Ubuntu <server>

[.Froot.]

I decided to turn my old desktop into a print/file server so that I can print via the network without having to plug in the right printer each time (laser vs colour, etc) and so-on.

I installed Ubuntu 8.04 (busy upgrading to 8.10 at the moment) without network access but moved it to another room after the installation for network access. I won't be using a keyboard, mouse of monitor for it so I installed VNCserver on it from previously downloaded files and set the server up for remote access, shared the necessary drives and set the automatic login for the user.

First time round I was running an ext3 filesystem on the harddrive but had to redo everything after getting a major fsck failure (the Seagate disk is over 5 years old) and decided to change it to Reiser, just to see if the issues aren't resolved.

After putting the box onto the network, it now worked first time round without having to haul the box back to the monitor and input devices (whew)...

Now the question I do have, is should the resources be pulling on max if I simply run music from it and a terminal client? It's a P4 2.8 with 1GB RAM... but the CPU is sitting on almost maximum.
The network is reporting 1MB/s send and 50KB/s receive (most of which goes to the remote connection).

 

[Wynand]

Not as far as I know. Neither of those are cpu intensive,and thats a strong pc for linux.

DO you have GUI enabled?

 

[.Froot.]

Not as far as I know. Neither of those are cpu intensive,and thats a strong pc for linux.

DO you have GUI enabled?

I just did a straight install of Ubuntu. I don't have a 32-bit server edition. I prefer using the GUI, since it makes access other services a lot easier. I will try killing x and then checking the resource activity.

 

[.Froot.]

Wait... how do you get the resource readings in terminal again? I forgot

Edit: "top".

 

[.Froot.]

Well I tried killing X from the terminal client and got myself well and truly kicked. Had to do a hard-reset: I couldn't access the server

 

[Nod]

Also enable ssh access, for the situations where X is dead, or for running the system after final configuration when you don't need a gui. Running without X will free some needed memory.

RE: the 100% CPU usage.
After identifying the process that's holding the CPU, have a look in the messages file to see if there is any messages regarding the reason.

 

[.Froot.]

I'm busy sorting out the ssh on the server now. I notice that the cpu usage shoots up as soon as I start using vnc- from the history graph the cpu usage hovers at around 10-20% before I log onto it.

 

[Nod]

I'm busy sorting out the ssh on the server now. I notice that the cpu usage shoots up as soon as I start using vnc- from the history graph the cpu usage hovers at around 10-20% before I log onto it.

Have you tried using a X-Win client, in stead of VNC? There are freeware solutions available which will negate the VNC CPU usage issue. Cygwin can also be used, and work very well.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

You can also try "htop" it displays your usuage clearer than "top".
Also, once you get use to ssh, you will never use the GUI on your server. You do not have to disable your X, just do not log in. Also if you really have to have an X running, try LXDE - it runs on fumes. Have it on my netbook and so impressed.

 

[.Froot.]

I'll take a look at those optinons.
Cygwin? It's the Linux emulator, right? Well I am access the server through a Linux box... so why would I want to run cygwin?

 

[Nod]

I'll take a look at those optinons.
Cygwin? It's the Linux emulator, right? Well I am access the server through a Linux box... so why would I want to run cygwin?

To access the GUI on your Linux box, without using VNC.

 

[.Froot.]

I did a complete upgrade to 8.10 which for including Samba, xine and amarok (for use for big screen tv ) came to 750MB.

To combat the overhead when using vnc, I changed the desktop to ubuntu-minimal and it has a huge impact on the cpu usage- from 100% down to a minimal 5-10%....
The memory usage is also down from 220MB to 115MB.