Home Server Setup Part 3: Static IP address and Wake On LAN

After the Ubuntu server install, your network interface is configured by default to use DHCP. An IP address will be dynamically assigned to your server by your router for example. I like my server to have at least a static IP address, so I'm sure where to connect to in case I need to access it.

Changing from a DHCP to static setup is easy:

Open the network interface configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Depending on the number of network interfaces in your machine, this file will have some sections that start with eth0 or eth1. "eth0" Refers to your primary network interface. My default config file looked like this for eth0:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

This is the configuration for a dynamic (DHCP) configuration. To change your eth0 to have a static ip address assigned to it, change the config to look like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1

The IP address of my server is 192.168.0.2, the one on my router (the gateway) is 192.168.0.1. I've read somewhere that you must also change the IP that is configured for your nameserver in the /etc/resolv.conf file. But my nameserver configuration was set to my router (192.168.0.1) and my router has nameservers configured. It worked for me this way, so I didn't touch it. You can check if your server's namerserver configuration is working by pinging a domain "ping somedomain.com" (after restarting the network).

Finally, restart the network to let the changes come into effect.

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Setting up Wake On LAN.

My server is located in the garage, tucked away out of sight. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I want to have this server as energy friendly as possible. I don't like paying for many idle CPU cycles on my electricity bill. So I turn on the server only when I need it during the day or evening. To avoid walking to the garage each time I need the server, I made sure I bought a motherboard that supported Wake On LAN (WOL). This way I can boot the server over the network from a client machine.

The configuration of WOL on Ubuntu is fairly easy.

First figure out on what network interface (eth0, eth1, ...) you need to enable WOL. You can have an overview of your network interfaces if you type the "ifconfig" command in your console:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:22:33:44:55
          inet addr:192.168.0.2  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          ....

In my case, I wanted WOL on eth0. Please notice also the "HWaddr" in the console output. the 00:11:22:33:44:55 value is the "MAC address" of your network interface card. This you will need later on to actually "wake up" your server from a client machine.

Good, now let's add the wakeonlan configuration file to the Ubuntu 8.04.1 system:

cd /etc/init.d
sudo nano wakeonlanconfig

Add the following lines to it and save the file.

#!/bin/bash
ethtool -s eth0 wol g
exit

After the file is created, make sure it has the right permissions from the /etc/init.d directory:

sudo chmod a+x wakeonlanconfig

Make sure that the script runs on startup of your machine:

update-rc.d -f wakeonlanconfig defaults

In my case that was it, WOL is configured now.

I always shutdown my server using the following command:

sudo halt

**Note** in order for this to work, you possibly need to configure your BIOS settings to enable WOL for your network device. Check the manual of your motherboard to figure out the settings.

Now that your server is shutdown, on your client machine, in my case a Windows box, you must make use of the MAC address (see above 00:11:22:33:44:55) of your server network interface in order to send the server it's wakeup call.

I can't really recommend a specific tool for that (I use a simple freeware from Depicus), but if you search Google for "WOL" and/or "magic packet sender" it will give you a list of possibilities. All tools come down to one thing: filling in the MAC address and/or IP address of your server and firing the magic packets of over the network. Depending on the boot-up time of your server, it will be available a few minutes later.

Home Server Setup Part 2: Samba File Server Setup

One of the main reasons I wanted a dedicated home server is to use it as a backup and file server. I work on a laptop and a desktop and keeping all my data in sync, accessible and backed-up for me is the biggest challenge of working on multiple machines. I used to play around with burning DVD's and copying files to external USB drives but I got fed up with it and tried to tackle that problem.

File server

I've heard a lot about Samba but I know only the basics. As I understand, it is a software package that can be used to share directories over the network and act as a print server between Microsoft Windows systems and Unix-like systems. So Samba will let me setup network shares for chosen directories on the server. These shares can appear to a Microsoft Windows system as normal Windows folders accessible via the network. On my Linux box I can also just mount those shares to become part of the file system. Perfect.

Configuration

Note that this configuration was done on Ubuntu Server 8.04.1

First get the Samba software from your local apt mirror:

sudo apt-get install samba

After installation and before you start messing around, make a copy of the Samba configuration file:

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.original

Next, I will try to explain how I configured my Samba setup. Mind you I'm no expert at all in this matter, but I managed to get a configuration working that suits my needs.

The way I wanted it to work is: giving logged in Windows users access to shared resources on the server. Using the same username and password combination on the Windows machine as on the server. Authentication to the shared drives is handled in the background automatically based on the currently logged in Windows user that is accessing the shared resource.

On the XSERVER, which is my server's host name, I created a directory called "data", this is the root path for all data I want to store on the server, through Samba.

Make sure that the directories are owned by the "users" group. You can change the group of a directory with the following command:

sudo chgrp users /data

Under data, I created directories to organize the data by type like PICTURES, DOCUMENTS, MUSIC, etc...

Fire up your editor (I prefer nano) to change the Samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

In the minimal Samba configuration below, you see values for the workgroup, machine name, user based security settings, ... I put this configuration together using the documentation that is provided on the Samba website.

In my configuration you can see 2 shares, pictures and documents. 2 Users (jkl and sara) are allowed to access these shares.

The mask directives determine the local file permissions for any new files or directories that are created in any of the shares.

