Don't Hurt Your Head!

While searching for the perfect media server to use as a Home Server, I came across the Amahi Home Server.

The Amahi home server has some great features including:

• Protect Your Computers Backup all your networked PCs simply and easily on your home network. If one of your PCs “dies” you can easily restore it!
• Organize Your Files Access, share and search your files from any machine on your network, making it easy to share and find your photos, music and videos.
• Internet Wide Access Automatically setup your own VPN so you can access your network from anywhere: safely and securely.
• Private Internet Applications Shared applications like calendaring, private wiki and more to come, will help you manage your home and your family!

The package only requires you have a computer with:

• 800MHz CPU
• 4GB Disk, and
• 512MB RAM
• Drive space for a Media Server (depending on how many files you have)

You need to go to the http://Amahi.org site and create an account then you are all set to install.

• Boot the installation machine from the Fedora 12 installation DVD
• Follow the instructions to install Fedora
• Use the defaults to install Fedora in graphical mode (click the paper clips for screenshots).Use DHCP for the install process, unless you know you really need a static IP for install.
• When asked for a “root” password note the password you create
• Stop when you reach the “repositories” page. Unselect Office and Productivity, unless you really want it (e.g. to simultaneously use your HDA as a desktop)
• Click on the “Add additional software repositories” button and add the Amahi repository with the following information:

Repository name: Amahi
Repository URL: http://f12.amahi.org

• If asked to, enable your network interface
• Once the network is up, click “Next” to complete the install
• When installation is done, it will ask you to reboot. Reboot
• After reboot, continue with the install and configuration, as you normally would
• Fedora will ask you Create a User. Go ahead. Remember the credentials
• NOTE: The first time you login in Amahi you will be asked to reset this user’s password
• In the “Date and Time” screen, we recommend that you enable “Synchronize date and time over the network”
• At the login screen, login as the user you created earlier on in the install
• Once at the desktop, locate the Amahi Installer icon.
• Launch the Amahi Installer by double-clicking in the desktop icon. Firefox should launch, with locationhttp://localhost:2000. Check the installation troubleshooting wiki page if this is not working for you.
• Enter the install code for your HDA in the box and press Submit
• Use your our HDA’s install code.
• After the install completes, your HDA should be working, however, it’s required that you reboot to get everything working
• After the reboot, your HDA should be fully functional. Login using the username/password you created in Fedora. Enjoy!
• If your HDA has network connectivity and you are satisfied, you can then optionally turn off your router/gateway’s DHCP server and reboot all the systems in your network (so that they all get their DHCP lease from your HDA). This is the recommended configuration, where you enjoy all the features of your Amahi HDA.
• If you prefer to NOT use your HDA’s built-in DHCP server, turn it off because it’s on by default and it could cause conflicts
• Log in and look around.

When your Amahi HDA comes up, you should be able to find the various areas of your HDA:

Login Screen

Control Panel

Storage tab on Control Panel

Large list of installable apps

Here are some tips!

• Short URLs: on most operating systems, simply typing hda or setup in the URL box of your web browser will take you to the dashboard and the setup pages! Same with the Apps installed!
• Install Amahi DLNA server, works great with the PS3 or Xbox.
• Browse through the apps and install apps that you like!
• Back up your system onto the shares in your HDA periodically and stay safe