Set up a home server easily with Amahi (Linux)

Running your own server can bring a great many benefits to your home network, not least of which is the ability to share documents, pictures, videos and music across multiple devices.
In this video we'll set up a server from scratch using the free and open source Amahi, and familiarise ourselves with its easy to use web interface. Along the way we'll create an account for a new user and add a shared network drive, before connecting to the server from a Windows PC.
Additionally, we'll look at how to install an app in Amahi to gain extra functionality. We'll also connect to the new home server from a mobile device. Then, to finish, we'll cover a couple of troubleshooting steps - just in case!
Website links:
Amahi
www.amahi.org/
Rufus
rufus.ie/
Map a network drive
support.microsoft.com/en-us/h...
Amahi Wiki Help
wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Help
Amahi Remote Access
wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Remo...
Amahi Feedback
www.amahi.org/feedback
Amahi Wiki
wiki.amahi.org/
Amahi Tracker
bugs.amahi.org/
Amahi Wiki Troubleshooting
wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Trou...
Amahi Live Help
webchat.freenode.net/#amahi
Amahi Forums
forums.amahi.org/
Amahi Wiki Commercial support
wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Comm...
Set up your own Network Attached Storage (NAS) with openmediavault (OMV)
• Set up your own Networ...
Additional credits:
Brazil Samba music with thanks to www.bensound.com
"Adler" and "Quigley Wiggly" fonts courtesy of www.1001fonts.com/
Colorful Brazilian carnival dancer collection image
www.freepik.com/free-photos-v... Party vector created by pikisuperstar - www.freepik.com
Other (original source) images from the superb pixabay.com/

[@amahi]

Great video. Thanks for focusing on Amahi. We will improve a few areas in our next release based on your video. Great work!

[@bytemypi2918]

You're most welcome. It's great to receive a comment from the official Amahi Home Server channel itself! Glad I could be of help as you work towards your next release - I look forward to trying it. Thanks for the encouraging feedback.

[@desperatedan7777]

what a wondertful clear instructional video , well done !

[@bytemypi2918]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@docgogo2]

thanks for such a great video very easy to follow and understand.

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@JoelSantos75]

Had a Diskstation with 2: 3tb drives they both click and clack now, at the same time on boot. Now I'm looking for something free and low investment for now for sharing videos around home. Thanks for this great instructional video.

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@bertr6741]

I was hoping you will explain the Destination drive, what if I have 2 or 3 other drives ? anyway , on the other topics, you explained it very well.

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Thanks sir for this video narrated so well have you considered being a radio presenter 👍🏻 seems a lot simpler then FreeNAS setup. Does Amahi let you support multiple hard drives also would it be advisable to run the Amahi software on a separate dedicated drive

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome, thank you for the encouraging feedback. The Amahi "Disk Wizard" application should do what your looking for. You may also like to check out the "Adding a second hard drive to your HDA" section in the Amahi Wiki. As I mentioned in the video, if you're using multiple drives Greyhole is well worth a look - but this is a paid for option. As to running the Amahi software on a dedicated drive, separating the operating system from your data is never a bad idea, but the best thing you can do with any server setup is to implement a decent backup solution.

[@drumpf4all]

Hi. Great video. I just subbed. Are there any privacy concerns with this software?

[@bytemypi2918]

I'm not aware of any privacy issues. Amahi is open source and the code is freely available for anyone to view (one of the many benefits of using open source software): github.com/amahi Thanks for subscribing.

[@SmartComputerTMOsminAltamirano]

man do you know ? if there is a nas that can work directly since I installed by no web access just like windows I mean directly like system not like webbrowser do you one

[@stingom7152]

Hi Thanks for the step by step review. Much appreciated. Do you know if it is possible to do a simple peer to peer network connection between a Windows PC and Amahi Server without going through a switch or router? Thanks

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. That's an unusual query. I'm not sure why you're trying to avoid using a switch or router, but in answer to your question, you could physically connect the Windows PC and server together using a crossover cable. The trouble is, Amahi requires an internet connection to activate it. If you're just trying to share files between the two devices there are other solutions. In fact, I'm currently working on one for my next video, so stayed tuned... Hope that helps.

