interesting uses for a headless host running Ubuntu

Question

Hey! So, I have configured a pc with no monitor, keyboard or mouse running Ubuntu. I use it as a ssh server, file backup, web server, etc.

Though, it seems as if I could use it for sooo much more. The problem is I can't think of many more uses.

What interesting uses of a headless host have you heard of? Is there a cool trick you want to share?

Thanks! Manuel

Answer 1

The appeal of a headless machine is that you can keep it always on, reasonably locked down, and reachable from the internet. You can put up a personal wiki, a sup MUA, a project tracker.

Taking advantage of the fact that the machine is local, you can use it as a file server (NFSv4 is nice) and a media center.

And you can move the computation towards the data and set up rtorrent or deluged.

Answer 2

Host a Version Control Server to track software development

If you have ever done any serious software development, you have probably used a version control system. The benefit of version control systems is, they allow multiple users to access/modify files concurrently.

To host a software repository you'll usually need a server daemon. Here's a list of common server daemons for specific revision control platforms:

• git-daemon (git)
• svnserve (subversion)
• hgserve (mercurial)
• cvsd (CVS)

Alternatively, repositories can also usually be served up through a http webserver like Apache with the proper configuration.

Answer 3

Install a HTTP server and host your own websites and webapplications

This is probably the obvious answer since that's how every webserver on the internet works.

Install Apache and/or similar LAMP stack and you'll be able to host your own:

• Website
• Wiki
• Blog
• Forum

I usually use my personal webserver to host a testing server to write and test my own websites/webapps before publishing them to the web. A testing server is usually comprised of a webserver, database back-end, phpmyadmin to give the database a GUI front-end, etc...

There are probably a lot more types of web applications installable on a webserver. This answer is a community wiki so feel free to add your own.

Answer 4

Maybe give yourself your own domain for e-mail addresses? You could also try setting yourself up with your own proxy. You could even have some fun with that and prank some wifi theives.

Answer 5

Download torrents remotely using the torrent client's built-in web interface

Many popular torrent clients have built-in web interfaces that can be enabled in the application preferences.

With the web client you can remotely load .torrent files and manage your torrent client across the web.

Here is a list of torrent clients that include a web interface:

• Transmission
• uTorrent
• JDownloader

Answer 6

I'm going to go ahead and assume you already have irssi on there? How about a media server?

Answer 7

I have mine with uShare running to stream video to my Xbox. If you have an original xbox you can put xbox media center on it. Works fantastic. Install transmisison-daemon to download torrents easily with a web interface (sudo apt-get install transmission-daemon and then browse to http://yourserver:9091/transmission/web.

Answer 8

How about a VPN server so you can access your network externally? Or a VM server so you can host/play with multiple operating systems?

Answer 9

Load PS3 Media Server to host a media server

PS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant Upnp Media Server for the PS3, written in Java, with the purpose of streaming or transcoding any kind of media files, with minimum configuration. It's backed up with the powerful Mplayer/FFmpeg packages.

Despite the name, PS3 Media Server can serve media files (images, music, videos) to both PS3 and XBox 360.

Answer 10

If that PC is powerful enough, you might want to let it to take care of more cpu intensive tasks instead of your workstation. Some examples:

• 3D rendering (A Blender render node)
• Video conversion (mencoder)
• Image conversion (say, resizing many images with ImageMagick's convert)
• Compiling code
• Running some game server

Answer 11

For further inspirations you can have a look at what other NAS systems can do.
For example, here's a feature list of QNAP systems: http://www.qnap.com/pro_features.asp

Answer 12

Host an FTP server so you can access your file system remotely

Download a FTP server and you'll be able to access your files anywhere through a FTP client or web browser (which, depending on the browser, may require a plug-in).

For a list of FTP servers see this link.

FTP servers can be a little tricky to setup at first because you'll need to set up the correct user privileges but they can be real handy to use a headless unit to use as a remote storage/backup point.

Note: From personal experience, be sure to make sure that IP addresses are automatically banned after a certain number of failed attempts. From checking my FTP logs I found out that numerous locations in China had been attempting to hack my FTP server on numerous occasions.

Back in the day, it was common for piracy organizations to hack public FTP servers to provide free space/bandwidth to share their files across the net. With the advent of torrents it's not as common these days but it still happens. Be sure to limit the security of your server to prevent this from happening if you share it publicly.