{"id":9911,"date":"2016-12-10T10:21:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T17:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpengine"},"modified":"2024-05-04T10:30:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-04T17:30:40","slug":"sync-hacks-how-to-set-up-bittorrent-sync-on-ubuntu-server-13-04-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/blog\/sync-hacks-how-to-set-up-bittorrent-sync-on-ubuntu-server-13-04-2","title":{"rendered":"Sync Hacks: How to set up BitTorrent Sync on Ubuntu Server 13.04"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SyncHacksUbuntu\"In Sync Hacks, we spotlight cool uses of Sync from the creative minds of our users. Sync is our free, unlimited, and secure file-syncing application. If you have an interesting use or how-to, shoot us an email at sync[at]bittorrent.com. Can\u2019t wait to hear what you guys cook up.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s Sync Hacks, Gemma Lynn<\/a> gives us the how-to for setting up Sync on an Ubuntu<\/a> server. Sync + Ubuntu = not having to worry about whether a third party is keeping your files safe in the cloud. Give it a shot, son. Read on for the full tutorial.<\/p>\n

On BitTorrent Sync<\/h2>\n

Oh my word, people. I can’t even tell you. It’s amazing.<\/p>\n

You hand it a folder to sync, it hands you a 21-character key (password). The key uniquely identifies your sync folder. Any other btsync<\/code> peer (computer running the syncing client) with the key can sync from the folder, and no peer without the key can even see it. The actual content transmission is just like regular BitTorrent, except with 256-bit AES encryption (based, again, on the folder key).<\/p>\n

If you’re running behind a LAN, that’s all you need. Just btsync<\/code> peers and a shared key, no external servers necessary.<\/p>\n

If you’re outside a LAN, you can enable MAGICAL THINGS<\/a>: btsync<\/code> can send a one-way hash (SHA-2) of your key up to a BitTorrent tracker, and match up peers by matching up hashes. It’s brilliant. The hashes can’t be forged (at least until somebody breaks SHA-2), and the original keys are needed for decryption. There are millions of hashed keys hanging out on the trackers right now, looking for matching peers, completely secure. Once the tracker matches up some peers, it’s done; it never sees the synced data, encrypted or otherwise, because the peers talk to each other directly.<\/p>\n

As a bonus, the btsync<\/code> client does local backups by default. It’ll automatically keep 30 days worth of version history. I just replaced my KeePass triggers, my cron job and<\/em> my Android rsync with one tool, without handing any of my data to a third party.<\/p>\n

Install<\/h2>\n

Per usual, setting up the Windows and Android clients is a fairly brainless process; setting up a Linux client is a little more exciting<\/a>. Here’s what I did on my Ubuntu 13.04 server:<\/p>\n

Set Up: We don’t set things up manually in Ubuntu, son!<\/h3>\n

Use the PPA<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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$<\/span> sudo<\/span> add<\/span>-<\/span>apt<\/span>-<\/span>repository<\/span> ppa<\/span>:<\/span>tuxpoldo<\/span>\/<\/span>btsync<\/span>\n$<\/span> sudo<\/span> aptitude<\/span> update<\/span>\n$<\/span> sudo<\/span> aptitude<\/span> install<\/span> btsync<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
(If you’re on a version of Ubuntu that didn’t come with add-apt-repository<\/code>, you can grab it from the software-properties-common<\/code> package. I mention this only because when I was on 12.04, it took way too long to find.)<\/p>\n
Configure<\/h2>\n
apt<\/code> will throw some preliminary config options at you and start the btsync<\/code> client in daemon mode; you can configure more things after the install is complete (check the main Debian\/Ubuntu instructions<\/a> and the user guide<\/a> for details):<\/p>\n
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$<\/span> sudo<\/span> dpkg<\/span>-<\/span>reconfigure<\/span> btsync<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
dpkg-reconfigure<\/code> saves your settings to a read-only configuration file at \/etc\/btsync\/debconf-default.conf<\/code>. You can create as many syncing profiles as you want; just stick them all in \/etc\/btsync<\/code>. I ended up copying the defaults to a new profile specific to my user (\/etc\/btsync\/gemma.conf<\/code>), borrowing more settings from the \/etc\/btsync\/user-new.conf<\/code> sample:<\/p>\n
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\/\/!\/usr\/lib\/btsync\/btsync-daemon<\/span> --config<\/span>\n\/\/<\/span>\n\/\/<\/span> in<\/span> this<\/span> profile,<\/span> btsync<\/span> will<\/span> run<\/span> as<\/span> my<\/span> user<\/span> ID<\/span>\n\/\/<\/span> DAEMON_UID=gemma<\/span>\n\/\/<\/span>\n{<\/span>\n        \"device_name\"<\/span>:<\/span> \"my server\"<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"storage_path\"<\/span> :<\/span> \"\/home\/gemma\/.btsync\"<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"listening_port\"<\/span> :<\/span> 12345<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"check_for_updates\"<\/span> :<\/span> false<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"use_upnp\"<\/span> :<\/span> false<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"download_limit\"<\/span> :<\/span> 0<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"upload_limit\"<\/span> :<\/span> 0<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"disk_low_priority\"<\/span> :<\/span> true<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"lan_encrypt_data\"<\/span> :<\/span> true<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"lan_use_tcp\"<\/span> :<\/span> false<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"rate_limit_local_peers\"<\/span> :<\/span> false<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"folder_rescan_interval\"<\/span> :<\/span> 600<\/span>,<\/span>\n        \"webui\"<\/span> :<\/span>\n        {<\/span>\n        },<\/span>\n    \"shared_folders\"<\/span> :<\/span>\n    [<\/span>\n        {<\/span>\n            \"secret\"<\/span> :<\/span> \"my folder key\"<\/span>,<\/span>\n            \"dir\"<\/span> :<\/span> \"\/path\/to\/my\/synced\/folder\"<\/span>,<\/span>\n            \"use_relay_server\"<\/span> :<\/span> true<\/span>,<\/span>\n            \"use_dht\"<\/span> :<\/span> false<\/span>,<\/span>\n            \"search_lan\"<\/span> :<\/span> false<\/span>,<\/span>\n            \"use_sync_trash\"<\/span> :<\/span> true<\/span>\n        }<\/span>\n    ]<\/span>\n}<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
Most of that’s pretty boring, except:<\/p>\n