[@stingom7152]

@@bytemypi2918 Thank you. I look forward to your next video :) The reason for direct connection is I wanted to make the network fully private and don't want to change anything on the router. File sharing especially with iScisi support would be great. I am still learning so don't know much about networking. I bought a HP Proliant G7 N36L and a couple of NAS HDDs. But I am struggling to decide on what OS to install. I tried installing Windows but it does seem to like SSDs or GPT partitions. That's is why I am looking for Linux based OS instead.

[@stingom7152]

Is it possible to active the server then take it off the web afterwards?

[@bytemypi2918]

@@stingom7152 The little HP's make nice servers - I used to have a couple myself. I've never tried Amahi without an internet connection, so I'm not sure if it would continue working or not. You may be better off looking at something like OpenMediaVault (NAS), as that doesn't require the internet at all to get up and running (after you've downloaded the ISO, of course) - although be aware, you won't get any of the software/security updates without an internet connection. I did a video on setting this up a while ago, if you're interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZu1gJ55ha6smtE Another good (Linux based) server solution is Unraid, but this one does require a one of payment - and, again, I'm not sure as to how it behaves without the internet. unraid.net/ Have fun, whichever route you end up taking.

[@leebrooks7219]

Hi, I looked at Amahi a few years ago but never found an in-depth video like this at the time, superb work! Can I ask, what options do I have if I can't turn off DHCP on my router? I use a Tenda Nova Mesh system and there is no option to turn it off in the app (the app is the only way to manage the network). In all honesty, I don't think there's a way around it. Many thanks.

[@bytemypi2918]

Thanks for the encouraging feedback. You can still use Amahi while your router provides the DHCP service - just remember to turn DHCP off in Amahi, as having two devices issuing IP addresses on the same network will definitely cause problems. Rather than me trying to explain the ins and outs of what the differences will be when not using Amahi as a DHCP server, allow me to direct you to the following support page: www.amahi.org/faq/is-dhcp-server-required Basically, if Amahi doesn't provide the DHCP role, you can still get most of the functionality providing you can set your router's DNS to point to your Amahi server. Hope that helps.

[@leebrooks7219]

@@bytemypi2918 many thanks for the reply, I may take another look. Keep up the good work!

[@bytemypi2918]

@@leebrooks7219 Not a problem. Will do :)

[@peteman2980]

did you partition the hard drive first and point the install to root when booting from USB?Also will this affect my wifi as it is on my modem/router? Great video, love your screen name

[@bytemypi2918]

Thanks. I try to show all the steps I go through in each video so that anyone can follow along. You don't need to do any manual drive partitioning as Amahi will take care of it automatically for you. If I remember correctly, I had Windows installed on the computer prior to installing Amahi, so in this case it would have wiped out the NTFS partition (and the rest of the drive). By default, Amahi will take over the DHCP role (handing out the IP addresses to the devices connected to your home network). This is why you need to disable the DHCP on your router, or they will conflict with one another. So long as you have your Amahi home server powered on all the time your WiFi will be fine. Hope that clears things up.

[@peteman2980]

@@bytemypi2918 yes thanks.. I have a 2 TB drive can i control how much is allocated for Amahi as I do not want to use the whole drive for the operating system? Your video helped me big time

[@bytemypi2918]

