do you need a Domain name vs just IP address

You can certainly use your Linode from its IP address, or even add it as a subdomain in another domain (like static.example.com). It'll work either way.

If your IP address is 1.2.3.4, and you're running a Web server, your links would look like this:

http://1.2.3.4/images/foo.jpg

If your IP address changes, though, you'd have to correct all of these links in your ASP application. I'd recommend adding your Linode as at least a subdomain somewhere (i.e., images.example.com or something).

Jed:

Thank you for confirming my idea. However, I don't possess the knowledge of linux to implement your suggestions … at this time.

I have already installed nginx, php5, etc. by following the forementioned tutorial … very complicated process … now I am lost in the complexity. Is it possible to start over (undo what I have done) by resetting some switch in the linode console manager … and then proceed along a simplier path?

Can you suggest a website, etc, where I can get the information I need … or person to guide me through the process.

I suspect I will enjoy learning how to program in linux, etc. but at present it would be nice to get the VPS running, etc.

TIA Jim

@JimD:

Is it possible to start over (undo what I have done) by resetting some switch in the linode console manager … and then proceed along a simplier path?
Yes. Shut down your Linode, delete the disk image(s) - you can leave your swap partition - and deploy the distribution of your choice again. You're back to how you were just after you bought your Linode.

You might want to learn some more before actually using a Virtual Private Server. Remember don't do rm -rf / . You also need firewalls and such to keep bad buys out and do updates all the time. It is a wild west unlike when I came of age 10 years ago.

I would suggest getting VirtualBox or some other Free VM App, installing it on your home computer and installing Linux there and playing around to figure stuff out. What you are doing is basically learning to swim by jumping in the lake.

I use http://www.howtoforge.com/ to setup my server. Just sjip the parts you dont need, like the OS install. The mail server is always the worst part, making it accept mail for your domain, but not be an open relay. Firewalls are a PITA too.

If you are just going to use it to serve up files then keep away from the ail server and other non-needed stuff like DNS server or FTP server. Setup SSH and use SCP to copy the files onto the server. Setup Apache as there is a thousand more resources on the web about it.

I would suggest Ubuntu since it is super easy to use. I have gone from Redhat to Caldera, to Redhat again to Gentoo to Ubuntu. I like it, easy to keep updated.

Thank all of you for taking the time to answer my questions and offering suggestions. I have a few more questions to conceptually understand how the pieces fit together.

My objective at this time is to set up a VPS to access videos (via an IP address without another domain name). Also, I do not need a mail server. To do this:

1) What are the minimal components require to accomplish my objective?

2) I have ubuntu install. Do I also need a web server such as nginx or appache installed to upload and download files via url /http: from my other website?

2) I have a FTP client already installed, but presummably this isn't necessary because I can setup SSH and use SCP to copy files efficiently? Is this correct?

3) Do I need ubuntu AND a server (e.g. ngnix) to run PHP? I was going to use PHP to run a few scripts (such as allowing clients to uplaod video to the VPS). I assume to do this I will need a web server installed such as ngnix. Is this correct?

I look forward to any additional help, comments, advice. I do enjoy the challenge.

Jim

check out www.terranat.com to see what videos I am talking about.

1) You will need an operating system and a web server. More later on this. You will also need a way to access your Linode - sshd is the best choice. I think this comes installed by default on all Linode-supplied images (if not, you can install it easily).

2) Yes, you will need a web server. While Apache may not be the most efficient choice for serving up static files like video, it tends to be the most widely documented, which can be useful for someone just learning. I honestly haven't used alternatives like Lighttpd or Nginx - either one will handle serving more static files than Apache, but you'll have to learn their configuration. But since you're going to have to learn one anyway, this may not be a deterrent.

The other 2) If you have sshd listening on your Linode, you will be able to transfer files to it over scp. WinSCP and Filezilla are among the many scp clients available for Windows users; Linux users have many more. Graphical programs billed as "FTP clients" may also have scp capability - if you already have a favorite, look in its help documents to see. Running an FTP server is generally a hassle and potentially a security hole, so ordinarily I recommend against it.

3) Yes, Ubuntu is the operating system, and you will need a web server in addition. Some web servers, like Apache, can run PHP as an integrated module. This requires installing the PHP module, but otherwise no special setup should be needed. Other web servers like Nginx run PHP as a separate program, which I gather takes some configuration.

