Step three: Dump the screen
From now on we can dispense with keyboard,
mouse and screen, and use another PC
to manage the server. It’s worth checking the BIOS settings to make sure that start-up won’t halt if the keyboard is not plugged in.
The
SSH login screen, showing the certificate request
On another PC on the same network, you can
open a terminal and type:
ssh ipaddress e.g. ssh 192.168.0.14
However, if you’ve specified a different
user, type:
ssh username@ipaddress e.g. ssh leo@192.168.0.14
You’ll be asked if you want to register the
server’s key. Type ‘yes’, then enter your password.
Typical
output from the top command
Vista and Windows 7, unlike Linux or XP, do
not have a default SSH client, so if you want to use a PC with those OSs,
you’ll need to install one of the various free SSH clients such as PuTTY,
available from tinyurl.com/2r4w.
Step four: Basic configuration
Now we can administer the server. The first
thing to do is to ensure that you can access it across the network reliably.
For this reason, we need the IP address of the server to remain static, because
if it changes, we’ll have to install a screen to find out what it has changed
to. This involves editing a couple of text files. You will need the following
information:
- The IP address that you want the server
to have. It will have obtained one automatically from your router via DHCP
(Dynamic Host Control Protocol), but that could change for various reasons.
Mine has obtained 192.168.0.14 automatically, but I want to change it to
192.168.0.95, which will put it well outside my router’s DHCP range.
- The subnet mask. This will need to be the
same as other PCs on the same network. Mine is 255.255.255.0, which is
very common, and means that the first three numbers in all network
addresses must be the same. The last number must be between 1 and 254, and
must be different for each device on the network. It allows a maximum of
254 local devices. e.g. my devices are 192.169.0.1 (my router)192.168.0.2,
192.168.0.3, 192.168.0.95 (this server), 192.168.0.99 (my printer) and so
on.
- The gateway address, if you want access
to the internet. This will be the address of your router. Mine is
192.168.0.1.
- The DNS server address. Most routers act
as DNS relays, so this will usually be the address of your router. If
you’re using a Windows PC on the same network, typing ipconfig /all in a
terminal will give you most of this information.
From now on, I will use my settings in the
text, and you will need to change them to suit your personal setup.
Let’s
get started.
Type:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces.
Type:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces.
This will open the network interface
configuration file. We need to edit the lines below:
The primary network interface
o
auto eth0
o
iface eth0 inet dhcp
o
Modify the last line to read:
o
iface eth0 inet static
Then add the following lines right below:
o
address 192.168.0.95
o
netmask 255.255.255.0
o
gateway 192.168.0.1
Of course you’ll have to make entries
appropriate for your own local network. The file should now look like this:
The primary network interface
o
auto eth0
o
iface eth0 inet static
o
address 192.168.0.95
o
netmask 255.255.255.0
o
gateway 192.168.0.1
Press Ctrl+O to save it, press Enter to
confirm, then Ctrl+X to exit.
Next we need to check the DNS settings, to
be sure that our server can find its way on the network, and be found by other
PCs. Type the following: sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf
Because I have set my router to issue the
domain name HOMELAN, mine looks like this:
o
domain HOMELAN
o
search HOMELAN
o
nameserver 192.168.0.1
o
nameserver 192.168.0.1
If the domain names differ from the domain
or workgroup name on your other PCs, you need to edit them to match. If they
are the same, just exit with Ctrl+X. (Note: domain and workgroup names must be
entered in uppercase.) Common Windows workgroup names are WORKGROUP (business
editions) or MSHOME (home editions).