@@peteman2980 It's great to hear that the video helped. 2TB is a decent size to get you going with your server. I'm not sure how much of that Amahi would automatically assign to your data, but you have a couple of options to manually configure it. Option 1. If you don't mind reinstalling Amahi (and wiping your existing data) you can configure the drive during installation. That would go as follows: On the "Installation Summary" screen (where you enter the Amahi Install Code during setup), look below "System" and click on the "Installation Destination" option. Then make sure that ONLY your 2TB drive is ticked. Lower down the same screen, under "Storage Configuration", select "Custom" and then click "Done". You'll be taken to a drive partitioning tool. You need to make sure that you have the following partitions: / /boot /boot/efi swap Set "/boot" to 1024MB, and "/boot/efi" to 200MB (if they're not already). The swap partition wants to be 1 to 2 times the size of your computer's RAM. Lastly, set "/" (the root partition) to use however much space is left on your 2TB drive - you can see the "available space" at the bottom of the screen. By default, the root partition contains both the Amahi (Fedora) OS and all of your data. Once you've configured your partitions, click "Done". Next click "Accept Changes" and finally, "Begin Installation". Option 2. This may be possible without losing your existing data, but I'd backup anyway - just in case. First, download Gparted from gparted.org/ (get the "gparted-live...amd64.iso" version). Copy this to a USB stick using something like Balena's Etcher, www.balena.io/etcher/ Boot your server from the USB stick and follow the onscreen instructions to start Gparted. In Gparted, click the drop down list to select your 2TB hard drive. Then right-click the largest ext4 partition and choose "Resize/Move" (be careful NOT to touch the "swap" or "/boot" partitions). Drag the slider in the bar all the way to the right-hand side and then click the "Resize/Move" button. Next, click the green tick to "Apply All Operations" and then click "Apply". When it's finished, close all of the windows and double-click on "Exit" to restart the computer. Fingers crossed, when Amahi starts you should now have the full 2TB available. Hope all goes well.

[@peteman2980]

@@bytemypi2918 Awesome, Thanks a lot for your help.Great stuff

[@bytemypi2918]

@@peteman2980 You're welcome.

[@keithmitchellmusic8121]

question.. will this allow two people to simultaneously open the same file from the server? or can only one user have it open at a time?

[@bytemypi2918]

Yes, a file can be opened on multiple devices at once. So simultaneously watching the same video or listening to the same song on two (or more) connected computers is certainly possible. Where you need to be careful is making changes. Trying to concurrently edit a single office document on two devices is definitely not recommended. Hope that clears things up.

[@johnjacobsen8450]

Is it possible that you can make a video of how to set up Amahi to be used from the internet? So I can share files with friends and they can share files with me. And not at the same postal address. Thank you. Best regards John Jacobsen

[@bytemypi2918]

Amahi suggests using a VPN to access the server from the internet: wiki.amahi.org/index.php/VPN As the article mentions, this involves poking some holes through your router's firewall. I'd take a look at setting up a ZeroTier virtual network instead and adding the Amahi server to it. Amahi is based on Fedora and ZeroTier's Linux client works with this: www.zerotier.com/download/ If you'd like a little help setting up ZeroTier, feel free to check out my Remote Access video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXSVcnqkp56EY9k Hope that helps :)

[@smarqus4720]

please help.. on insulation summary page it is NOT showing “AMAHI server setup “ to add the HDA code

[@bytemypi2918]

Did you download the 'Express DVD' version of Amahi? After you've chosen the language on the first installation screen, you should see "Amahi Server Setup Proper Install code not set" on the next screen. Click this to enter the HDA Install Code. Hope that helps :)

[@samuelitooooo]

What would be the difference between Amahi and something like Nextcloud (disregarding collaboration features, regarding only storing files, docs, pics, etc)?

[@bytemypi2918]

For simply storing and sharing files locally, Amahi would be the better choice. Collaboration features aside, out of the box files on Nextcloud are typically accessed through a web browser - in keeping with its 'cloud' based nature - whereas Amahi uses Samba to provide access through a file manager (such as File Explorer). This is an over simplification and both platforms can be configured in multiple ways, but I hope it helps differentiate between the two :)

[@samuelitooooo]

@@bytemypi2918 I appreciate it. Thank you!

[@bytemypi2918]

@@samuelitooooo No problem :)

[@various3394]

Hopelessly stuck here, I’ve got a comcast xfi gateway router and I can’t access my dhcp settings at all! Any ideas?

