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posted by janrinok on Friday January 19 2018, @09:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the questions,-questions,-questions dept.
An Anonymous Coward asks:

I'm putting this under security because i'd like to keep this a private server for family:

that said, I'm wondering if you fine people can help me with the best way to set up a web server in my house to host the files on my external hard drives for family members in other cities/countries while, again, keeping it private and secure over the internet.

I'm looking into ngrok for url handling, but am not sure exactly if this is the best way to go.

Can anyone save me time and possible heartache and failure and provide me (and possibly others) with a walk-through of which software to use. Would love to do something like free, but may have to get a paid unique domain from, say, ngrok, to make it easier for family members to connect up.

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi... you're my only hope!


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Hyperturtle on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:39PM (1 child)

    by Hyperturtle (2824) on Saturday January 20 2018, @04:39PM (#625187)

    I think he said that he wanted a private server for his family.

    This is laudable and your answer is to direct him to numerous privacy violating services that offer no promise of not mining the data.

    Some countries block some services. Most allow HTTPS, many allow FTP, both can be secured with self signed certs or inexpensively with less fuss than the original server config. Even alternate ports can be used. And no tracking.

    Most services require giving up privacy; I dont have a google login, I don't have an MS login, I don't have a box or icloud login, and I dont have mega login. But I do have servers that are running on hardware that cost as much as my monthly internet bill and still works aftrt many years. (yeah my family stopped using it but I still drop stuff there so I can access various utilities and drivers from client sites).

    The interface for my file repository has never changed and the privacy policy I have hasn't changed -- I still don't share my family's data with third party business partners for targeted marketing, nor do I show ads to them anyway should my mother choose to opt out of the personalized tracking.

    Some people actually value the privacy of their friends, families, even co-workers. Some people get some joy out of learning something new and feeling that sense of satisfcation they put together or designed--you are suggesting that convenience is more important than considering the privacy of others.

    The OP clearly stated private. Even if the data is private somehow on those services, the OP's own server will not require handing over a personal email address and/or phone number and real name to a company that will use it to market to them, and will never get erased even if he stops using it. And where do the backups go? Who handles those? How are those secured? Do they even make backups? He can do that himself to a USB stick or external disk drive--or even to one of your listed services, and encrypt his backup prior to putting it there and not force his entire family to inconveniently give up their privacy in exchange for convenience.

    In fact he can make accounts like Mom, Dad, Grandma etc -- something easy to remember. He can manage the passwords himself, set the IP address permitted (after watching to see what Mom is connecting from) and then permit more IPs as needed simply by talking to his family when they try to connect and he can say Ok wait a second and let me click on something so it knows who you are from your fabulous hotel stay at wherever you are! And then they still only have to remember their password and he can erase that IP from the list when they leave. Even if the account was compromised by using the hotel network, no one else is getting in anyway if he keeps up with it.

    Not to be a jerk, but I never understood it when people ask "how do I do something" and many replies are "don't its too hard its not convenient why are you trying to learn something" You don't get better by giving up before you try. Instructing someone else to make his entire family agree to terms of service they may not want and the OP may not want because it is convenient for you is disengenuious at best and a non-answer at worst.

    That is the sort of question I'd expect to get a good answer from the people here! I was hoping to even piggyback off this and see what I have missed out due to my clinging to legacy software that does the same thing. It sounds like the solution of "outsourcing it" is all too common.

    There may be a good reason for the OP to actually give up this idea and use a service to do as he needs. It'd certainly be more convenient. But don't steer the guy away to those things as the default choice.

    I don't disagree that it's easier.. I just disagree with the default approach of choosing ignorance because its free, and also I disagree with enriching companies this way when its something anyone can learn to do and do securely.

    I see I havent suggested a solution. I am not an official "webserver admin or ftp server admin" but I can suggest what's worked for me... To that end I suggest giving Filezilla a try. its an FTP server. its free and easy to use and has been around forever and does not leave you beholden to corporate interests. there are linux and windows versions and 32 and 64 bit versions and ftp works on just about anything and secure ftp is also available for free. There is both a server side and a client side, so that your mom doesn't have to learn mput commands from the dark place of the command line in order to put photos up...

    Apache is also available as a web server for linux and windows--and there are so many guides I couldn't possibly give better advice on how to set it up. (If you can access the "IT WORKS!" page you know you have done something right!)

    Both of those I have used and they've served me well... they may not be fancy and automatic and artsy, but a webserver can be that if you want to put in some design work too, you can make it personalized as well as keeping it private with a login page if you like.

    Ultimately you can probably get a lot of cosemetic bang for your buck for free on various photo sharing sites or file sharing sites, but you're trading privacy for that convenience.

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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday January 22 2018, @09:38PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday January 22 2018, @09:38PM (#626248) Journal

    Actually, what he said is that he wanted to host files for friends and family overseas. That does not require one to maintain one's own server, but is mainly the province of storage solutions. And it is fully appropriate to ask if he has considered achieving his ends by other means.

    It is not "laudable". For it to be laudable, you would want to know what it is he is hosting and why. If he's hosting detailed plans about how to execute the next 9/11, would you say it is laudable? If he's ripping movies for them to download without paying for them, is that laudable? Or you may have been referring to the fact that he wants to do it all himself and not rely on others - that may be a laudable goal to some. Me, I might see it is as laudable or as wasted energy - depending on his objectives.

    My answer directed him to free, no-cost solutions. Which means one pays the price somehow, yes. I could also direct him to paid solutions which offer different layers of privacy.

    My question was more simple. It was in my title: Why is he asking to reinvent wheels? And concurrently, was the OP even aware that there are people who will give him a car for free - one they own, with lots of strings attached. But nevertheless a more convenient solution than building up a server, even virtually.

    And yes, I often do reply if people ask, "how do I do it?" with, "here's how..." Others did in this thread already, before I posted. My answer was directed at something more fundamental: Is the OP trying to learn something, or trying to get something done? If it's the former, by all means, do it yourself.... and run the risk of accidentally putting whatever it is into public view, having the server hacked because you didn't patch against vulnerability X (whatever one of the week that is,) spending hours and hours trying to get it up and running. (And, when successful, enjoy the fruits of knowing, "I did that!") If all he wanted to do was make sure his family in other countries can get photos from their family..... the problem has already been solved without going to the effort of running one's own server.

    --
    This sig for rent.