Ubuntu server question

[stbadreturns]

My plan is to repuporse my old i7 into a server (thanks for everyone help from earlier) now my question is once I set it up and go headless is there a way to access its gui from my primary pc? Almost like a vm window where I can click arround ect. ? If so is there an easy way to do it I'm a total newb when it comes to Linux.

 

I'm trying to use this as my entry into Linux. So thanks again.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Remote desktop on windows

 

On linux SSH for a console or VNC

 

Normally with linux server, you don't have a gui, there is no use for one.

[stbadreturns]

So I would be trying to go from my win 7  to this Linux server but I'm starting it as more of a Linux pc it then a barebones server for starters so that why I would need full access to its gui

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, stbadreturns said:

So I would be trying to go from my win 7  to this Linux server but I'm starting it as more of a Linux pc it then a barebones server for starters so that why I would need full access to its gui

You don't need gui access in linux. 

 

 

Get putty on windows and ssh in. You can do everything you could every want.

[ssfdre38]

If you are using ubuntu server edition, you wont get a GUI so you will just need PuTTy to access it and it will do everything. If you use Ubuntu Desktop edition for your server (you shouldn't) then you will need to setup realVNC server or tightvncserver and use a vnc viewer.

[stbadreturns]

It's regular ubuntu

[stbadreturns]

Well I need to have steam on this Linux pc so I dont have a choice 

 

[Lehti]

As @ssfdre38 suggest, you can connect to your Linux server through SSH using Putty. This is the way you want to access and manage it anyway, since a GUI is a security weak point and pretty much everyone suggests not to install it or to uninstall it as soon as you're done configuring everything.

Yes, even Microsoft encourages you to not install the GUI on its Server operating systems.

 

VNC is a remote desktop protocol that you want to use to access other desktop systems, it really shouldn't be used on servers.

 

I'm not sure why you'd need Steam running on a server. After all, storing your games on a remote location is going to negatively impact your loading times. One thing you can do is backing up your games to a SMB share on the server and mounting that same share on your local machine as a network drive from where you can restore your library without having to redownload everything.

[ssfdre38]

the reason why someone wants to host steam on a server is for private matches and to pull away from a public server to reduce the lag. i do it with me and my friends and it works faster when we just want to play a game

[Lehti]

Oh, that makes sense. It's still a bad idea from a security perspective, but I can see why you'd need a GUI.

[SpaceNugget]

You don't need a gui, I have a gui-less debian server with steamCMD (command line steam client) to host persistant servers for starbound and terraria.

 

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD

 

 

[ssfdre38]

well Valve only officially support steamCMD witch is a command line only server system. There are a few GUI based apps but valve does not support them and you would be on your own. I still say to just use Ubuntu Server and not Ubuntu Desktop for more resources pushed to steamCMD. Just so you know steam does have a key and licence system for encrypted the connection so it is secure.

[Emmien]

14 hours ago, ssfdre38 said:

well Valve only officially support steamCMD witch is a command line only server system. There are a few GUI based apps but valve does not support them and you would be on your own. I still say to just use Ubuntu Server and not Ubuntu Desktop for more resources pushed to steamCMD. Just so you know steam does have a key and licence system for encrypted the connection so it is secure.

Command line servers can be run on desktop Ubuntu.

You can also stop the GUI from starting.

 

Putty is the best SSH client for accessing your server.

[ssfdre38]

for me i wouldnt have the ubuntu desktop installed as a server just cause it does take up a good amount of memory but that is just me. I did had a windows server 2012 R2 installed then switched to linux just cause i couldn't do a good amount of things that i wanted to

[samiscool51]

you can use normal ubuntu as a server with the right software and the correct configuration

i used to use windows 7 as a my main server os and it was the best at the time for me

[b1uew01f]

As much as everyone is right in saying to use the server completely headless, and I certainly do for all mine, its understandable for new potential converts to OS's like linux that it could be scary or could make you feel powerless (terminal isn't like cmd line in windows - its actually the most powerful way you can use the system) so provided this isn't anything life threatening / commercial id fully recommend using desktop ubuntu.

 

Get yourself a feel for it and gradually get used to using terminal for everything instead of the gui. Its certainly an attack vector and you should know that you shouldn't have a gui, but realistically the benefit of you enjoying the linux experience outways the risk on the short term IMO.

[matexoza]

I've got 3 servers running lubuntu bit lighter version of Ubuntu I'm using a kvm switch on my main screen and I just switch between all 4 1 server running 4 l4d2 servers 1 running 7dtd  1 running apache 2 going to be adding one to run free Nas soon 

[dvdmuckle]

If you really want a GUI, I guess you could make a barebones Linux server, use KVM to install a desktop Linux OS as a virt, and then use `virt-manager` to interact with a GUI. Not a great idea, but could be worse. You could also use the obvious X forwarding over SSH, but that's slow as hell and also requires you have an X server on your side. You could also use things like Webmin that handle _some_ of the applications you might be running, not all. Some applications also have web interfaces of their own, such as the excellent ZNC webadmin. And, if you want to monitor resource usage, I highly suggest Netdata.

[AssassinsKeeper]

41 minutes ago, dvdmuckle said:

If you really want a GUI, I guess you could make a barebones Linux server, use KVM to install a desktop Linux OS as a virt, and then use `virt-manager` to interact with a GUI. Not a great idea, but could be worse. You could also use the obvious X forwarding over SSH, but that's slow as hell and also requires you have an X server on your side. You could also use things like Webmin that handle _some_ of the applications you might be running, not all. Some applications also have web interfaces of their own, such as the excellent ZNC webadmin. And, if you want to monitor resource usage, I highly suggest Netdata.

Building on that, there is an excellent resource called Linux Game Server Managers that basically does all the work for you, is headless, and they have easy to follow instructions on how to get started. But, like others have said, I strongly recommend that you get some command line experience under your belt, as it really is the best and most powerful way to manage a Linux OS (regardless if it's desktop or server).