[global]
workgroup = MATRIX
netbios name = XSERVER
server string = Samba Server %v
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 1000
socket options = TCP_NODELAY IPTOS_LOWDELAY 
preferred master = No
local master = No
dns proxy = No
security = User

[pictures]
path = /data/PICTURES
valid users = jkl, sara
browsable = yes
read only = no
create mask = 0775
directory mask = 0775

[documents]
path = /data/DOCUMENTS
valid users = jkl, sara
browsable = yes
read only = no
create mask = 0775
directory mask = 0775

Now all that remains on the Samba server is creating the user accounts that will access the Samba shares from Windows clients. I configured exactly the same username/password combinations on the Samba server as used on the Windows clients.

Create the "sara" user in Linux:

sudo useradd -c "Sara" sara

Add the new user to the "users" group:

sudo usermod -a -G users sara

Add samba user and samba password to the local Samba password file:

sudo smbpasswd -L -a sara

Enable the user:

sudo smbpasswd -L -e sara

Finally after all configuration is done, restart the Samba server to enable the configuration changes:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Now on your Windows client machine (I use Windows XP), in order to use load the Samba network shares as a driveletter you can issue the following command:

net use X: \\XSERVER\documents
net use Y: \\XSERVER\pictures

After executing these commands and if the username/password combination of your Windows client match the Samba server's users, you can use the X and Y drive on your Windows client to store your precious data.

Conclusion
After a few hours of trial and error, the Samba setup was completed. This was my first Samba setup, so I'm happy to hear from anybody what I could have done better. But keep in mind all I want is a simple home setup, no highly secured over the internet corporate network storage stuff. For the moment, I'm very happy with my current configuration.

Over the gigabit network at home, I have no noticeable delays in handling and editing documents. Sometimes there is a small delay when flipping through a directory of 5 MB JPG images from the digital camera, but not so much that it becomes an issue for me.

When copying large file over the network to the Samba server (digital camera movies for example), the transfer can reach speeds of upto 70 MB/second. That is definitely fast enough to copy multi gigabyte files around.

Home Server Setup Part 1: Choosing the OS

Which OS is best for my small home server?

It was instantly clear to me: it had to be Linux. To be honest I didn't give other OS's much consideration. My reasons for choosing Linux were clear:

• I didn't want to pay for a license costing as much as the hardware the OS runs on
• the server had to run headless, without a screen, without keyboard or mouse, saving energy costs and space
• the server had to be controlled remotely
• because I'm no expert, it had to be an OS with a good community backing it up so I could fix problems easily
• I had to have access to easy to install and configure services with good documentation

Now, I'm writing this article after I have configured the server and it is running smoothly. But there were a few occasions that "easy to install and configure" fired back at me and I almost wished I had the Windows point & click configurations at my disposal. But up-to now, I have not had a problem that patience, Google and the Ubuntu forums couldn't help me solve.

What distribution to choose?

Because I already use the Ubuntu desktop for a few years, I went ahead with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server. I didn't need the bleeding edge, latest and greatest of the installed services. I just wanted a stable system for a few years. The Ubuntu LTS variant is being maintained for 5 years, so it was the perfect choice for my needs.

Home Server Hardware Choice

For some time I run around with the idea to build a small server to use at home. At start, it would be used as a file server (pictures, home movies, documents, email), Java application server (Tomcat), source code control system (Subversion), backup station and an interface to the home domotica system.

It has to be energy efficient, and more or less future proof as I don't intend to buy new hardware each year.

Now, it took me quite some time to pick out the hardware, but eventually it is this setup that is now running perfectly silent in the garage.

Case: Antec Sonata (old case I had lying around)
Motherboard: Asus P5QL-EM iG43. The onboard video saves some power compared to using an add-in card. It has 6 sata2 connectors, so there's plenty of room to add discs.
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual E5200. Gives me more than enough number crunching power to use at home.
Memory: Kingston 2x1GB DDR2 SDRAM PC6400. I know, way too much memory for this small server, but it was dirt cheap.
Power supply: Seasonic S12II-380 380W. Quiet PSU with good reviews allround.
System drive: WD Caviar RE WD3200YS (spare drive used as system disc).
Storage: WD Caviar Green 1 TB ( WD10EACS ).

At first I wanted a raid configuration, because I hate loosing data because of disc failure.(Noooo really?) But after giving it some thoughts, I decided I didn't need RAID. It only adds to the power usage and overall cost of the system.

* You have 2, 3 or more discs spinning, that eat away power instead of just 1
* The initial costs would be a lot higher since I had to buy more discs.
* When done right, RAID performance could be faster than a single disc, but for my family needs, a single drive easily keeps up. I get between 30-60 MByte/s over the Gbit network, depending on the file size.

Instead of relying on raid to tackle the disc failure problem, I now do a weekly rsync of my files from the server to my desktop. This is good as long as my desktop drive has space available. If the desktop runs out of space, I'll probably add an extra drive in the server that only spins up 1x a day to execute the rsync, and weekly hook up an external drive to create a backup.

The system currently draws more or less 45-50W from the socket while idle or just serving files. It needs 65W when booting or under heavy load.

So, is there anything I don't like about this setup?

Sadly yes, first, the power supply is maybe not the best pick. The system only needs 65W at full load, it would have been more energy efficient to buy a 100W power supply for example.

Second the current system drive (an old 3.5 incher), is probably the first item to be replaced by a low power 2.5 inch laptop drive.

The system is currently running Ubuntu Server 8.04.

I'll document the setup of the services and applications it is running in future articles.

3..2..1.. Lift Off!

Hi, my name is Jo Klaps and this is my blog.
You can read about what keeps me busy, both professionally and @home.

That should do for now...
Enjoy.