The solution I created uses the following:

• Xubuntu 11.10 for the guest OS as I am familiar with Ubuntu but prefer lightweight
• Deluge 1.3.3 for the torrent software as it comes with the ability to run headless and have a web GUI
• Netatalk 2.2 (beta4-1) to allow AFP file transfer between the server and my OS X laptop

What follows is a quick overview of how I got it all working, I have to give thanks to this guide which I used a lot although it is slightly out of date now:
http://www.kremalicious.com/2008/06/ubuntu-as-mac-file-server-and-time-machine-volume/

First I downloaded and installed Xubuntu in a virtual machine on my ESXi server and installed all available updates.

I then gave the machine a static IP as I would need to know the address it was using later:

sudo pico /etc/network/interfaces

And changed it to look something like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.100
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

Where the ‘address’ line is the static IP I’m setting for this computer.

I then changed the hosts file to match this new IP address:

sudo pico /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1	localhost
192.168.1.100	ComputerName.local	ComputerName

Next, I installed Netatalk:

sudo apt-get netatalk

Following parts 2 and 3 of this guide, I changed the Netatalk configuration files as needed and configured shared volumes.

When it came to editing the AppleVolumes.default file I had luck getting it to work with OS X Lion by using the DBD scheme:

/home/username/SharedFile SharedFile allow:username
cnidscheme:dbd options:usedots,upriv

Continuing with the guide, I then installed and configured the Avahi daemon.

Once I had tested that I could successfully view the files on the server from my Mac, I went on to install Deluge

sudo apt-get install deluge

The easiest way to configure Deluge is to use the client GUI on the server and then connect using the web interface when you have finished.

The best information on running Deluge in this way can be found here:
http://dev.deluge-torrent.org/wiki/UserGuide/ThinClient

 
Installing VMware ESXi 5.0 on it was a surprisingly smooth process, I wasn’t even sure if it was going to work at all when I started but it ran with no errors at all.

I now use it to test ideas, practice networking techniques and play with different Operating Systems knowing that I’m easily able to swap out one virtual machine for another whenever I need to. As I find different uses for it I will probably be posting about them here.

1. Connect to Helios
2. Connect to Ouranos
3. Pack up the folder you want
4. Disconnect from Ouranos
5. Copy file Ouranos > Helios
6. Disconnect from Helios
7. Copy file Helios > your computer

Windows

• Open PuTTY
• Connect to Helios using the following Host Name

helios.hud.ac.uk

• Connect to Ouranos

ssh ouranos

• Find the folder you need
• Pack the folder up into a single file

tar -czf new_filename.tar.gz directory_name

• Disconnect from Ouranos

exit

• Connect to Ouranos with FTP, find and copy the file you just made from Ouranos to Helios

sftp ouranos

get new_filename.tar.gz

(Hint: While using FTP interactively, use the usual Unix commands for navigating the file structure, ls, cd etc.)

• Disconnect from Helios

exit

• Use a FTP client to copy the file you just made from Helios to your computer, I recommend FileZilla. Use the following as the host:

sftp://helios.hud.ac.uk

(Port: Leave blank)

• Extract your files, most common archiving utilities for Windows should be able to extract from TAR files.

Linux/OS X

• Open a new Terminal
• Connect to Helios with your student ID

ssh u0899999@helios.hud.ac.uk

• Connect to Ouranos

ssh ouranos

• Find the folder you need
• Pack the folder up into a single file

tar -czf new_filename.tar.gz directory_name

• Disconnect from Ouranos

exit

• Connect to Ouranos with FTP, find and copy the file you just made from Ouranos to Helios

sftp ouranos

get new_filename.tar.gz

(Hint: While using FTP interactively, use the usual Unix commands for navigating the file structure, ls, cd etc.)

• Disconnect from Helios

exit

• Connect to Helios with FTP, find and copy the file you just made from Helios to your computer

sftp u0899999@helios.hud.ac.uk

get new_filename.tar.gz

• Disconnect from Helios

exit

• Extract your files

tar -xvf new_filename.tar.gz