Seedbox Resume

A seedbox is a private server used for the uploading and downloading of digital files.

Seedboxes generally make use of the BitTorrent protocol for uploading and downloading and are usually connected to a high speed network, often with a throughput of 100 Mbit/s or even 1 Gbit/s. Some providers are testing and offering 10 Gbit/s shared servers, while others are developing other systems that will allow users to scale their needs.
Files are downloaded from the torrent site and its users, and from there they can be downloaded at high speeds to a user's personal computer via the HTTP, FTP, SFTP, or rsync protocols. This allows for anonymity and, usually, removes the need to worry about ratio. Seedboxes can run on most major operating systems (Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X). More expensive seedboxes may provide VNC connection, or remote desktop protocol on some Windows-based seedboxes, allowing many popular clients to be run remotely. Other seedboxes are special purpose and run a variety of torrent specific software including web interfaces of popular clients like Transmission, rTorrent, Deluge, and μTorrent, as well as the TorrentFlux web interface clients. Mobile interface support is also offered by clients such as Transmission.

Seedboxes on high speed networks are typically able to download large files within minutes, provided that the swarm can actually handle such a high upload bandwidth. Seedboxes generally have download and upload speeds of 100 Mbit/s. This means that a 1 GB file can finish downloading in under two minutes. That same 1 GB file can be uploaded to other users in the same amount of time, creating a 1:1 upload:download ratio for that individual file. Seedboxes' ability to transfer files so quickly makes them very attractive to the P2P and BitTorrent communities. Because of the mentioned high speeds, seedboxes tend to be popular inside private torrent trackers, where maintaining an upload/download ratio above 1 can be very important.

Seedboxes are also used to circumvent speed throttling by Internet service providers.

There are two types of seedbox:

1) Server, old PC, NAS connected box which is separate to a person's main PC and is connected to your own home connection. The advantage of this type of setup is that you can use your main PC for other things. The concept of a home seedbox is based on the amount of time you keep a torrent running

2) Rented server based in the datacentre of a hosting company. The advantage of this setup is that the datacentre will have an extremely fast connection to the internet. Generally your server will have a 100mbit (or increasingly these days a 1/10gbit connection). This guide is primarily focused on this type of seedbox which is known as a 'remote seedbox' (The concept of a remote seedbox is based on the amount of speed you can attain in terms of both upload and download)

Types of servers

These are primarily sold by companies to people hosting websites.

Shared Hosting: This is the most basic type of hosting used for websites. Normally you get access to a control panel and FTP access to upload your files. Some hosts also offer SSH access which gives you some more options. Generally you can only run php based bittorrent clients on these servers.

Dedicated server: The word 'dedicated' basically means that you get access to an entire server of your own. You have full access to the server OS and can install any programs you like.

Co-located server: Similar to a dedicated server except that instead of renting the actual server from a hosting company you buy your own and ship it the datacentre where they connect it to their network. You then pay for bandwidth/electricity/etc. We wouldn't recommend this type for a seedbox as the initial costs are high, bandwidth allowance on a co-located server is usually less & more expensive than dedicated (The reason for this is that most customers do not use all of their allowance with a dedicated server but colo customers do hence the bandwidth cost to the provider is higher for colo customers leading to higher pricing/less inclusive bandwidth) and it limits your options for upgrading.

Virtual Private Server: Commonly abbreviated to VPS/VDS (or semi-dedicated) - this is designed for people who need more than shared hosting but don't need/want to incur the cost of a full dedicated server. The hosting company will split a dedicated server into parts (virtual machines) using VMWare/Xen/etc. and sell each one to a different customer. i.e. if the original server has 1000GB of space and they split it into 10 equal parts each person will get 100GB disk space. The experience is usually very similar to using a dedicated server but with less resources and less cost.

Shared seedboxes/seedbox slices: In recent years as seedboxes have become more popular some companies have started selling servers designed for use as a seedbox rather than for webhosting.

- Some are just VPS's
- Some are VPS's with torrent/FTP/etc. clients already installed
- Some are just dedicated servers
- Some are just dedicated servers with torrent/FTP/etc. clients already installed
- Some only give you access to the torrent client's web UI and ftp download (i.e. you do not have direct access to the OS)

Cloud Hosting: One of the problems with Dedicated Servers/VPS is that you have fixed hardware (dedicated hardware can be upgraded but you will have downtime). A cloud server is basically a Virtual Machine except that it has redundancy and scalability. Redundancy - if the server your website is running on breaks down within seconds your Virtual Machine can be loaded and running on another server. Scalability - you can quickly and dynamically add Disk Space, RAM, CPU to your server good for fast-growing websites which need to upgrade often.

IP Addresses: Most providers offer more than 1 IP address. It can be useful to have more IP addresses if you want to run other services on the server to keep them separate from your torrent activities.

Getting torrent files onto the server:
1) Log into the website using a browser on the seedbox
2) Download at home and upload via FTP
3) Upload through a torrent client webui
4) Run some type of rss/auto-download script on the server or at home

Accessing the files: Ultimately you will want to get the files that you have seeded on the server from the server to your home PC.

The most common way of doing this is to install an FTP server on the seedbox and use an ftp client on your home PC.

Windows FTP servers: Filezilla Server, Serv-U
Linux FTP servers: VSFTPd, Proftpd, glftpd, Pure-FTPd

Windows FTP clients: FTPRush , FlashFXP, Filezilla client
Linux clients: Filezilla client, gFTP, KFTPGrabber, lftp
(You can also use something like SCP/WinSCP to download from a linux server using your SSH login details)

You may wish to use ftps (encrypted ftp).

You can also use this in reverse to transfer files from home to the seedbox.

Anti-virus: Most servers don't come with AV and most people don't install one.
Support: In terms of software/OS support most good hosts will give you some help but it isn't really their job unless you are paying for a managed server.

Hardware - they will replace failed hardware free of charge (unless it is a co-located server) on a 'best effort' basis i.e. when they have the time to do it.

Hosting Companies exist primarily for selling services for the use of webhosting - however these servers can be used for many other purposes as well such as torrenting. Generally these companies own datacentres or rent space inside one. For legal reasons they do not advertise themselves as seedbox provides but on the whole don't mind if you use them as a seedbox. In fact some companies have grown a lot thanks to people buying their products as seedboxes. If they receive a DMCA complaint about your server they will generally forward it to you and just ask you to delete the material in the notice.

Seedbox companies - these companies buy servers from the above companies and then resell them to the seedbox market. Features include pre-installed clients and guides for torrenting this makes them attractive for a first seedbox. However they may be less reliable than hosting companies.

Duration of Contract: Most hosts will have monthly/3-monthly contracts. Though you can usually get discounts/no setup fee by signing up for longer periods.

Once you don't want to use it anymore just give notice, pay anything due and it should stop working on the day the notice ends.