Usenet with seedbox, how?

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So, I prefer to download my isos and non-copyrighted material from usenet. But I would like to make them accessible from various places as I travel a lot.

Would it be possible to rent a seedbox and run a nzb client there, so that I download my usenet content to my seedbox and, from there, to any computer I want? Preferably by direct http or ftp access (not really interested in torrents but it would be nice to have them).

I'm not sure what I should be looking after. All the seedboxes I see advertised are mentioning torrent clients etc, but nothing about accessing usenet. If someone can shed some light on how that can be done it'd be useful.
 
kgi said:
I presume you know that they offer such a service in the 2G pack.

Since I am clueless on seedboxes, any recommendation what I should choose from features here: https://www.ovh.co.uk/order/kimsufi.cgi?hard=110sk1

Looking at it I guess I 'want' the remote desktop (?) although a windows setup would be easier for me to use.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
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It's a bare-bones dedicated server. You can add Windows 2008 for only a few quid per month as the server uses a low power CPU.
 
For software all you really need is SABNZBD and a web server to serve the content which are both available on linux and windows.
 
This seems like an unnecessary expense, especially if you don't know what you're doing, no? If you have usenet access then why not just download from usenet wherever you go, keep a collection of .nzb's instead of files on a server.
 
kayomani said:
For software all you really need is SABNZBD and a web server to serve the content which are both available on linux and windows.
Click to expand...

I presume a seedbox is the same as a webserver? Sorry if I sound dumb but I've only seen seedboxes advertised for torrent only.
 
kgi said:
I presume a seedbox is the same as a webserver? Sorry if I sound dumb but I've only seen seedboxes advertised for torrent only.
Click to expand...

No. It's a torrent client and web interface running on a dedicated server, usually shared by multiple users.
 
kgi said:
I presume a seedbox is the same as a webserver? Sorry if I sound dumb but I've only seen seedboxes advertised for torrent only.
Click to expand...

A seedbox refers to using bittorrent on a server. What seedbox providers sell varies, it can be your own server, a VPS on a server or as basic as a webui for a torrent client and ftp access.
 
kgi said:
I'm not sure what I should be looking after. All the seedboxes I see advertised are mentioning torrent clients etc, but nothing about accessing usenet. If someone can shed some light on how that can be done it'd be useful.
Click to expand...

Many years ago I used to do what you seem to be requesting so perhaps I can help. You don't need a "seedbox" for newsgroup downloads, practically any old server will do. Here's what I'd do -

a) Purchase a relatively cheap virtual private server with a popular version of Linux on it like Ubuntu(there will be lots of forums where you can get help). Cheap ones here - http://www.lowendbox.com .
b) Log into (ssh) the server and install SABnzbd from the repositories.

Now ssh into your server, run SABnzbd, and port forward SABnzbd's port (127.0.0.1:8080) to your local machine. SABnzbd's control panel will now appear on your local machine when you fire up your browser. You can now set up your newsgroup account details.

Then it's basically a case of uploading your NZB files to your server and then selecting them for download with the SABnzbd control panel. When your files have finished downloading to the server you can transfer them to your local machine using WinSCP(which has a resume transfer feature that means you don't have to worry about dodgy connections to your server).

I think that'll work ... unless I've made a ****-up. :rolleyes:
 
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KIA said:
No. It's a torrent client and web interface running on a dedicated server, usually shared by multiple users.
Click to expand...

AbsenceJam said:
A seedbox refers to using bittorrent on a server. What seedbox providers sell varies, it can be your own server, a VPS on a server or as basic as a webui for a torrent client and ftp access.
Click to expand...

philip2009 said:
Many years ago I used to do what you seem to be requesting so perhaps I can help. You don't need a "seedbox" for newsgroup downloads, practically any old server will do. Here's what I'd do -

a) Purchase a relatively cheap virtual private server with a popular version of Linux on it like Ubuntu(there will be lots of forums where you can get help). Cheap ones here - http://www.lowendbox.com .
b) Log into (ssh) the server and install SABnzbd from the repositories.

Now ssh into your server, run SABnzbd, and port forward SABnzbd's port (127.0.0.1:8080) to your local machine. SABnzbd's control panel will now appear on your local machine when you fire up your browser. You can now set up your newsgroup account details.

Then it's basically a case of uploading your NZB files to your server and then selecting them for download with the SABnzbd control panel. When your files have finished downloading to the server you can transfer them to your local machine using WinSCP(which has a resume transfer feature that means you don't have to worry about dodgy connections to your server).

I think that'll work ... unless I've made a ****-up. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Thank you all for the info, that was great. I now understand what I need to do.

AbsenceJam, many thanks for the detailed instructions, that's exactly what I'm after.
 
Have you thought about running a qnap sever from home ?
I run one for past 4 years and sabnzb downloads to it and I can access it even from my iPhone / iPad when not at home. Also stream downloaded content direct to tv
 
idmanager said:
Have you thought about running a qnap sever from home ?
I run one for past 4 years and sabnzb downloads to it and I can access it even from my iPhone / iPad when not at home. Also stream downloaded content direct to tv
Click to expand...

The problem is that my home connection is pants..3mbps download and I reckon 1mbps upload.

Argh, setting up the stuff in Debian is a pain as I haven't worked in linux before. Why is it so complicated!

Then again I can't imagine how a windows OS would run under *EDIT* 2gb of ram on a remote box!! Most impressive.
 
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KIA said:
Let me know if you need help.
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Thanks very much, I think I'm finding my way around things, but it's a steep learning curve.

I noticed that (after I remote connect to my box) I can't launch the synaptics manager. It is there, I can see it, I click on it and it does nothing.

Could it be disabled by default? It's a bit annoying having to manually edit the source list file with repositories and then to manually install all the apps I'm after. If it's meant to be set up like that, that's ok. Just wondering.

Also, any good download managers (like IDM for windows) that you could suggest? I read about FatRat but for some reason I get errors when I do an apt-get install fatrat, some filepaths missing etc. Ugh..
 
I do everything via SSH.

Synaptic might be running in the background. Use the top command.

You don't always have to add repos manually. Your distro may already have packages available.

wget and curl are very powerful. Both can be used for downloading many links from popular file hosts.
 
As people have mentioned, seedboxes are servers with high upload bandwidth enabling people to seed torrents and get their share ratio up quickly. This was done by many as some private trackers required high ratios to stay members.

I have a CentOS 6 minimal SABnzb server at home and do exactly what has been suggested with using the web gui to upload nzb files and Filezilla to download to my WHS.

Instructions for a SABnzb install on CentOS can be found here and are fairly simple.

CentOS is the community version of RedHat Enterprise Linux. I use the minimal version as it installs a minimal (surprise, surprise) set of packages thus helping to keep the attack footprint down and reduces the chance of someone hacking in and using your server / VPS for nefarious purposes (like hacking the CIA ;) ). The NSA (yeah the US governmental NSA) has a couple of guides for securing Redhat publicly available and they are a good place to start here and here (both pdf). They can also be applied to Debian base Linux versions with a little tweaking.

This thread may also be better off in the Linux subforum as there are lots of experienced people who would also be able to advise better there.

RB
 
Thanks a lot KIA and RimBlock. Yes, I think the thread is veering towards the linux side of things so if any mod sees this please move it.

I had a bit of a prob with the sabnzbd, when I installed it at first I mistakingly put it in root. Now I tried to purge it and reinstall it properly. Still in the middle of it.

I understand I need to download the python source to do it. There is no apt-get package for it for Debian.
 
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