Server" fails at the CD-Rom "driver" installation, telling me some python file is corrupt and not matching the MD5 checksum.
    So I re-downloaded the LTS ISO, re-unetbootin'd to a new USB drive, and received exactly the same error when choosing the "Install Ubuntu Server" option.

    Anyways, time for work... :)
     
  18. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Rightio, sorted, told GRUB to activate on SDB rather than it defaulting to SDA (USB). Now booting like a dream, nice black CLI with flashing cursor. Time for some fun!!!
     
  19. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Wooohooo, Asset UPnP configured and currently scanning my library. Having mounted /media/Music to the UUID. I so totally rock!!!! :)

    Thanks again chaps, big love to all. Gonna play some Hold Steady to celebrate :)

    SMB tomorrow...
     
  20. Cleggmeister

    Cleggmeister Of reasonable knowledge...

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    Aaaah, a penny has just dropped. Many thanks Gareth. blkid indeed shows me my four media disc (plus the OS SSD). Here's an example of one media disc:

    /dev/sda1: LABEL="Movies" UUID="5757345blah blah blah" TYPE="EXT4"

    Last night I mounted it to /media/Music using the UUID. Since I can't seem to copy/paste to/from Windows and my Putty session I manually typed the UUID. Not a big deal, but could I mount it to /dev/dosk/by-label instead for simplicity? It'll also help me "visualise" things better!

    Next question. I installed Plex Media Server a while ago and there's a remnant of it in my Music share. I don't have permissions to delete it. So, talk me through that please someone :) ?

    I guess I need to edit the properties of the plex folder using chown or similar? Then delete it with the "rm" command? Just a little guidance/handholding this first time...! :)

    Many thanks,

    Cleggy, slowly getting there...
     

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