In this guide we will be setting up a SeedBox (for BitTorrent downloading) on a Linux VPS in just four easy steps.
1. Get a VPS
First, you will need to get a VPS (virtual private server) to host your SeedBox.
In this guide we will be using a 1GB VPS (you can get one here). This guide should work with any good VPS provider. Our VPS comes with a dedicated IP, 25GB of storage space (plenty to download even a large 1080p/4K video), and a fast gigabit network connection for $5/month.
We will be running Ubuntu as our VPS operating system (the script below was written to work with Ubuntu or Debian). Once your order is placed and paid for, you should get an email from your VPS provider with your server login details (specifically your Dedicated IP and initial root password). Make a note of these details.
2. Setup your VPS
Before we can start our VPS setup, we need to connect to our VPS via the SSH protocol so that we can control it and enter commands.
Grab an SSH client like PuTTY (direct download link for Windows here). If you’re running MacOS or Linux on your local system you don’t need an SSH client like PuTTY, you can just connect to your VPS using terminal:
ssh root@your-vps-dedicated-ip
If you are using PuTTY to connect, just plug in your dedicated IP, port 22, and click open/connect. You will then be asked for your username (use ‘root’) and your password (use the root password that you got from your VPS provider).
Now that we are connected to the VPS, we can grab and run our VPS SeedBox setup script:
wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/bariscimen/transmission-installer/raw/master/transmission.sh && sudo bash transmission.sh
The script will ask you where you for a username and password as well as locations for where you want the downloaded files to go.
Let the script run until it is finished.
3. Access your SeedBox
Now that the SeedBox is setup, we can connect to it. In your web browser, go to:
http://your-vps-dedicated-ip:9091
You will now see a login screen. Use the username and password that you created earlier during your SeedBox setup.
After logging in you will see your SeedBox web interface. Here you can load in .torrent files or magnet url’s. Here is a magnet url for Ubuntu 14 that you can use to test your setup with this magnet link.
4. Download files from your SeedBox
Files you download using your SeedBox will be placed in your SeedBox download folder. You can access this folder using an FTP client like FileZilla.
Host: Your VPS IP
Username: root
Password: Your VPS root Password
Port: 22
Protocol: SFTP
Once connected, you can navigate to your ‘Downloads’ folder where you can download any files from your SeedBox to your local PC. After the files are downloaded to your local PC, you can delete them from the SeedBox ‘Downloads’ folder to clear up space for future downloads.