https://wiki.kptree.net/ 2026-04-24T13:41:48+00:00 https://wiki.kptree.net/ https://wiki.kptree.net/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=wiki:dokuwiki.svg text/html 2026-03-16T07:04:18+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:mswindows_notes&rev=1773644658&do=diff mswindows windows setup tip notes personal license powertoys KPTree - Home Desktop Setup Background I have Windows on my main desk top machine, it is dual boot with Debian/XFCE. I am using Debian almost exclusively now. The BIOS based dual boot works well, I have it defaulting to Debian. I do not currently have a Windows VM setup on my main server. My 3 sons also have computers with Windows on them. Lastly, I am required to used company Windows machines at work. Hence I like to keep a li… text/html 2024-08-24T08:27:38+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=project:sprinklers&rev=1724488058&do=diff sprinkler inductor controller solenoid valve solenoid_valve Sprinkler Solenoid 24VAC Woes See my Home Sprinkler notes I have had many problems with my sprinkler system; decrepit failing 30 year old underground wiring, failing solenoid valves and their solenoids. Some of the old solenoid valves were replaced as they had mechanically failed. The multiple issues made it vary difficult to diagnose what was happening at any time. text/html 2023-04-30T09:43:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:media_vm_setup&rev=1682847793&do=diff deluge torrent server openvpn btguard nftables iptables systemd virtual machine linux ubuntu KPTree Torrent VM Setup Deluge Headless setup The main reference used is Havetheknowhow.com, specifically for the deluge headless setup, Havetheknowhow.com - How to install Deluge Headless. The Deluge support page is also a root source of knowledge Deluge systemd. Whatbox Deluge also has some interesting dialog. If installing on a virtual machine (VM) it is important to also have set up the NFS to al… text/html 2024-12-07T03:13:35+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:web_server_setup&rev=1733541215&do=diff linux debian apache apache2 httpd web server php certbot letsencrypt nextcloud cloud vm virtual machine kvm proxy reverse proxy gid uid vipw vigr group id user id Web Server setup Basic Web Server setup on VM I am moving away from Ubuntu to Debian. I find the instruction for here are good to setup a basic web server Digitalocean's LAMP on Debian 11 and Computing for Geeks LAMP on Debian. Old, tl;dr; The main reference used is Unixmen - How To Install LAMP Stack On Ubuntu 16.04, for the bas… text/html 2025-11-30T10:55:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:network&rev=1764500119&do=diff linux debian ubuntu router network netplan interface vlan ipv6 ip Debian Server Network Setup Debian Network - Server Interface Setup As of Debian 10 (Buster) Debian still by default uses this interface Setup. It can be setup to use netplan inface. Ubuntu (as of version 14.04) defaults to Predictable Network Interface Names, also see Systemd Docs. I have no problem with this. In any case, you should always check dev names and not assume names, such as text/html 2024-03-24T08:01:21+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:email_server&rev=1711267281&do=diff linux mail server email postfix dovecot emailserver debian ubuntu horde postfixadmin admin clamav apache roundcube webmail certbot certificate KPTree - Email Server Setup Email Server Notes Setting up the email server on my home server was probably the most difficult task. Email server setup is intricate, risky and involves significant commitment and effort to setup reliably and maintain. text/html 2025-09-20T09:35:01+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:hardware&rev=1758360901&do=diff linux router hardware Router Hardware ikoolcore-r2-max (Dec 2024) The Supermicro SYS-E200-9B has stopped working. It posts bios, but will not boot further. I suspect hardware failure of some sort. The BMC failed a few years ago. I have ordered a replacement ikoolcore-r2-max. The replacement comes with 2.5Gb/s and 10GB/s NICs and a more modern and faster 8 core text/html 2025-10-14T05:59:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:misc&rev=1760421555&do=diff linux router monitor links darkstat glances ntopng iftop nethogs Router Miscellaneous Monitoring There are a number of linux monitoring packages available. See these links for more examples see, 13 Linux Performance Monitoring Tools – Part 2, and 30 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know. Below are a few that I have tried and use. iftop iftop - display bandwidth usage on an interface by host Use text/html 2024-03-24T06:04:40+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:vim&rev=1711260280&do=diff