How To Set Up A Torrent Server

Create your own torrent download server - Part 1

Background

Th 26th Novemember saw my media server (an old desktop running XP SP2) give up on me. The harddisk that the Os was installed on was corrupt with a kicking condign incommunicable because some of window's fundamental files like HAL.dll were missing/corrupt. I soon realised that the disk was finished. Merely information technology didn't matter too much because all of my media was installed on an external HD and a second internal HD in the auto.

The Problem

I like to keep upward to date with some of the shows that air in the US before they are shown in the UK. I use Xbox Media Centre to play back the stuff I download, with the "media server" simply serving up the files accross my network. I accept a modded Xbox (non a 360) that allows me to play my "backup" games and too allows yous to employ the Xbox as a media centre.

More info here http://xboxmediacenter.com/

I found myself logged on to my trusty old "media server" all of the time, downloading these shows using the Bittorrent protocol. I've always wanted to have a client that would run as a windows service that I could administer remotely and would not crave me to accept a User ID logged onto the opperating system 24x7.

Information technology seemed similar the perfect time to attempt and find the solution to this fiddling problem equally I rebuilt my machine.

The Solution

I decided to install a re-create of Windows 2003 on my media server, using the same approach as before with the OS on a separate disk. Over the concluding 4 years I take used nearly of the torrent clients, the best one being uTorrent. It doesn't have an installation package, require Java, or screw upwards my router.

As luck would accept information technology when I went to http://world wide web.utorrent.com/ , to become the latest client, they had announced the release of uTorrent WebUI on public beta. This was great news, the remote administration angle looked like it was sorted.

What next? Okay, and then if I could only get uTorrent running as a Windows Service on my car that would do!! With a bit more digging, and downloading The Windows 2003 Resource Kit I found the solution. Using two of the tools that I had downloaded you can configure pretty much anything to run as a Windows Service. See Part 2 of this article to find out how.

You don't need Windows 2003 Server you tin do this on XP, so keep reading

I'll walk yous through configuring this, starting with uTorrent WebUI.

Install uTorrent WebUI

This is pretty piece of cake, information technology doesn't have a complicated install process and configuring the WebUI is straight forward. Download the app. You can find it here http://download.utorrent.com/beta/webui_v0.310_beta_2.rar

In one case yous've downloaded this rar file, get it unpacked on your desktop. You'll notice a number of files in the archive. Create a folder for uTorrent, possibly C:\Program Files\uTorrent and re-create the utorrent exe into that directory. You could rename it as well. Setup shortcuts etc and run the app. If its the first fourth dimension you have run uTorrent it will ask you a few questions. Basically associate uTorrent to .torrent files, arrive the default client, and don't choose to start it when you logon to windows.

These can be altered in the preferences menu, navigate in that location now and make certain that Start uTorrent on system startup is unchecked in the general section. The preferences are stored per user so make sure that y'all are logged on as the user you intend to run uTorrent under when it is installed as a Windows Service. Run into part two of this commodity on how to do information technology.

Now Click Kickoff -> Run and enter C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Awarding Data\uTorrent at the prompt

This opens uTorrent's appdata directory for the user who's logged on and the service that will run the app. From the downloaded rar file, copy the file webui.cipher into this binder. Don't unzip it.

Okay, rather than type I've screen shot all the preferences screens from my install.

Once y'all've configured it, close the preferences dialog box and fire upward your web browser. You don't demand to practice anything with IIS. uTorrent listens on the port y'all specify in WebUI department for HTTP requests and serves upwards the web front end to you browser.

http://UID@PWD:localhost:port/gui

You should now see uTorrent in your browser.

Okay time for a break - come up back for part 2, installing uTorrent equally a Windows Service

Creating a torrent server - Part 2

Writer Paul Marshall

A self confessed Microsoft bigot, Paul loves all Microsoft products with a particular fondness for SQL Server. Paul is currently focusing on Web 2.0 patterns and practices and is always looking for better ways of doing things.

I beloved the .internet platform, and I find information technology to be the nearly productive toolset I have used to engagement.

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