[@bytemypi2918]

I'm not familiar with that router, but a quick Google search would suggest its IP address is 10.0.0.1 Try entering this into a web browser to see if you can reach its login page. Hope that helps :)

[@jeffma6811]

Dear sir, I just finished Amahi server installing but I don’t know why I can’t login through my PC. I used the IP which is not occupied and assign it to Amahi server and the web browser feedback ‘Can’t reach this page”. Pls help!

[@bytemypi2918]

See if you can access the server using its IP address instead of the domain name.

[@TheBobcat1978]

Do you still need to install a certain version of Fedora first. Another video suggests that I need to install fedora and amahi over top of it.

[@bytemypi2918]

You can go that route, but if you use the version of Amahi shown in the video everything is included :)

[@TheBobcat1978]

@@bytemypi2918 OK good. I tried to use OMV which while it's easier to set up as a NAS compared to TrueNas core. Many of the videos about it are all out of date despite them being 2 years old or less. For example, OMV extras makes finding extras that you can download like a needle in a haystack. You can't easily find it on OMV extras easily since the site is no longer anything like the video presents itself. Others, say making remote access or installing next cloud., assume that you are well advanced in Linux and if you are a beginner like me, they leave you overwhelmed since many instructons are either out dated or dont walk you though how to get there.

[@bytemypi2918]

@@TheBobcat1978 That's the trouble with technology, it goes out of date so quickly. Hope all goes well :)

[@didierdel2319]

Bonjour, si le logiciel est gratuit pourquoi être obliger de créer un compte pour l'avoir. OpemMediaVault ou TrueNAS le téléchargement est libre d'accès.

[@lumkutya6941]

hi in .17:30 i cant log in or somthing what do you tipe in a area

[@bytemypi2918]

At that stage you're creating the account, so just give it a name, add a password and then verify the password.

[@Minetheground]

i can connect from phone

[@SamtheMaestro]

Hi, i recently setup my hda.. however I am unable to access the setup page. on hda/start it just shows this message: Woopsie. Sorry about that! It could be due to a bug, or very low memory, or very low disk in the root (/) partition. If your disk or memory are not critical, it's likely a bug. If this persists, please file a bug report with as much detail as you can. You will be redirected to a debug page with more information shortly. For Troubleshooting visit here Troubleshoot.. then forces me back.. any help?

[@bytemypi2918]

Hi, sorry to hear you're having problems. I just looked up your error message and it seems to suggest the use of non-standard characters in the HDA's username. E.g. if there was a &. #, ! or other symbol. If this is the case, try using just lowercase letters. Hope that helps.

[@SamtheMaestro]

Byte My Pi I do have an upper case character.. I’ll reinstall my environment and use all lower case. Thanks for your reply

[@bytemypi2918]

@@SamtheMaestro You're welcome.

[@davemen11]

Why use a dhcp and dns if the router has it already?

[@bytemypi2918]

This must be a popular topic. I've just sent another reply on this very subject. If you would prefer to use your router for DHCP and DNS, you can certainly do that. It just makes management easier to do it all in the Amahi interface, and allows the home server to provide its full functionality. If you'd like to read more on the subject, kindly take a look at the following Amahi support page: www.amahi.org/faq/is-dhcp-server-required

[@linux_for_noobs]

When I disable DCHP, I can't use wifi anymore.

[@bytemypi2918]

Sorry to hear your having problems with the set up. It sounds as though DHCP on your Amahi server isn't working properly for some reason. When you created your HDA, what numbers (IP addresses) did you enter for "Your Existing Network Gateway" and for the "Fixed IP Address for your HDA"? Also, what was the IP address of your computer that you ran the "ping" test from? Can you reach your Amahi Server through a web browser by typing either its name "hda" or its IP address?

[@SH-fc7xp]

don't use .local. avahi uses it and can cause issues in mac enviroments

[@bytemypi2918]

I've never had an issue, but I don't use a mac. Thanks for pointing that out for anyone that does.