HOWTO : Home made NAS server with Ubuntu 8.04.1 – Part VII

Some personal NAS in the market comes with iTune music server. However, iTune is not an Open Source software.

Sockos is an Open Source personal music server that written in Java. She requires Sun’s Java Runtime. IcedTea is not compatible so far.

Sockos is a cross platform software and requires no installation. She can run on a standalone personal computer or on a server. For running on personal computer with GUI, please refer to her official site.

The client computer requires no mp3 player to play the music but may need Flash (optional). Flex player requires no installation of music player on the clinet computer. Other formats, such as WMV, OGG and Flac, require pre-installed music players that fit for the special formats.

The advantage of Sockos is that you can listen to your mp3 files at anytime and anywhere under the condition that fast internet connection is available. The disadvantage is that you should have at least IEEE 802.11g (54M) Wifi connection for smooth operation. GPRS and HSDPA do not work properly in my testing.

I am going to talk about running Sockos in Ubuntu Server 8.04.1 (without GUI).

Step 1 :

Install the Sun Java and runtime in the Ubuntu server (NAS).
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin


Download the Sockos from the official site. Extact it on your home directory of your Ubuntu server. If your server (NAS) is detached the keyboard and monitor, plug in them now.

wget http://sockso.pu-gh.com/downloads/sockso-latest.zip
unzip sockso-latest.zip
cd sockos-1.0.9

Step 2 :

Create a directory at /var for storing the database files.
sudo mkdir /var/sockos
chmod -R 0755 /var/sockos

Step 3 :

Run the server as user (such as samiux) at the physcial server at tty1 (Ctrl+Alt+F1) at /home/samiux/sockos-1.0.9.
sudo sh linux.sh –nogui –datadir /var/suckso

A directory namely “covers” and files “database.lck”, “database.log”, “database.properties” and “database.script” will be created on /var/sockso.

A console will be prompted and telling you that your IP address and the port 4444 to be used for the music server.

Step 4 :

Now, create the paths for the mp3 that located in the music server (your NAS – Ubuntu Server).

For example, if some mp3 files are storing at 3 locations, such as :
/home/samiux/music, /home/john/mp3 and /home/mary/songs.

At the console (at the server), type the following commands :
coladd /home/samiux/music
coladd /home/john/mp3
coladd /home/mary/songs

collist to list all the paths that you just created. You can delete the path by coldel command.

Step 5 :

You can create a user, e.g. samiux by the following command or create at the web interface.
useradd samiux 9876543210 samiux.com@gmail.com

(where 9876543210 is password and the other is your email address)

Your Sockos Music Server is ready but you should not exit the console; otherwise, it will terminate the Sockos. Leave it alone and press Ctrl+Alt+F2. You can revisit to the console again by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1. Type “help” for assistance at the console.

Step 6 :

Go to your personal computer (client) and open a browser, e.g. Firefox and type the following on the address.
http://192.168.0.15:4444

(where 192.168.0.15 is your NAS address behind a router, 4444 is the port that Sockos to be used)

Warning

If you want to share your music files with others over the internet, you should beware the copyright law in the music industry or you may in serious trouble – lawsuit. You have been warned.

Enjoy your loving music at anywhere and anytime!!!