During the installation of Debian, you’re asked several questions, for the most part you need to answer them for yourself. The important question, the one that gets you a basic install, is package selection. By default the installer wants to include “Desktop Environment” and “Standard System”, I chose to omit both. This leaves you with just enough to get the machine running (which IMO is a very good thing).

After the installer does all it needs to do, it’ll reboot the machine and leave you at the login prompt. If you’ve never sat in front of a GUI-less machine, then you’re in for a treat. Unplug your mouse, chuck it in the bin and get used to virtual terminals, screen sessions and tired fingers

First things first, I need to get this machine going and I don’t have enough software to do all I need. I log in as root and make a few changes.

Remove the Debian CDROM as a source from /etc/apt/sources.list and Add contrib and non-free to the same file; it should look like:


deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib non-free

Then update the Apt cache (apt-get update) and install my applications…

apt-get install ssh vim build-essential linux-headers-2.6-686 bzip2 p7zip-full less lsof lshw psmisc w3m lynx nload telnet host dnsutils ntp ftp lftp vnstat file screen unrar cksfv rsync hellanzb samba smbfs wakeonlan postfix mailx

• Some of the applications (samba and postfix for example) will require that you provide some setup information. You’ll want to configure them for yourself.
• I actually installed hellanzb from Debian testing as it’s a more current version of the app.
• If you don’t know what these packages are, you can do an apt-cache show <package name> on Debian or Ubuntu.

This machine is not only going to host some virtual machines, but it’s going to act as a samba server, a shell server and the machine I use for various Usenet tasks and some other goodies. Given that, and the fact that I like to know what’s going on, I’ll be keeping an eye on my bandwidth usage. To do that, I’ll be using vnstat. Since it’s installed already, I need to create a database for my Ethernet adapter.

vnstat -u -i eth0


After that and some time, I can issue the vnstat [-<flag>] command to get some really handy network traffic statistics.

Because there are so many ways to configure a shell server and a samba server, I’m not going to get into the editing of the conf files. Basically, authentication with the shell server will be done via public/private keys only and I’ll be running it on an alternate port. Samba will be configured as a stand alone server and I will be required to enter a valid user/pass to view the shares.

Once all of those applications are installed and configured, one needs only to download the latest version of VMware Server and install that. I responded with all of the default answers while installing VMWare and was up and running in almost no time.

After a few other tweaks, preventing users from entering /root and other user’s homes, adjusting umask for my account and installing ClamAV from the Debian Volatile repos (to scan samba shares), I’m up and running.

There you have it, the quick setup for the physical server that’s taking over @ the flat. Next I’ll start working up the VMs.

These first 2 guys are the older noisy machines that I need to replace. They have loud fans and louder hard disks. I don’t notice the noise so much since I moved them to the basement, but I *know* they’re down there making noise…

Voldemort:

A Pentium III (Coppermine) 1GHz running on a SuperMicro P3TSSA motherboard. This baby is maxed out with 512MB PC133 SDRAM. This was a great machine 7+ years ago. I had a lot of fun on it. I built it to learn/play with Windows 2000, it had a whopping 256MB of RAM back then and was moderate to high tech when I built it. This isn’t the original mobo, it had an Intel branded board that went kaput some time after I installed XP on it. I’ve loved this machine for MANY years and while it won’t be running 24/7 anymore, it’ll still be there for me to play with. It’s currently running Debian 4.0 and hasn’t had a real role other than for testing for a while. Most recently, it’s been host to a VM or two that I’ve been playing with.

Albus:

A Pentium III (Coppermine) 1GHz running on a Dell GX150 motherboard. This one is maxed with 512 MB as well and used to be my work desktop many years ago. We were able to pick up our machines before they were refreshed for a modest price so I opted to. I don’t have any really fond memories with this machine. It’s always been on and I’ve never once had a problem with it. Not a bad little box. Currently it’s running Debian 4.0 (upgraded from Debian 3.1) and its primary role is a backup server (I’m using an offsite backup server after this whole project is complete) and shell server. it’s the single door into my home network.

This next machine is the physical box replacing both Albus and Voldemort.

Nix/Cerberus:

Credit: Cerberus was given his name by none other than Sarah Conti. Rock on with your mythology Miss Conti!

A Pentium 4, 3.00GHz (Hyperthreading) running on an Intel D945GTP motherboard. It’s currently rocking 2GB of DDR2/667MHz memory. This is a great machine for running a standard desktop. I built it in March 2006 to be my Ubuntu desktop, and I’ve never had a problem with it. Currently it’s name is Nix but will soon become Cerberus. It will be running Debian 4.0, VMware server and will be providing shell access (replacing albus) and will act as a Samba server for my music and whatever else I need to share.

…and without further delay, the virtual machines!

Ka:

Ka is a Debian 4.0 Virtual Machine. His role is to be an always on machine for my wiki, email, IRC & IM clients. He’s already alive and well and I’ve moved those services over to him. For the moment he’s hosted on Voldemort and will be moved to Cerberus once he lives.

Peeves:

Peeves is Windows Server 2003 Enterprise. Yep, I need to be able to virtualize Windows because I have a few apps that I need/want to have on at all times. This includes my FTP server, Handy Address Book server and WhereIsIt which is a cataloging program that just rocks. I decided to go with Windows 2k3 because I had a license for it and didn’t have one for another copy of XP. It’s currently being hosted by Darktower (you’ll meet him below)

Finally, the desktop machine/VM to get me through this whole mess.

Nix2/Darktower:

Nix2 is just an Ubuntu VM so that I can continue to use my Linux apps while converting Nix to Cerberus. Nix2 will be hosted on Darktower. This is a physical machine similar in make-up to Nix (only diff is that it’s a full ATX board, not a Micro and it’s in a taller case). Darktower runs XP at the moment but will eventually be a dual boot with Ubuntu and XP or Vista. I plan on keeping all data off of this machine, it will be nothing but a client as all of my data will be accessible via the servers. It’s final name will remain Darktower. Once I’ve got my data off of Nix2 and onto the new Darktower, Nix2 will get the boot and all will be good in the world.

So to summarize, both Albus and Voldemort die (seems fitting), Cerberus, Ka and Peeves rule the roost and Darktower just hangs out getting poked and prodded when needed. Since I won’t need it to be on at all times anymore (for IRC and what not) it’ll be spending the majority of it’s time in sleep mode.It’ll be nice to eliminate the 2 older machines and keep a third sleeping most of the time. That will leave only 2 always on machines in the house, that’s Cerberus and HTPC (which is a Windows machine running some home theater software).

Once complete, I’ll not only have infrastructure that’s really easy to backup/re-create but I’ll have stopped wasting so much energy.

Next, I’ll start going over what’s involved in setting up the VMs, things from Debian installation options to installed applications.