The Linode Library contains some nice documents on getting started. Because what you want to do is a bit out of the ordinary, you'll have to pick and choose the parts of the documents that apply to your situation. For example, if you don't need a database, you can skip over instructions that talk about setting up MySQL.

Vance:

Slowly I am beginning to understand what all of you are talking about. I've decided to use Ubuntu, nginx, and a FTP server (probably sshd as recommended). I thought I had the VPS setup and ready to test until I tried to change files permissions on one of my vhost directories with chmod … now nothing works …

… there are certainly a lot rules and syntax to learn

Thanks for the advice and guidance, Jim

I want to thank all of you who answered my posts for your helpful advice … the VPS now works … sort of :) … the videos download much faster now … yeah.

There are a two odd behaviors that I would like explained or eliminated. They are:

1) When testing with IExplorer, a Google bar pops up at the top of screen with the statement "This page is in Danish. …" what gives here? This doesn't happen in Firefox or Safari.

2) Linus is apparently very case-sensitive which poses a problem when some legacy code (stored in a database) whereby some directory/file calls are written in mixed upper and lower case. Is there a way to turn off the case-sensitive requirement in Linux?

Finally, is there an easy way to restrict access to a Ubuntu runned VPS by IP addresses (may be in the web server conf. file?). If there is I can restrict access to the VPS … allowing only by own companion websites access to the videos. Or, is there better way to prevent hackers from hotlinking to copyrighted videos?

Jim

@JimD:

2) Linus is apparently very case-sensitive which poses a problem when some legacy code (stored in a database) whereby some directory/file calls are written in mixed upper and lower case. Is there a way to turn off the case-sensitive requirement in Linux?
Not sure if the database information is used internally or if you're storing URLs. If the latter, note that aside from the hostname, URLs themselves are case sensitive by definition, so if anything, Linux is behaving more accurately. The fact that some web servers running on some case-insensitive systems (like Windows) might permit case insensitive URLs if they are referring to filenames is luck, but not something that any production system should assume.

If the issue is URLs handed to clients, you may also be able to normalize the URLs within your web server, depending on server (e.g., lightppd has a server.force-lowercase-filenames option).

But if it's just internal data being stored, I'd personally just bite the bullet and make one pass over your system to normalize your database and filesystem (changing whichever you prefer to match the latter). Or if you have control of code using the database data, you could lowercase your entire filesystem and then just have that code lowercase anything it retrieves from the database before use.

Case sensitivity is the norm in *nix environments. Having matching data between your database and filesystem works anywhere, so is the best normalized form, while assuming case insensitivity only works on some system and filesystem combinations.

I do think some searching may turn up some case insensitive overlay filesystems for Linux, but I haven't used any, nor am I sure I would in production. I suppose you could create and mount a FAT filesystem to hold your data, or access it through Samba, but again I don't think I'd find either approach attractive.

– David

This is a decent reference if you are trying to prevent other sites hotlinking to your video server. You'll have to tailor to your circumstances.

I do feel I have to point out that it looks like you can accomplish your video serving using traditional shared web hosting. Pros: (probably) less expensive, minimal setup/configuration needed on your part. Cons: less flexible should you decide to change plans in the future, no awesome Linode staff on top of things.

Another note - if you're going to let people upload videos, you should limit this to registered members or have a human review them before they become publicly viewable. Otherwise, you're going to see a different kind of "nature video" show up…

db31 and Vance:

db31 … yes, the best solution is to take the time and rename all of the files using lower case … at least files located on the VPS. This has been accomplished and everything works. Thanks for the input.

Vance: The link you suggested for preventing users from hotlinking to images was informative (I'll keep it on file) … I do not think either method will work, however, in my circumstances since the links on my site are generated dynamically via ASP code.

Also, I am hosting my site on a shared ISP to deliever the ASP pages; I am using the VPS to access the videos. Viewing videos on a shared ISP can be very, very slow …

Currently, I have the VPS working and connected using only a IP address. I appreciate all of the feedback and library books on Linux and Ubuntu :) and, special thanks to the guvnr.com tutorial (very nice).

Jim

www.terranat.com