How To Stream MP4 Video Files From My VPS

This is a really good question and was actually the subject of a support ticket. I scratched my own head for a second and realized the solution was much easier than I thought.

What you need:

• A virtual private server running Windows or Linux
• A web server such as Apache, IIS, nginx, Lighttpd, etc.
• Enough disk space for the operating system and video files
• Enough bandwidth for your video files

Step One:
Install the operating system

This is relatively easy and I have to assume everyone has done this as there is nothing specific or special you need to install on your operating system except make sure it connects online.

Step Two:
Install the web server

For Apache, it’s relatively easy with most Linux operating systems.

Apache download page – Apache for Windows
Read the rest of this entry »

Tutorial: How To Install NGINX On CentOS VPS

Just like our how to install NGINX on Debian VPS tutorial, installing on CentOS is just as easy.

First, we create /etc/yum.repos.d/nginx.repo and put in the following:

[nginx]
name=nginx repo
baseurl=http://nginx.org/packages/centos/$releasever/$basearch/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

Next, we update our yum repos with yum update and install nginx with yum install nginx

Our nginx webserver is serving up files from /usr/share/nginx/html

A common problem is if your VPS has IPv6 that nginx will have issues. You resolve this by compiling nginx from source and enabling IPv6 support. Nginx packages, both Debian and CentOS in my experience, act funny and cause headache when IPv6 is not enabled even if you use it or not.

VPS OS: Which Linux Distribution is the Best?

There are sometimes overwhelming options for an operating system with virtual private servers and here is some information that may be useful for you to choose, if you are unsure, and some of the pros/cons of the operating system.

CentOS – (homepage)
CentOS, short for Community ENTerprise Operating System (CentOS), is a fully Redhat / RPM compatible operating system but is community supported, not commercially supported like Redhat. This means the development team works together, takes input and patches from the Linux community and releases it.

The advantage of CentOS is that if you are transitioning from Redhat to CentOS or have a Redhat requirement, that CentOS will be 100% compatible with your requirement of a Redhat operating system.

I have ran CentOS for projects and I like it, if it’s a requirement, but since I was “raised” on Debian Linux I prefer it. However my personal opinion should not sway you from trying out CentOS.

There are a lot of blogs and websites dedicated to CentOS, the operating system is well documented, and the yum package manager is very easy to run, maintain and upgrade a virtual private server which is a big plus.

Debian – (homepage)
Debian, named after Debra and the creator of Debian Ian Murdock (Deb + Ian), is a popular and widely used distribution of Linux. Debian has over 29,000 maintained packages available for download by their users and this operating system can run on a variety of hardware. Also, Debian can run the Linux kernel and the FreeBSD kernel. Debian running the FreeBSD kernel is called GNU/kFreeBSD.

The advantage of Debian is that it’s stable, actively developed by enthusiasts and developers, has over 29,000 actively maintained packages available for download from the apt repositories, and the package maintainers prefer stability over “latest release” software which may have bugs and could compromise the stability of the Debian server.

A disadvantage is a lot of folks who want the “latest release” of software find it’s unavailable and they have to use third party apt repositories, such as from the developer themselves or from third party repositories like DotDeb. This is generally why Debian users move from Debian over to Ubuntu, which is 100% compatible with Debian but the repositories are more up to date for the folks who want latest releases of software.

Ubuntu – (homepage)
Ubuntu, or as I like to say “Debian’s cousin”, is based on Debian and uses the apt package/repository system but is more “cutting edge” and “up to date” than it’s Debian cousin.

Debian software will generally run on Ubuntu and vice versa.

The advantage, as I previously explained with Debian, is the software and repositories are updated, cutting edge, but could compromise stability if a package is not thoroughly tested by package maintainers or the developer of the package themselves.

I have not seen an issue from latest release software being buggy, but this is just a theory that could happen.

I run Ubuntu on my laptop and enjoy it tremendously as “latest release” packages will fix stability issues on desktop hardware which uses more software and packages than a virtual private server who may just run the minimal base operating system, a webserver, PHP programming language, etc.

The disadvantage? Ubuntu is just as solid as a desktop operating system as an operating system for servers and virtual private servers. I’ve never had an issue with packages, compatibility or stability with an Ubuntu operating system. Actually I have one Ubuntu based virtual private server with over 200 days of uptime.

Conclusion:
I have only mentioned 3 operating systems, such as CentOS, Debian and Ubuntu, because I only have experience with those operating systems. However in all fairness, I am going to start using and testing other operating systems in a virtual private server environment to give all operating systems a chance and report back to you.

