{"id":629,"date":"2012-01-22T12:08:46","date_gmt":"2012-01-22T12:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noi3.org\/site\/?p=629"},"modified":"2012-01-22T12:08:46","modified_gmt":"2012-01-22T12:08:46","slug":"install-dropbox-on-ubuntu-server-10-a-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.noi3.org\/?p=629","title":{"rendered":"Install Dropbox On Ubuntu Server (10 & 11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"Dropbox
\tThis post will help you install the Linux Dropbox client on your headless Ubuntu Server and link it up to your Dropbox account. Unlike the process of mounting an S3 bucket<\/a> we looked at before the Dropbox approach is a much better solution for sharing files. If you’re a daily Dropbox user you’ll quickly get hooked on the convenience of having your servers in the same file sharing loop as all your other Dropbox connected devices!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\"Dropbox<\/p>\n

\tDropbox FUSION Icon By Parthiban Mohanraj<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\tThis post will help you install the Linux Dropbox client on your headless Ubuntu Server and link it up to your Dropbox account. Unlike the process of mounting an S3 bucket<\/a> we looked at before the Dropbox approach is a much better solution for sharing files. If you’re a daily Dropbox user you’ll quickly get hooked on the convenience of having your servers in the same file sharing loop as all your other Dropbox connected devices!<\/p>\n

\tInstalling Dropbox<\/h4>\n

\tStart off by downloading the Linux version of Dropbox onto your server. These steps have been tested on Ubuntu Server 10.10 and 11.04.<\/p>\n