vim neovim command linux debian text editor setup customise customisation cheatsheet VIM Editor When using sudo vim consider sudo -E. The -E flag to retain the user environment variables for vim. VIM Customisation ~/.vimrc colorscheme desert set nocompatible syntax on set number relativenumber set autoindent expandtab tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 filetype plugin on filetype indent on set cursorline set cursorcolumn set shiftwidth=2 set tabstop=2 set expandtab text/html 2026-04-14T13:03:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker-compose&rev=1776171829&do=diff linux docker compose docker-compose docker_compose container network Docker-Compose * Docker Docs Compose specification, The Compose Specification Some commands: * docker-compose pull, it would seem this is required to ensure the latest image(s) is downloaded * docker-compose up -d --build --force-recreate * -d run as deamon (in background) * --build on required if the compose includes building an image text/html 2025-05-18T12:49:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=personal:sprinkler&rev=1747572557&do=diff sprinkler spray garden irrigation Home Sprinkler Setup Notes See my Sprinker solenoid woes Reticulation System The home I am currently living in and own had a garden irrigation system install with bore pump when purchased. The system was over 20 years old when I purchased and is now over 30 years old. text/html 2025-02-08T09:11:05+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:kvm&rev=1739005865&do=diff server kvm virtual command debian machine qemu virsh qcow linux command setup nbd network block device KVM Setup I original setup my main server and virual machines all with Ubuntu. However I have started using Debian and find it leaner than Ubuntu. I am slowly moving my various servers and virtual machines to Debian. * Install And Configure KVM In Ubuntu 20.04 Headless Server * Installing KVM on Debian 10 * How To Install KVM Hypervisor on Debian 12|11|10 * How to install KVM server on … text/html 2026-02-15T00:37:24+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker-dns&rev=1771115844&do=diff linux docker dns bind9 Docker - DNS Server What Is DNS and How Does It Work – A Comprehensive Guide I have been using Bind9 as my home LAN DNS for the past few years. I originally operated it on bare metal on my home router computer. In mid 2023 I successfully moved my Bind9 primary instance to my main home server in a container and created a slave instance in a container running on my home router computer. I created a Docker Bind9 Image using base Docker Alpine Linux images, with S6 init s… text/html 2025-11-09T00:31:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:nginx-php-notes&rev=1762648276&do=diff linux docker nginx php fast-cgi php-fpm Docker nginx / php notes nginx executable I had some trouble getting nginx with php-fpm to operate. So I tried to get working a simple setup to nut-out the nuances. I got it working using php-fpm socket with Apline Linux on 2 Docker instances, one running Nginx and the other php-fpm. text/html 2025-12-23T02:48:44+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:vm-container&rev=1766458124&do=diff linux docker vm proxmox server vnc kvm libvirt selfhosted Docker Host KVM versus Proxmox I originally started using Linux KVM based VM, with QEMU and Libvirt on Ubuntu bare metal, circa 2014, this before was I was aware that Proxmox existed. Around 2020 I moved to Debian as my preferred bare metal distribution for server and desktop, I stopped using Windows as my main home desktop around this time. When I started playing around with Docker to create my own container images I preferred use of… text/html 2025-08-17T00:27:04+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:network_setup&rev=1755390424&do=diff network interface netplan nic setup loopback eth ethernet bridge bond networkd linux debian setup command Network Setup Most server have more than one network connection although one is technically enough. Routers by definition need to have a minimum of at least 2 network connections. It would seem that Debian Linux supports multiple methods to define network connections: text/html 2023-12-26T03:36:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:apt&rev=1703561777&do=diff linux debian package apt apt-get update upgrade distribution apt package management I recently had a sudo apt upgrade error along the lines of: mariadb-server : Depends: mariadb-server-10.3 (>= 1:10.3.