Tutorial: How to Install Webmin on CentOS VPS

Webmin Introduction:
Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any browser that supports tables and forms (and Java for the File Manager module), you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and so on.
(From the Webmin official website) 

For this tutorial and installation, I recommend the following:

• OpenVZ or Xen VPS (it doesn’t really matter)
• 512mb minimum RAM, 1024mb swap (1GB RAM/2GB swap recommended)
• 20gb of disk space
• 1 IPv4 address

Step One: Webmin Web Repos

# cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo << EOF
[Webmin]
name=Webmin Distribution Neutral
#baseurl=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum
mirrorlist=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum/mirrorlist
enabled=1
EOF

This command puts inside of /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo the [Webmin] contents of repository. If you have issues with this comand, you can copy starting at [Webmin] and stop before EOF then paste into /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo those 5 lines.

After that, we run a yum update and see if we see the Webmin repos show up in the yum output.

Step Two: Install Webmin GPG Key

# rpm --import http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc

This makes sure that we have the GPG keys necessary to verify that Webmin is valid and from the Webmin team, not Webmin files that have been hacked by an intruder and the intruders are using the Webmin servers to distribute a backdoored version of Webmin.

Step Three: Install Webmin

# yum install webmin

That’s it and all you need!

After that, you open up http://your-ip-address:10000 in your web browser and you should be asked for a username and password. The default is root and your root password.

Conclusion:
Webmin is an excellent alternative to paid control panels, like cPanel and DirectAdmin. I plan on writing a series of articles about how to setup, configure and run Webmin for your personal projects or a few websites for friends, family and coworkers.

How to Install Nginx on CentOS with Yum

Nginx is a popular lightweight alternative to Apache. Installing it with the yum package manager is simple:

# yum update

# rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5Server/x86_64/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

# yum install nginx

Start Nginx:

# /etc/init.d/nginx start

Check if Nginx is running at: http://xx.xx.xx.xx – You should see a default Nginx page.

Set Nginx to start automatically in case of reboot:

# /sbin/chkconfig nginx on

For more information, see: http://wiki.nginx.org

This article is also available in the VPS6.NET Knowledgebase:

https://vps6.net/my/knowledgebase/61/How-to-Install-Nginx-with-Yum-on-CentOS.html

How to Setup Ruby on Rails for CentOS or Fedora

This tutorial will guide you through setting up a basic Ruby on Rails environment, installing:

• Ruby 1.8.7
• RubyGems 1.8.15
• Rails 3.1.3
• Sqlite3

# yum update

# yum install ruby ruby-devel ruby-irb ruby-rdoc ruby-ri

# ruby -v

# mkdir ~/sources

# cd ~/sources

# wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/45905/rubygems-1.3.1.tgz

# tar xzvf rubygems-1.3.1.tgz

# cd  rubygems-1.3.1

# ruby setup.rb

# gem update –system

# gem install rails

# yum install sqlite-devel

# gem install sqlite3-ruby

# yum install postfix subversion -y

How to Setup LAMP on CentOS/Fedora VPS

LAMP  is a webserver software stack common on Linux servers (LAMP stands for Linux – Apache – MySQL – PHP). To install the basic components of a LAMP server, simply access your server via SSH and run the following commands:

# yum install httpd

# yum install php

# yum install mysql-server mysql

# service httpd start

# service mysqld start

This article is also available in the VPS6.NET Knowledgebase:

https://vps6.net/my/knowledgebase/31/How-to-Install-and-Setup-LAMP-on-CentOS-VPS.html

[HOW TO] Install OpenVPN on RHEL/CentOS VPS

OpenVPN is a free, open source software for setting up computer-to-computer virtual private networks (VPNs). Just follow these steps to install OpenVPN on a CentOS/RHEL VPS:

1. Install required dependencies:

# yum install gcc make rpm-build autoconf.noarch zlib-devel pam-devel openssl-devel

2. Download OpenVPN:

# wget http://openvpn.net/release/lzo-1.08-4.rf.src.rpm

# wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm

3. Prepare dependencies:

# rpmbuild –rebuild lzo-1.08-4.rf.src.rpm

# rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/x86_64/lzo-*.rpm

# rpm -Uvh rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm

4. Install OpenVPN:

# yum install openvpn

5. Copy the OpenVPN directory to a more convenient place:

# cp -r /usr/share/doc/openvpn-2.2.0/easy-rsa/ /etc/openvpn/

6. Build server keys. When prompted to enter information, you can simply press enter to skip:

#cd /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0

#chmod 755 *

#source ./vars

#./vars

#./clean-all

#./build-ca

#./build-key-server server

#./build-dh

7. Create an OpenVPN configuration file:

# cd /etc/openvpn

# vi server.conf

Copy the following sample config into the document with the correct IP address (your VPS’s main IP), and the port you want to run OpenVPN on, then press ESC, then :wq and enter to save and exit the document.

