linux server advice

[me88]

i'm planning on setting up a linux server with ubuntu and i was wondering if i could get some pointers.

I was going to set up a proxy server, vpn server, dns server and may be a print server. i was planning on doing it all on one computer, should i put each server on a virtual machine or should i put them on directly on the computer?

if you have any other suggestions please let me know.

 

[atljsf]

you could do both, but i wouldn't bother creating multiple virtual machines just to run services that are already present on linux

any reason to create those virtual machines?

print server in linux, i personally don't like the idea, cups makes things simple but there is always some annoyance with some driver or something with the printer

i would add a firewall to that list

4 cores, 8 gbs of ram and you would be ready to put all that in one machine

 

[me88]

you could do both, but i wouldn't bother creating multiple virtual machines just to run services that are already present on linux

any reason to create those virtual machines?

print server in linux, i personally don't like the idea, cups makes things simple but there is always some annoyance with some driver or something with the printer

i would add a firewall to that list

4 cores, 8 gbs of ram and you would be ready to put all that in one machine

firewall is a good idea

I thought about doing them on separate virtual machines just in case i want to replace the entire system i can just do a backup of the images of the virtual machines and upload them to the machine

having all those server running on one system won't be a problem?

what did you mean by "4 cores"?

 

[atljsf]

as in a core i5 or something similar, to avoid any problem

about those virtual machines, once you set properly a server, you don't want to reinstall, you want it to last up and running as many years as possible

the dns service is not that ram or cpu hungry, proxy either

vpn and firewall might be

it depends on how many clients will use the server

for example, a endian firewall can run on 2 cores and 2 gbs of ram and support one server and 30 or 40 machines connected to internet with no problem

vpn is what can be a power a big requirement service, but until you really load a system like this, you can decide if one server is enough or two might be necessary

 

[me88]

as in a core i5 or something similar, to avoid any problem

about those virtual machines, once you set properly a server, you don't want to reinstall, you want it to last up and running as many years as possible

the dns service is not that ram or cpu hungry, proxy either

vpn and firewall might be

it depends on how many clients will use the server

for example, a endian firewall can run on 2 cores and 2 gbs of ram and support one server and 30 or 40 machines connected to internet with no problem

vpn is what can be a power a big requirement service, but until you really load a system like this, you can decide if one server is enough or two might be necessary

alright, so now my plan would be to have a proxy server, vpn server, dns server, firewall and maybe a print server.

would a proxy server and/or a vpn allow my to use my internet connection when i'm outside my network?

is there a way were i can allow users to login with a user name and password in order to use my internet, and then after awhile disconnect if they are outside my network for a set amount of time and/or haven't used my internet?

 

[atljsf]

the vpn purpose is to allow you to connect to your network when you are outside

the proxy will need to be set to work with the vpn, if it asks for certain ports to be open, well, the vpn manual will tel you which ones and the proxy manual will tell you how to allow those services and ports to be open

about time for users, not sure, i usually see on most companies that the acces is based on mac address of the device, not for user, you add the mac to a list of authorized macs to enter the network and when you don't want them more in the list, just delete them

 

[Alabalcho]

@Me88 - if you just start with Linux, start with something simple, like installing a desktop version, then playing with it. It does not have to be "server" in order to run servoces.

The goal you've put in front of yourself requires quite good knowledge of how Linux works, and you won't get this from YouTube videos, or forum posts.

 

[me88]

@Me88 - if you just start with Linux, start with something simple, like installing a desktop version, then playing with it. It does not have to be "server" in order to run servoces.

The goal you've put in front of yourself requires quite good knowledge of how Linux works, and you won't get this from YouTube videos, or forum posts.

good point i do have somewhat good knowledge of linux but not expert level just looking for some advice

 

[me88]

the vpn purpose is to allow you to connect to your network when you are outside

the proxy will need to be set to work with the vpn, if it asks for certain ports to be open, well, the vpn manual will tel you which ones and the proxy manual will tell you how to allow those services and ports to be open

about time for users, not sure, i usually see on most companies that the acces is based on mac address of the device, not for user, you add the mac to a list of authorized macs to enter the network and when you don't want them more in the list, just delete them

with the vpn allowing me to connect to my network from outside it will i be able to use the internet connection from my network?

i was planning on setting up all this with the ubuntu server i found the online "manual" that has the step by step instructions, i'm assuming that will tell me what ports to open...?

each device will tell me the mac address correct? every phone, tablet, computer even smart tvs?