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) but 1:10.3.23+maria~bionic is installed Basically the apt / dpkg package manger got confused with the old distribution installation. I suspect this only happen as I updated the distribution from Ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04. Basically the text/html 2023-04-30T09:43:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:conky&rev=1682847793&do=diff conkey linux debian manjaro setup monitor Conky Conky is a Linux system monitor tool using X Windows. Conky is highly configurable and is able to monitor many system variables including the status of the CPU, memory, swap space, disk storage, temperatures, processes, network interfaces, battery power, system messages, e-mail in-boxes Linux updates, runs many popular music players, and much more. Unlike system monitors that use high-level widget tool-kits to render their information, Conky i… text/html 2026-04-11T00:19:34+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker-dhcp&rev=1775866774&do=diff linux docker kea dhcp Docker - DHCP Kea Server Since mid 2023 I have been running a Docker ISC Kea Image using base Docker Alpine Linux images, with S6 init system. (ISC Kea is a modern replacement for their DHCP.) The main DHCP server runs on my main server and I have an automatic fall over back up on my separate Linux router. I basically followed the Kea template text/html 2025-01-05T03:25:59+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:fileshare&rev=1736047559&do=diff linux docker file_sharing share sharing syncthing privatebin File Sharing All the applications have pro and cons. This is listed at the beginning of each header. There have been considered 3 different levels of access as described by the applications used: * Nextcloud - a full privately hosted publicly accessible file shareing application, with many additional features text/html 2025-09-29T11:22:11+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:dokuwiki_setup&rev=1759144931&do=diff linux wiki dokuwiki server plugin markdown dokuwiki setup notes Also see notes on setting up Docker Dokuwiki container * Dokuwiki home page * Dokuwiki Installation instructions * Upgrading Dokuwiki * DokuWiki Manual * Docuwiki maintenance * How to backup DokuWiki? * How to move DokuWiki from one Server to another? dokuwiki backup Back-ups placed here: '/media/disk1/KarlData/Karl Data 2/dokuwiki_backups/' and named KPtreeWiki-backup_yyyy-mm-dd. e.g. sudo tar zcpfv '/media/… text/html 2025-03-08T09:28:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:qemu&rev=1741426130&do=diff linux router vm Router VM I have just decided to play with installing VM (virtual machines) on my Router hardware (2023-01). I have been reluctant to do this for a number of reasons. My separate listing for Router Hardware. Basically the machine is a bit old slow and under powered, but still adequate for what it does. I do not run a desktop on this machine, CLI (Command Line Interface only). The main services I am currently running on this machine are, all bare metal: text/html 2026-01-31T11:03:52+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:wifi&rev=1769857432&do=diff linux router wifi wifi_router access_point Wifi Router / Access Points I prefer to run higher quality wifi access points (AP) than the all in one type routers. My current router is X86 based running Linux Nftables on bare metal and Bind9 and Kea as well as some other services in Docker on a VM. text/html 2025-09-29T01:29:05+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=personal:recipes&rev=1759109345&do=diff food recipes cake stollen KPTree Recipes Recipe Links Stollen: I do not like mazipan, and do not like it in Stollen. Hence these links exclude reference to recipes with marzipan. * The spice house Old-Fashioned Christmas Stollen * The Spruce German Christmas Stollen * You're Doing It Wrong: Christmas Bread * Poppyseed Stollen * Stollen (No-Knead) * Traditional German Stollen Kaesekuchen - German Cheesecake in Diana's Recipe Book German Cottage Cheese Cheesecake Ratatouille Quick G… text/html 2024-03-09T02:45:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=tech_notes:ssh&rev=1709952350&do=diff linux ssh ssh-keygen ssh with key files The advantages of using SSH key-based include: * Improved security * Easier access to ssh (if password keys are not used) Clearly use of unique password encrypted keys gives best security. However if a user has access to you terminal and user password they effectively have full system access anyway. text/html 2025-05-20T04:48:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:vnc_setup&rev=1747716488&do=diff linux server debian vnc setup vncserver tigervnc gnome xfce VNC Server This section is a bit of a mess and needs a clean up..... I want a simple server GUI VNC system. Sadly most the instructions on the net do not seem to meet my needs. * Install a GUI * A light desktop system, e.g. xfce * The x11 windows manager