\tDownload the 32Bit Version<\/em><\/p>\n

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 wget<\/span> -O<\/span> dropbox.tar.gz "http:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/download\/?plat=lnx.x86"<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tDownload the 64Bit Version<\/em><\/p>\n
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 wget<\/span> -O<\/span> dropbox.tar.gz "http:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/download\/?plat=lnx.x86_64"<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tIf you unsure which version you need you can quickly check by running uname -a<\/em>.<\/p>\n
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 sudo<\/span> uname<\/span> -a<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tIf the uname output has an i686<\/em> at the end you need the 32Bit version and if it has x86_64<\/em> you want the 64Bit version.<\/p>\n
 \tWhen you extract the Dropbox archive it will automatically place its files in the home directory of the the user you’re logged in as under: ~\/.dropbox<\/em>. You can always move these files later but its something to keep in mind.<\/p>\n
 \tExtract the Dropbox archive<\/p>\n
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 tar<\/span> -xzvf<\/span> dropbox.tar.gz<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tLinking Your Server to Your Dropbox Account<\/h4>\n
 \tBefore you take the next step you’ll want to make sure your LANG environment variable<\/a> is set to a value other than NULL.<\/p>\n
 \tCheck the value of your LANG<\/em> environment variable<\/p>\n
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 printenv LANG     \/\/<\/span> outputs en_US.UTF-8<\/span> on my machine<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tTo connect the Dropbox client on your server to your Dropbox account you’ll need to copy the link it outputs into a browser window and then login to your Dropbox account.<\/p>\n
 \tRun dropboxd on your server<\/p>\n
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 ~\/<\/span>.dropbox-dist\/<\/span>dropboxd<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tIt will start outputting a link similar to this one every few seconds<\/p>\n
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 This client is not linked to any account... Please visit https:\/\/<\/span>www.dropbox.com\/<\/span>cli_link?host_id<\/span>=1c1497d78b543178b9349a7c1a8b087a&<\/span>cl<\/span>=en_US to link<\/span> this machine.<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tThe trick to a smooth link is to make sure you leave dropboxd running while you follow the link<\/strong>. You don’t need to access the link from the server you’re trying to install Dropbox on. You can copy and paste that link into a browser running on a separate machine and Dropbox will authorize the client running on your server.<\/p>\n
 \tOnce it succeeds you’ll see the message Client successfully linked, Welcome!<\/em> on your server and it will stop printing the authorization link.<\/p>\n
 \tHit ctrl c to terminate the process<\/p>\n
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 Client successfully linked, Welcome!<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tOnce the Dropbox client on your server is successfully linked it will automatically create a Dropbox folder under ~\/Dropbox for the user you’re logged in as. All your folders will be visible under the Dropbox folder but since the Dropbox service isn’t actually running on your server yet you you won’t be able to see the files inside these folders until the client is running and has a check to synchronize.<\/p>\n
 \tYou can manually start the service by running<\/p>\n
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 ~\/<\/span>.dropbox-dist\/<\/span>dropbox<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tHowever, a better option for controlling the Dropbox client is to setup an Ubuntu service management script for it.<\/p>\n
 \tStart Dropbox Automatically On Boot<\/h4>\n
 \tDropbox provides a handy little service management script that makes it easy to start, stop and check the status of the Dropbox client.<\/p>\n
 \tCreate a new file for the service management script<\/p>\n
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 sudo<\/span> vi<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>init.d\/<\/span>dropbox<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tPaste the following script into the new file<\/p>\n
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 #!\/bin\/sh<\/span> # dropbox service<\/span> # Replace with linux users you want to run Dropbox clients for<\/span> DROPBOX_USERS<\/span>="user1 user2"<\/span>   DAEMON<\/span>=.dropbox-dist\/<\/span>dropbox   start(<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>     echo<\/span> "Starting dropbox..."<\/span>     for<\/span> dbuser in<\/span> $DROPBOX_USERS<\/span>; do<\/span>         HOMEDIR<\/span>=`<\/span>getent<\/span> passwd<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> |<\/span> cut<\/span> -d: -f6`<\/span>         if<\/span> [<\/span> -x<\/span> $HOMEDIR<\/span>\/<\/span>$DAEMON<\/span> ]<\/span>; then<\/span>             HOME<\/span>="$HOMEDIR<\/span>"<\/span> start-stop-daemon -b<\/span> -o<\/span> -c<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> -S<\/span> -u<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> -x<\/span> $HOMEDIR<\/span>\/<\/span>$DAEMON<\/span>         fi<\/span>     done<\/span> }<\/span>   stop(<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>     echo<\/span> "Stopping dropbox..."