Users and permissions for a small Raspi home server

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Users and permissions for a small Raspi home server

Postby PhotonX » Sat Nov 01, 2014 8:22 am

Reposting https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=189244 after being sent here. :)

Hello community,

I have been using Linux on the desktop for many years now, but unfortunately my knowledge about servers is very limited, almost non-existent. Therefore my question is most probably equally well fitting here and into the newbie corner.

I'm trying to set up a little home server on a Raspi using Arch ARM. It should be in charge of following tasks:

- CUPS print server in the local network
- access to shared files through NFS in the local network
- backup (again over NFS)
- an Owncloud server
- maybe a mail server in the long run (NSA, paranoia, etc. :))

For now I have set up the print server, the NFS server and was working on the Owncloud installation, when Owncloud gave me some errors with users and permissions. So I was led to the idea of rethinking the users and permissions on the Raspi. So far there is only the root user who may do everything. This seems like a quite unsafe configuration. I'd like to make it safer. First, the printer, the backup and the locally shared files should be accessible from the local network only. SSH access should also be accessible locally only. The Owncloud file folder should be accessible from the internet, but of course only for the Owncloud users registered to the Owncloud server.

What is the best way to set up users and permissions for such a set up?

Thanks for any hints,
PhotonX
PhotonX
 
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Re: Users and permissions for a small Raspi home server

Postby Geoff » Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:23 pm

Have you thought about using OpenVPN for external access? That way you don't even need ownCloud, and you can safely use NFS and any other services remotely on the VPN, just as you would on the LAN.
Geoff
 
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Re: Users and permissions for a small Raspi home server

Postby PhotonX » Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:40 pm

Didn't think of such an option, indeed. I have no experience with OpenVPN, so I don't know whether it will be able to do following:

1. Start up and sync files with the "cloud" automatically whenever they change here and there.
2. Offer a possibility to share the files piblically. In the long run I'd like to stop using Dropbox and switch to Owncloud/BittorrentSync/OpenVPN...
3. Work properly from within the university network (eduroam: http://www.lrz.de/services/netz/mobil/eduroam_en/).

To sum up: I like the way Dropbox works (besides of the fact that all my data is being saved in the cloud) and search for a good replacement. :)
PhotonX
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2014 8:16 am


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