 

[atljsf]

a vpn is a tool that allows two differnet networks, usually joined together via internet to talk, specificcally the one connecting form outside to work just as if it was locally connected to the pc

this communication depends on both the internet connection from where you connect using the vpn and the internet connection that you have in your house

you depend more on this case from the internet connection of the second place you are

the internet speeds, if you are on a site with poor internet connection, something like 1 megabit per second but intermitent but in your house you have 20 megabits per second, your vpn connection will be 1 megabit, not 20

if the place where you are has some kind of restriction to open websites, if you manage to connect to that vpn, you will use the capabilities of that network, but the speeds of the network where you are

about ubuntu, if you don't find any specific information, you can join the ubuntu forum and ask if you don't find that information by just searching it without joining to their forum

about mac, each machine will have it written somewhere, if you don't find it, ifconfig in linux or ipconfig /all on windows will tell you that

on iphone is different, in andrid is on another ste

in windows phone is a pita, nobody uses that thankfully 😀

 

[me88]

a vpn is a tool that allows two differnet networks, usually joined together via internet to talk, specificcally the one connecting form outside to work just as if it was locally connected to the pc

this communication depends on both the internet connection from where you connect using the vpn and the internet connection that you have in your house

you depend more on this case from the internet connection of the second place you are

the internet speeds, if you are on a site with poor internet connection, something like 1 megabit per second but intermitent but in your house you have 20 megabits per second, your vpn connection will be 1 megabit, not 20

if the place where you are has some kind of restriction to open websites, if you manage to connect to that vpn, you will use the capabilities of that network, but the speeds of the network where you are

about ubuntu, if you don't find any specific information, you can join the ubuntu forum and ask if you don't find that information by just searching it without joining to their forum

about mac, each machine will have it written somewhere, if you don't find it, ifconfig in linux or ipconfig /all on windows will tell you that

on iphone is different, in andrid is on another ste

in windows phone is a pita, nobody uses that thankfully 😀

so if i can monitor users based on the mac address of the device they are using, how would that be done?

the reason why i ask if i can use personal internet connection outside that network instead of using cellular data (when there is a limit on it where i am) is because i've seen it done, but maybe i should ask that person how it was done

 

[atljsf]

the mac on some routers usually is showed with the name of the machine, not sure how to do that in the tools offered in ubuntu, surely can be done

the vpn on your smartphone? never done it personally, surely can be done, but you depend there on the wifi offered where you are

that wifi will connect to internet and from there will communicate with the vpn server you set up, there, you will connect to your local network, but all that depends on what vpn service you use on the smartphone and the vpn you install on that server

sounds like a very interesting project

a friend used to do just that in his work, but from his laptop, to watch movies, listen to music and open files in his house, but he used a cloud router, a dlink dir 855 if i remember correctly, so that is another option for you, if you don't want the hassle of mount a server and set up the vpn service

not sure if you need a static ip on your internet connection, i think my fried didn't had one but when the isp changed his ip, he had to edit the vpn connection accordingly

 

[me88]

the mac on some routers usually is showed with the name of the machine, not sure how to do that in the tools offered in ubuntu, surely can be done

the vpn on your smartphone? never done it personally, surely can be done, but you depend there on the wifi offered where you are

that wifi will connect to internet and from there will communicate with the vpn server you set up, there, you will connect to your local network, but all that depends on what vpn service you use on the smartphone and the vpn you install on that server

sounds like a very interesting project

a friend used to do just that in his work, but from his laptop, to watch movies, listen to music and open files in his house, but he used a cloud router, a dlink dir 855 if i remember correctly, so that is another option for you, if you don't want the hassle of mount a server and set up the vpn service

not sure if you need a static ip on your internet connection, i think my fried didn't had one but when the isp changed his ip, he had to edit the vpn connection accordingly

thanks for reminding my about the ip address i was planning on continuing with dynamic ip addressing

 

[me88]

the mac on some routers usually is showed with the name of the machine, not sure how to do that in the tools offered in ubuntu, surely can be done

the vpn on your smartphone? never done it personally, surely can be done, but you depend there on the wifi offered where you are

that wifi will connect to internet and from there will communicate with the vpn server you set up, there, you will connect to your local network, but all that depends on what vpn service you use on the smartphone and the vpn you install on that server

sounds like a very interesting project

a friend used to do just that in his work, but from his laptop, to watch movies, listen to music and open files in his house, but he used a cloud router, a dlink dir 855 if i remember correctly, so that is another option for you, if you don't want the hassle of mount a server and set up the vpn service

not sure if you need a static ip on your internet connection, i think my fried didn't had one but when the isp changed his ip, he had to edit the vpn connection accordingly

if i want to connect to the computer remotely, what should i use?

 

[Alabalcho]

if i want to connect to the computer remotely, what should i use?

What you mean as "connect"? Remote desktop? SSH? Remote from here?

 

[MU_Engineer]

if i want to connect to the computer remotely, what should i use?

Find your current public (Internet-facing) IP address and use SSH. From the remote computer at a shell prompt, type in "ssh username@(ip-address)." Do note that unless you have your computer hooked directly to the modem, your router will probably drop SSH requests as you need to forward your SSH port (by default, 22) to the IP address of your computer. Personally I configure a nonstandard SSH port in my SSH config and blacklist IP addresses that give more than 5 wrong password guesses. If you don't do this, you will have a large amount of traffic from bots trying to brute-force attack their way into your system.

 

[me88]

if i want to connect to the computer remotely, what should i use?

What you mean as "connect"? Remote desktop? SSH? Remote from here?

remote desktop, something like teamviewer if that's still ok to use. apparently it was hacked (i'm assuming it was the registered accounts) so maybe something similar to that