<\/span>     for<\/span> dbuser in<\/span> $DROPBOX_USERS<\/span>; do<\/span>         HOMEDIR<\/span>=`<\/span>getent<\/span> passwd<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> |<\/span> cut<\/span> -d: -f6`<\/span>         if<\/span> [<\/span> -x<\/span> $HOMEDIR<\/span>\/<\/span>$DAEMON<\/span> ]<\/span>; then<\/span>             start-stop-daemon -o<\/span> -c<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> -K<\/span> -u<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> -x<\/span> $HOMEDIR<\/span>\/<\/span>$DAEMON<\/span>         fi<\/span>     done<\/span> }<\/span>   status(<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>     for<\/span> dbuser in<\/span> $DROPBOX_USERS<\/span>; do<\/span>         dbpid<\/span>=`<\/span>pgrep -u<\/span> $dbuser<\/span> dropbox`<\/span>         if<\/span> [<\/span> -z<\/span> $dbpid<\/span> ]<\/span> ; then<\/span>             echo<\/span> "dropboxd for USER $dbuser<\/span>: not running."<\/span>         else<\/span>             echo<\/span> "dropboxd for USER $dbuser<\/span>: running (pid $dbpid<\/span>)"<\/span>         fi<\/span>     done<\/span> }<\/span>   case<\/span> "$1"<\/span> in<\/span>       start)<\/span>         start         ;;<\/span>       stop)<\/span>         stop         ;;<\/span>       restart|<\/span>reload|<\/span>force-reload)<\/span>         stop         start         ;;<\/span>       status)<\/span>         status         ;;<\/span>       *<\/span>)<\/span>         echo<\/span> "Usage: \/etc\/init.d\/dropbox {start|stop|reload|force-reload|restart|status}"<\/span>         exit<\/span> 1<\/span>   esac<\/span>   exit<\/span> 0<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tMake sure you replace the value of DROPBOX_USERS<\/em> with a comma separated list of the linux users on your machine you want to run the Dropbox client to run for. Each user in the list should have a copy of the Dropbox files and folders that you extracted from the archive, available under their home directory.<\/p>\n
 \tMake sure the script is executable and add it to default system startup run levels<\/p>\n
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 sudo<\/span> chmod<\/span> +x \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>init.d\/<\/span>dropbox sudo<\/span> update-rc.d dropbox defaults<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tControl the Dropbox client like any other Ubuntu service<\/p>\n
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 sudo<\/span> service dropbox start|<\/span>stop|<\/span>reload|<\/span>force-reload|<\/span>restart|<\/span>status<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \t\"Dropbox \t<\/p>\n
 \t\tDropbox Delorean By Dropbox Artwork Team<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tDepending upon the number of files you have on Dropbox and the speed of your internet connection it may take some time for the Dropbox client to synchronize everything.<\/p>\n
 \tCheck Status with Dropbox CLI<\/h4>\n
 \tDropbox has a command line python script available separately to provide more functionality and details on the status of the Dropbox client.<\/p>\n
 \tDownload the dropbox.py script and adjust the file permissions<\/p>\n
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 wget<\/span> -O<\/span> ~\/<\/span>.dropbox\/<\/span>dropbox.py "http:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/download?dl=packages\/dropbox.py"<\/span> chmod<\/span> 755<\/span> ~\/<\/span>.dropbox\/<\/span>dropbox.py<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tYou can download the script anywhere you like, I’ve included it along with the rest of the Dropbox files.<\/p>\n
 \tNow you can easily check the status of the Dropbox client<\/p>\n
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 ~\/<\/span>.dropbox\/<\/span>dropbox.py status Downloading 125<\/span> files (<\/span>303.9<\/span> KB\/<\/span>sec, 1<\/span> hr left)<\/span><\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tGet a full list of CLI commands<\/p>\n
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 ~\/<\/span>.dropbox\/<\/span>dropbox.py help<\/span>   Note: use dropbox help<\/span> <<\/span>command<\/span>><\/span> to view usage for<\/span> a specific command.    status       get current status of the dropboxd  help<\/span>         provide help<\/span>  puburl       get public url of a file<\/span> in<\/span> your dropbox  stop         stop dropboxd  running      return<\/span> whether dropbox is running  start        start dropboxd  filestatus   get current sync<\/span> status of one or more<\/span> files  ls<\/span>           list directory contents with current sync<\/span> status  autostart    automatically start dropbox at login<\/span>  exclude      ignores\/<\/span>excludes a directory from syncing<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tUse the exclude<\/em> command to keep specific files or folders from syncing to your server<\/p>\n
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 ~\/<\/span>.dropbox\/<\/span>dropbox.py help<\/span> exclude   dropbox exclude [<\/span>list]<\/span> dropbox exclude add [<\/span>DIRECTORY]<\/span> [<\/span>DIRECTORY]<\/span> ... dropbox exclude remove [<\/span>DIRECTORY]<\/span> [<\/span>DIRECTORY]<\/span> ...   "list"<\/span> prints a list of directories currently excluded from syncing.   "add"<\/span> adds one or more<\/span> directories to the exclusion list, then<\/span> resynchronizes Dropbox.  "remove"<\/span> removes one or more<\/span> directories from the exclusion list, then<\/span> resynchronizes Dropbox. With no arguments, executes "list"<\/span>.  Any specified path must be within Dropbox.<\/pre>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
 \tOnce the Dropbox service is running and fully syncrhonized you can access all your Dropbox files and easily share files on your server with all your other Dropbox connected gadgets!<\/p>\n
 \tFor more resources and troubleshooting tips visit the Text Based Linux Install<\/a> page on the Dropbox wiki and the Dropbox forums<\/a>. Happy syncing!<\/p>\n
 \tMay 6, 2011 <\/a> 17 Comments<\/span><\/a> Short URL<\/a><\/div>\n
 \tcloud storage<\/a><\/div>\n
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