Cloud VPS

Basic Server Setup, Caddy, Docker, JDownloader

Creating the VM in oracle cloud.

  1. Go to instances, new instance.
  2. Select the Always Free image, ARM or x86. 1 core only, recommended 4GB RAM, should be exceed 6 GB.
  3. Choose Ubuntu image.
  4. Download the SSH key and name it accordingly.

Key Pair

Using PuttyGen.

Putty

image.pngimage.png

image.pngimage.png

To get the IP address of the VPS at any time 

curl ifconfig.me

Basic Setup + Docker

  1. Installing Caddy web server (simple to use reverse proxy), lightweight, easy and no need for docker. (Nginx is also a good candidate for reverse proxy as the command is easy to memorize and does not require consulting documentation sites. However, the syntax for nginx is extremely complex compared to caddy and might not be easily memorized.

https://caddyserver.com/docs/install#debian-ubuntu-raspbian

sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy net-tools
# net-tools is good utility, optionally can install firewall-cmd or nginx
# sudo apt install firewalld nginx

2. Install Docker

https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release
    
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
  
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin docker-compose
# code modified to install docker-compose, each space in paragraph indicates a separate step in their official blog
sudo groupadd docker \
sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu
newgrp docker # activate docker group immediately

The machine needs to be rebooted from Oracle Cloud console to finish installation. 

JDownloader

https://hub.docker.com/r/jlesage/jdownloader-2

docker run -d \
    --name=jdownloader-2 \
    -p 5800:5800 \
    -v $HOME/appdata/jdownloader-2:/config:rw \
    -v $HOME/Downloads:/output:rw \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    jlesage/jdownloader-2

If port forwarding configured properly, entering ipaddress:5800 should work. If not open ports manually.

sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 5800 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save

Other Useful Ports

sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 25565 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 19132 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p udp --dport 25565 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p udp --dport 19132 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save

Alternative (firewall-cmd)

sudo apt install firewalld

Firewalld is a CentOS package, it may be unstable and crash, but command easy to memorize.

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 19132/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 19132/udp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 25565/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 25565/udp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 80/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 443/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 5800/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Troubleshooting network 

For firewall-cmd, use this command to check all open ports.

sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

Using netstat, or pipe it to grep

netstat -tln
# | grep 8080 etc...

Configuring JDownloader

image.png

image.png

image.png

The configuration for JDownloader is complete and should appear and be functional in WebUI. Advanced JDownloader documentation will be covered in detailed in another section. It is recommended to close port 5800 after configuring to prevent others accessing.

Basic Caddy Syntax (if applicable)

If the server that is being setup or restored needs functional service like bookstack or uptime-kuma, reverse proxy is needed.

sudo nano /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
{
    email weebly2x10@gmail.com
}

your-uptime-kuma.yoursubdomain.duckdns.org {
        reverse_proxy http://127.0.0.1:3001
}

wiki.yoursubdomain.duckdns.org {
        reverse_proxy http://127.0.0.1:6975
}

Advanced

Tunneling Jellyfin and other web services with tailscale and caddy

Minecraft Server tunneling via Nginx (tcp only)

JDownloader

After setting up JDownloader and it appears well in WebUI.

The section is useless now as UHDMV has shutdown and it's pointless to setup multiple automated JDownloader server on VPS.

Tunneling Basic Services (Jellyfin, Web) with Caddy and Tailscale

This procedure is not reproducible yet. Rigorous testing is still required before being documented. Here are the known procedures.

The purpose is to tunnel normal web or network intensive traffic such as Jellyfin when faced with CG-NAT or similar situations (in this case locked down dorm internet), also configure hardware transcoding (in this case NVENC, but Intel QSV for future) to mitigate limitations with Canadian ISP(s).

Jellyfin Install

https://jellyfin.org/downloads/server

Download and run the server installer.

Jellyfin Server Configuration

Tailscale (Windows Client)

https://tailscale.com/download/windows

Download, install and login.

Tailscale (Linux Server)

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

All the tailscale management is done in the WebUI. 

image.png

The Windows client is given a tailscale network IP address in 100 range. Check if Windows client is pingable on server.

ping 100.x.y.z

Check if Jellyfin is running and tunneled properly on Oracle cloud. It should get a webpage html rather than unable to resolve host etc.

curl http://100.x.y.z:8096

 Reverse Proxy

https://wiki.calgaryab.duckdns.org/books/cloud-vps/page/basic-server-setup-caddy-docker-jdownloader

Caddy installation and syntax is can be found on this page. Replace 127.0.0.1 with the tailscale IP address.

{
    email weebly2x10@gmail.com
}

movies.yoursubdomain.duckdns.org {
        reverse_proxy http://100.x.y.z
}

It is possible to set use the root domain (yoursub.duckdns.org) or a subfolder domain (movies.yousub.duckdns.org) for Jellyfin. After configuring the Caddyfile.

sudo systemctl reload caddy

Use netstat to check port 80, 443 is being listened. Make sure to port forward Oracle VPS.

Other Services

Follow the same syntax as the caddy file provided, if the root domain is used, then a subdomain must be used for other services.

Results

Inconclusive yet, more testing required.

Tunneling Minecraft Server (tcp only) with Nginx

Procedure not reproducible yet, will be documented later.