local 123.123.123.123 #- change it with your server ip address

port 1234 #- change the port you want

proto udp #- protocol can be tcp or udp

dev tun

tun-mtu 1500

tun-mtu-extra 32

mssfix 1450

ca /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/ca.crt

cert /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/server.crt

key /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/server.key

dh /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys/dh1024.pem

plugin /usr/share/openvpn/plugin/lib/openvpn-auth-pam.so /etc/pam.d/login

client-cert-not-required

username-as-common-name

server 10.8.0.0 255.255.255.0

push “redirect-gateway def1″

push “dhcp-option DNS 208.67.222.222″

push “dhcp-option DNS 4.2.2.1″

keepalive 5 30

comp-lzo

persist-key

persist-tun

status server-tcp.log

verb 3

8. Start OpenVPN:

# openvpn /etc/openvpn/server.conf

Check that it outputs “Initialization Sequence Completed.” If it does, press ctrl-c to quit.

9. Setup required NAT rules:

# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.8.0.0/24 -j SNAT –to 0.0.0.0

(Modify “0.0.0.0″ to your server’s IP)

Create a user to log in to your VPN with:

#useradd username -s /bin/false

#passwd username

10. Create an OpenVPN configuration file on your PC with the name vpn1.ovpn. Copy the sample below into the document, modify it with your server’s IP and the port you set earlier, and place the file in your OpenVPN configurations folder:

client

dev tun

proto udp

remote 123.123.123.123 4567 #- your OPENVPN server ip and port

resolv-retry infinite

nobind

tun-mtu 1500

tun-mtu-extra 32

mssfix 1450

persist-key

persist-tun

ca ca.crt

auth-user-pass

comp-lzo

verb 3

11. Download ca.crt from /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/2.0/keys and place it in the same OpenVPN configs folder.

12. Start the OpenVPN service on the VPS:

# openvpn /etc/openvpn/server.conf

Log in to the VPN using OpenVPN or another desktop client, with the username/password you created earlier.

This article is also available in the VPS6 Knowledgebase:

https://vps6.net/my/knowledgebase/32/How-to-Install-OpenVPN-on-CentOS-VPS.html

How to Install Minecraft Server on CentOS VPS

Virtual servers are the ideal hosts for minecraft servers. Setting up a Minecraft server is simple, but there are a few requirements you must double-check:

+ Xen-based VPS. Due to differences in how Java works with OpenVZ and Xen, a Xen server is recommended for best performance.

+ At least 1gb of RAM. Less will work for a small server, but 1gb or more is recommended.

+ CentOS operating system installed.

On to the Minecraft server setup:

1. Start by installing Java-JDK:

# yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk

2. Check if Java was installed:

# which java

The following will be displayed if it was properly installed:

# /usr/bin/java

3. Switch to the root directory, if you’re not there already:

# cd

4. Create a directory for Minecraft:

# mkdir Minecraft

5. Enter the directory:

# cd Minecraft

6. Download Minecraft:

# wget http://minecraft.net/download/minecraft_server.jar

7. CHMOD the Minecraft .jar like so:

# chmod +x minecraft_server.jar

8. Minecraft is now installed. You’ll now need to install “screen” to keep the Minecraft server running after the SSH session is closed.

# yum install screen

9. Use the screen and run Minecraft. Enter screen:

# screen

10. Start up Minecraft (you can edit the 1024M value to match your server’s RAM):

# java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

To get back to the normal screen, press these keys: Control+A+D

To get back to the screen where Minecraft is running:

# screen -r

You should now be off and running with a fully functional Minecraft server!

We offer CentOS+Minecraft templates pre-configured with Minecraft and McMyAdmin: https://vps6.net/template-minecraft.php

This article is also available in the VPS6 Knowledgebase:

https://vps6.net/my/knowledgebase/27/How-to-Install-Minecraft-Server-on-CentOS-VPS.html

How to Optimize MySQL with MySQLTuner

MySQLTuner is a script that will assess MySQL performance and recommend steps to maximize performance. To install and run MySQLTuner, log in to your VPS as the root user and follow these steps (for CentOS):

1. Download MySQLTuner:

# wget http://mysqltuner.com/mysqltuner.pl

# chmod 755 mysqltuner.pl

2. Run MySQLTuner:

# ./mysqltuner.pl

Configuration can be set in the /etc/my.cnf file.

This article is also available in the VPS6 Knowledgebase:

https://vps6.net/my/knowledgebase/26/How-to-Optimize-MySQL-with-MySQLTuner.html