This post is a quick tutorial on how to install and configure Transmission torrent client on Linux (Debian, Ubuntu) server in headless mode.
Create directory to store downloads:
mkdir ~/Downloads
Install transmission (run as root or with sudo):
apt-get install transmission-daemon
Add your user to debian-transmission group (run as root or with sudo):
usermod -a -G debian-transmission user
Setup correct permissions to Downloads folder, for starters I suggest setting 777:
chmod 777 ~/Downloads
As your user start transmission – this will generate basic configuration file (run this as your user):
transmission-daemon
Right after it starts, you can stop it (also run this as your user):
/etc/init.d/transmission-daemon stop
Substitute this file: ~/.config/transmission-daemon/settings.json with following content:
{
"alt-speed-down": 50,
"alt-speed-enabled": false,
"alt-speed-time-begin": 540,
"alt-speed-time-day": 127,
"alt-speed-time-enabled": false,
"alt-speed-time-end": 1020,
"alt-speed-up": 50,
"bind-address-ipv4": "0.0.0.0",
"bind-address-ipv6": "::",
"blocklist-enabled": false,
"blocklist-url": "http://www.example.com/blocklist",
"cache-size-mb": 4,
"dht-enabled": true,
"download-dir": "/home/user/Downloads",
"download-queue-enabled": true,
"download-queue-size": 5,
"encryption": 0,
"idle-seeding-limit": 30,
"idle-seeding-limit-enabled": false,
"incomplete-dir": "/home/user/Downloads",
"incomplete-dir-enabled": false,
"lpd-enabled": true,
"message-level": 2,
"peer-congestion-algorithm": "",
"peer-id-ttl-hours": 6,
"peer-limit-global": 200,
"peer-limit-per-torrent": 200,
"peer-port": 51413,
"peer-port-random-high": 65535,
"peer-port-random-low": 49152,
"peer-port-random-on-start": false,
"peer-socket-tos": "default",
"pex-enabled": true,
"port-forwarding-enabled": true,
"preallocation": 1,
"prefetch-enabled": 1,
"queue-stalled-enabled": true,
"queue-stalled-minutes": 30,
"ratio-limit": 2,
"ratio-limit-enabled": false,
"rename-partial-files": true,
"rpc-authentication-required": false,
"rpc-bind-address": "0.0.0.0",
"rpc-enabled": true,
"rpc-password": "{4b0b9b0633878s8d9sd89h37892fdxG}",
"rpc-port": 9091,
"rpc-url": "/transmission/",
"rpc-username": "",
"rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1",
"rpc-whitelist-enabled": true,
"scrape-paused-torrents-enabled": true,
"script-torrent-done-enabled": false,
"script-torrent-done-filename": "",
"seed-queue-enabled": false,
"seed-queue-size": 10,
"speed-limit-down": 100,
"speed-limit-down-enabled": false,
"speed-limit-up": 100,
"speed-limit-up-enabled": false,
"start-added-torrents": true,
"trash-original-torrent-files": false,
"umask": 2,
"upload-slots-per-torrent": 14,
"utp-enabled": true
}
You should substitue following properties to match your own setup:
"incomplete-dir": "/home/user/Downloads",
"download-dir": "/home/user/Downloads",
"rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1",
"rpc-password": "{4b0b9b0633878s8d9sd89h37892fdxG}",
Both incomplete-dir and download-dir should point to the newly created directory. rpc-password should be set to long random value. rpc-whitelist is a list of hosts that are allowed to view administrator interface over the browser, it should include the IP address of your local environment. Alternatively if you don’t have a static IP address, then you should set rpc-username which will be used to authorize user on the WWW interface.
Start transmission-daemon (as your user), this time new configuration will be used.
transmission-daemon
Configure firewall, I have added following rules:
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 51413 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 51413 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 --source MY_LOCAL_IP -j ACCEPT
Visit web UI where you can add torrents for download: http://yourserver.com:9091/ – transmission should be ready to serve there.