system text/html 2025-05-18T07:27:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:ipmi_console&rev=1747553262&do=diff linux bmc grub ipmi console redirection cli IPMI Console Setup I have 3 computers from Supermicro with BMC and IPMI. The Supermicro provided utility program IPMIView is good, but the iKVM console redirection facility is woefully unreliable and also seems to be poorly documented! (Probably because it is based upon Java.) Interestingly this utility program is provided for Windows and Linux, and is even available in Manjaro AUR repositories. (This probably actually makes sense as many Supermic… text/html 2026-01-31T14:34:43+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:rsync&rev=1769870083&do=diff rsync backup linux debian rsnapshot Rsync These are my rsync notes. I also used to use rsnapshot, however I was unhappy with the performance of this application and moved to restic. The original rsnapshot notes have been rolled up and moved to the bottom of this page. Rsync Notes Main rsync command usage summary text/html 2024-12-06T11:35:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:diun-ntfy&rev=1733484956&do=diff linux docker diun ntfy Docker - diun & ntfy ntfy is a notification application and server frame work. It has an iOS client and can also use standard web page and Andiod app. I originally considered gotify however there is not iOS application for this notification system, which basically makes it of less value for me. text/html 2026-01-17T01:03:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker&rev=1768611790&do=diff linux docker cli installation network volume iptables nftables portainer Docker Docker is a set of platform as a service (PaaS) products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called _containers_. The service has both free and premium tiers. The software that hosts the containers is called Docker Engine text/html 2025-08-16T11:39:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker-mailserver&rev=1755344352&do=diff linux docker mail mailserver alpine dovecot postfix sqlite s6 s6-rc Docker mailserver This mailserver setup follows Workaround's SPmail guide for Debian 12 “Bookworm”. Key changes are that instead of installing on Debian 12 virtual machine1, with a Maria mysql database2, this setup is for installation on latest Alpine linux Docker image with s6-rc init using maria database. I toyed with sqlite and basically got it functional, however the support apps do not function with sqlite, so I went ba… text/html 2026-04-03T14:43:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker-nextcloud&rev=1775227395&do=diff linux docker nextcloud mysql mariadb Nextcloud Container Nextcloud publishes their own Docker container of Nextcloud. The Nextcloud image on Docker hub is maintained by the Nextcloud community, and is not officially supported by Nextcloud! Linuxserver.io, as well as some others also have Nextcloud containers on Docker Hub. text/html 2025-01-07T01:00:11+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:docker-reverse-proxy&rev=1736211611&do=diff linux docker traefik reverse_proxy proxy openssl ssl certificate portainer cloudsec Reverse Proxy Server - Traefik I seem to have gotten the Traefik reverse proxy working according to Techno Tim Put Wildcard Certificates and SSL on EVERYTHING (github reference_files for traefik-portainer-ssl). Also see Jim's Garage Your Traefik Isn't Secure (JimsGarage/Traefik-Secure/ Below is a basic description of the process that aligns with my configuration files. I do this for 2 reasons, both allowing m… text/html 2025-03-02T05:34:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:turnserver&rev=1740893696&do=diff linux docker turnserver turn server From wikipedia; Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) is a protocol that assists in traversal of network address translators (NAT) or firewalls for multimedia applications. It may be used with the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). It is most useful for clients on networks masqueraded by symmetric NAT devices. TURN does not aid in running servers on well known ports in the private network through a NAT; it supports the c… text/html 2024-12-28T03:23:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=docker_notes:vpn&rev=1735356236&do=diff linux docker wireguard openvpn Private LAN VPN Access The scope here concerns use of VPN (Virtual Private Network) to gain secure access from the public network to a local private network. It relates to private secure access and use from the public network. It does not consider public VPNs setup for public use. text/html 2025-09-14T11:00:20+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:background&rev=1757847620&do=diff linux router 