Separate Computer for Downloading

[vox87]

I've been lurking here for the past year, finally got around to registering; after searching the forums and not really finding an answer (probably not searching on the right terms).

I'm sure some of you are using a separate computer for strictly downloading...to have that isolated environment.

Just curious, any special setups in terms of configuration? Outside the norm of AV and having an interactive firewall (to see outbound and inbound traffic).

I've been tossing around the idea of having a 2nd box, as my beat up box, for years now. Just never really got around to building one or deciding on a good setup in terms of a software configuration.

For example...

Configuration 1:
Lay down Windows with the torrent/news clients, AV, and a firewall...then clone it (Acronis). If it gets infected, lay down the clone image.

Configuration 2:
Lay down a Linux OS as a virtual host and create a windows virtual. If it becomes infected, blow it away and recreate.

Configuration 3:
Do the same as config 1, but run everything in a sandbox or something.

Like I said, just curious to see what other people are doing. I'm just tossing ideas out and trying to decide on something.

Thanks!!

[Cabalo]

I have a Windows 2008 R2 box running all filesharing services. Runs on a modest E1200 overclocked to 3ghz on a stock cooler. It's more than enough for its tasks. It packs 2 Gb Ram.
I picked Windows over Linux with Samba sharing due to the simplicity involved in the process of sharing folders across a network.
When picking the board, one of the primary concerns was the number of available Sata2 ports. Eventually I had to add a PCI-to-sata2 card for more channels.

Not using a AV, but behind the quite good windows server firewall and a NAT.

[anon]

I am one such user. I stopped using antivirus software some months ago. Instead, I'm very careful with the stuff I handle, and run a NOD32 scan once a month. So far, so good. My router makes a good firewall.

When something finishes downloading, I connect to the FileZilla FTP server I installed, and transfer it to my desktop PC. For everything else, there's Radmin, a very good remote control solution.

Configuration 1:
Lay down Windows with the torrent/news clients, AV, and a firewall...then clone it (Acronis). If it gets infected, lay down the clone image.

That sounds good. Of course, you'll need to create a separate, smaller partition for the OS (I do that, C: = Windows 7, D: = downloads), but I think most people already do that nowadays.

I forgot to say, that is all on a lowly netbook

[swizZ8]

@Cabalo and Anon, you seem to know "your shit" guys and i think i learned a lot from your posts.

[Cabalo]

When I have the need to check a suspicious file, I do it via plugins for either Firefox or Chrome, plugins to virustotal or virscan sites.
Disabling the NTFS timestamp is a must for those who share access to the server for quite a good number of people. Raid'ing HDDs is also interesting if you have a lot of simultaneous reads. Otherwise, if you just use the HDDs for storage purposes and a few people accessing them, no need to go down that path.

Don't forget to make a full defrag and optimization once you've finished installing the system and all the necessary software. You won't believe how fragmented a HDD is, even after a clean install. This will increase overall system performance.

Configure properly your WOL access, so you can power on your machine remotely. This is very useful, if like me, you keep your server hidden or out of reach (kids, animals, etc). Remember, for best performance, the server must always be connected to the router via a cable, stay away from wifi.

[zot]

It's not a bad idea to keep an old computer around as a dedicated P2P tool. For one thing, P2Ps like Bittorrent and ed2k can put a lot of wear and tear on a hard drive. Better to have that decade-old HDD fail than one storing all those important files. I used to keep an old throwaway PC connected as a dedicated p2p box, it was essential with eDonkey because ed2k downloading often meant staying online continuously, often for days or weeks on end - or lose all queue slots and have to start over.

If your plan is, as you say, "using a separate computer for strictly downloading...to have that isolated environment" - then I don't see much reason for virus concerns. Even if it gets infected, it's isolated, and presumably doing nothing but running p2p apps, so there's probably no harm. Having a dedicated P2P machine also makes it safer to run any less-trusted hacked clients, like the kind found on sites such as Anon's former namesake.

I'd make sure all PCs have autoruns disabled so an infected CD or flash drive won't infect anything else. Also, I don't recommend allowing any software to auto-update because this "feature" can be exploited by hackers. Just my standard advice.

I would forget about the idea of running Windows as a virtual OS on Linux using an old computer - it's a huge resource hog, best left for new (RAM'd-up) PCs and/or those with hardware virtualization.

I always have a HDD divided into multiple partitions, even if I only have one OS installed; that way the dedicated download partition does not need to be monitored by System restore (which will create a lot of unneeded backup files) as well as the many other advantages of having multi-partitions. Advanced bandwidth-control tools like Netlimiter can be helpful, especially when running multiple p2p/downloading apps, or if wanting to punish greedy leeches. :Mad:

[Disme]

Why go through all the hassle of a second computer. Just get yourself a decent NAS (Synology, QNAP, Drobo, etc ...) and you have a seperate, dedicated filesharing solution that consumes a fraction of electricity from what a computer does, is accessible from all over the internet, has built in Firewall and access-control and has build in RAID capabilities and a ton of other functionalities. I've gotten me one some months ago and I'm still very happy with it.

[zot]

Why go through all the hassle of a second computer. Just get yourself a decent NAS (Synology, QNAP, Drobo, etc ...) and you have a seperate, dedicated filesharing solution that consumes a fraction of electricity from what a computer does, is accessible from all over the internet, has built in Firewall and access-control and has build in RAID capabilities and a ton of other functionalities. I've gotten me one some months ago and I'm still very happy with it.

I've looked at some non-PC filesharing methods, like NAS and USB-enabled routers a while back, but all the (decent-priced) ones I've seen were very limiting in some way. Such as a pre-installed setup of Rtorrent, and no ability to (easily) install other software. But probably OK for just running Bittorrent and little else. But my biggest complaint with NAS systems I looked at was that, unlike a networked computer, many NAS models required every PC on the network to have proprietary drivers installed (on NON-Linux computers no less - ironic since the NAS itself used Linux) in order to see the files stored on the NAS.

I still think of that 'NASty' 1st generation NAS, the Linksys NSLU2, that made a name for itself because it would automatically reformat to EXT any drive plugged into it --without warning or asking for permission.

Disme, are there any models you would recommend?

[anon]

Disabling the NTFS timestamp is a must for those who share access to the server for quite a good number of people.

For the record, this can be done with the following command:

fsutil behavior set DisableLastAccess 1

Disabling 8.3 filename generation is also often recommended to increase performance. The command is the same, except that DisableLastAccess should be replaced by Disable8dot3.

It's not a bad idea to keep an old computer around as a dedicated P2P tool. For one thing, P2Ps like Bittorrent and ed2k can put a lot of wear and tear on a hard drive.

Large disk caches (dubbed file buffer sizes in eMule) can help with that. By putting pieces into memory before they're written to disk, and placing frequently-read pieces there as well, they can reduce the amount of times a drive must be accessed, extending its lifespan.

The downsides of that are two: one, you need plenty of RAM, otherwise the paging file (if one is in use) will be used and that's counterproductive, and two, if there's a power failure, you may lose more data, since it hasn't been written to disk yet and RAM is volatile.

[Indiesnob]

I'm curious as to whether anyone has ever setup a VM for downloads.

Seems it would be a safe bet for a "sandbox" if one doesn't have room/money/etc for multiple computers.