4g lte mobile Linux Router Background I have had the router hardware for about 7 years now, as of June 2023. It took me nearly 18 months to set up as primary home router on bare metal, with DNS and DHCP. I got Wireguard up and running a year ago. I have some basic monitoring software running, darkstat and glances. I have not bothered to setup VMs or containers, it all runs bare metal. I managed to use text/html 2025-01-04T10:36:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=linux_router:ipoe&rev=1735987016&do=diff linux router bridged modem isp ipoe mtu dns dhcp ISP IPoE DHCP Setup Notes Notes on Setting up a Linux router for IPoE DHCP. old, tldr; After a few years of reasonable successful use of bridged VDSL modem with Linux Router running pppoe and nftables my ISP informed me that they do not use authentication on the connection with username and password. In fact they mention they used dhcp IPoE as well as PPPoE. I set up my spare modem as they described and it worked straight way. When I tried my… text/html 2025-08-10T12:30:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=tech_notes:pikvm&rev=1754829003&do=diff linux kvm ipmi pikvm bmc PiKVM I purchased a PiKVM kit in 2021, and got it operational at that time. I did not need to use it until recently, 2024-09. Basically a special 'hat' is mounted on a standard Raspberry Pi 4, the smallest memory unit type being sufficient (2 GB). The kit was complete with all the required parts, such as the hat, Raspberry PI, a case, small OLED display and various cables. The PiKVM is V3 HAT with RPi V4 2GB. text/html 2025-09-29T01:46:34+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:home_it_setup&rev=1759110394&do=diff havetheknowhow snapraid opensprinkler personal background setup home server linux command My Home IT Setup Hardware - I have censored this for the time being.... A special mention goes to the Opensprinkler sprinkler controller, that is probably the best network interfaced sprinkler controller available, both for home and some commercial use. See separate section on my home sprinkler setup text/html 2023-04-30T09:43:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:aptcache&rev=1682847793&do=diff linux ubuntu debian apt cache apt-cacher-ng apt update apt upgrade apt-get Set Up and Ubuntu APT Cache The apt-cacher-ng looks to be a self container apt caching server. Basically the apt cacher stores all the relevant apt update and upgrade related files and and acts as a proxy server to multiple clients. A handy feature to improve speed and reduce Internet bandwidth where a virtual machine server is used with multiple clients. There is another package called apt-cacher but it depends upon th… text/html 2025-01-03T00:55:46+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:back-up_server_old&rev=1735865746&do=diff linux debian backup lvm filesystem server nfs mount showmount Back-up Server Old Setup This has been more difficult than I would have thought. I have used rsnapshot the past couple of years (2020-21), but have never really been happy with it for many reasons. The main reason is that it has never worked well, the rsync is reasonably fast, but the rsnapshot takes far too long. Other problems include; difficulties in set-up, and concerns will reliability. Recently I noticed that Debian no longer … text/html 2024-02-28T10:11:04+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:index&rev=1709115064&do=diff Home Server Index Home Server Other Index some CLI tools: * homebrew actual runs on Linux as package manager * fuzzy finder - fzf Prev Start page Next text/html 2025-09-29T05:35:59+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:misc&rev=1759124159&do=diff linux dmesg command systemd journal journalctl tzdata timezone apt upgrade update install remove crontab man apropos tldr ip tc systemctl journalctl pbcopy pbpaste copy paste Commonly used commands and scripts dmesg sudo dmesg lists the OS boot messages between grub and os up. sudo dmesg --level=emerg,alert,crit,err,warn,notice,debug give a more succinct list of focus potential problem issues. * emerg - system is unusable text/html 2023-12-26T03:44:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.kptree.net/doku.php?id=home_server:home_server_setup:other_services:webmin&rev=1703562259&do=diff linux debian webmin Webmin I don't bother to use Webmin, it has been well over a year since I tried to use. Old, tl;dr; I am a bit lazy sometimes and use Webmin to help setup certain services, e.g. Samba. Webmin is a web interfaced system administration system for Linux and has lots of plugins for various Linux apps/packages. Webmin has its own mini webserver built in. There are lots of web page discussing Webmin, how to install and use, e.g.