How to install Deluge (v2.0.x) headless on Ubuntu Server
Deluge is a great BitTorrent client that you can install on Ubuntu to allow you to share your favourite files with the rest of the BitTorrent community.
In the newer versions of Ubuntu, Deluge comes in two parts; the server (also called the daemon) and the user interface. This means you can install the Deluge daemon as a headless service and then control it from a remote machine. You can either control the daemon using the Deluge client itself (for example the Windows version of Deluge) or alternatively you can use your browser to control it. If you’ve not installed VNC and are running a purely headless setup then running Deluge headless is pretty much your only option! So, here’s how you install it:
At the time of writing Deluge version 2.0.3 is the most up to date release for Focal Fossa 20.04LTS
So, first off we need to create a new user called “deluge” and perform a couple more steps:
sudo adduser --disabled-password --system --home /var/lib/deluge --gecos "Deluge service" --group deluge
sudo touch /var/log/deluged.log
sudo touch /var/log/deluge-web.log
sudo chown deluge:deluge /var/log/deluge*
Install the Deluge Daemon
Next we’ll install the Deluge daemon itself:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install deluged
Next we’ll install the Web interface by typing:
sudo apt-get install deluge-web
Run the Deluge Daemon on startup
Now we’ve got the components installed we need to make everything run on start-up.
A note about the storing of configuration files
If you’re following my advice about storing configuration files separately then please note that with systemd scripts there has to be a copy stored directly on the Operating System partition. So, instead of linking to it we have to make a copy of it. That’s no big deal really since we’ll not need to edit the script once it’s created.
So, let’s create the first script we need by typing the following command:
sudo vim /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts/deluged.service
obviously substituting /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts with the location of your script files. This will create a file called deluged.service
Next, assuming you’re using Putty, highlight the following commands, right-click on them and select Copy
[Unit]
Description=Deluge Bittorrent Client Daemon
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=deluge
Group=deluge
UMask=000
ExecStart=/usr/bin/deluged -d
Restart=on-failure
# Configures the time to wait before service is stopped forcefully.
TimeoutStopSec=300
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.targetToggle back to the Putty Session and press the [Insert] key once and add a couple of blank lines by pressing the [Enter] key. Next right click and the lines we’ve just copied above will be pasted into the file.
Now press the [Esc] key once and type :wq to save and quit out of the script. If you make a mistake editing the file then issue :q! instead of :wq to abort your changes.
Now let’s copy it to the location required as part of systemd:
sudo cp /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts/deluged.service /etc/systemd/system/deluged.service
as above substitute /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts with the location of your script files.
Starting the deluge daemon:
Now let’s start the daemon and enable it so it launches on startup (by default it will not):
sudo systemctl start deluged
sudo systemctl enable deluged
If at any time you want to stop the deluge daemon then you can do so by issuing the following command:
sudo systemctl stop deluged
To check the status of the daemon use status instead of stop in the above command. The status should look something like this:
Create the Web start-up script
Now we need to create the script to launch the web user interface:
sudo vim /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts/deluge-web.service
as above, substitute /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts with the location of your script files. This will create a file called deluge-web.service
Next highlight the following commands, right-click on them and select Copy
[Unit]
Description=Deluge Bittorrent Client Web Interface
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=deluge
Group=deluge
UMask=027
ExecStart=/usr/bin/deluge-web -d
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.targetToggle back to the Putty Session and press the [Insert] key once and add a couple of blank lines by pressing the [Enter] key. Next right click and the lines we’ve just copied above will be pasted into the file.
Now press the [Esc] key once and type :wq to save and quit out of the script. If you make a mistake editing the file then issue :q! instead of :wq to abort your changes.
Now let’s copy it to the location required as part of systemd:
sudo cp /media/WD40EFRX/RAIDMain/MyScripts/deluge-web.service /etc/systemd/system/deluge-web.service
Starting the Web daemon:
Now let’s start the daemon and ensure it launches on startup (by default it will not):
sudo systemctl start deluge-web
sudo systemctl enable deluge-web
If at any time you want to stop the web daemon then you can do so by issuing the following command:
sudo systemctl stop deluge-web
To check the status of the daemon use status instead of stop in the above command.
Cross your fingers and restart the server by typing the following command:
sudo reboot -h now
Accessing Deluge via the web interface
You should now be able to access the Web front-end for Deluge by typing http://MyMediaserver:8112 into the address bar of your browser where MyMediaserver is the name you gave to your server when you installed Ubuntu. Alternatively the IP address of the server works just as well.
You should now be presented with the Deluge login-screen. Enter deluge for the password and you should then see a screen similar to this (Note: The version on Trusty looks slightly different to this). You’ll be prompted to change the password so feel free to do so if you wish:
Opening the correct ports on your router
In order to start downloading Torrents you need to open up some ports on your router. If you click on the Preferences icon (the screwdriver/spanner) on the Deluge web interface and select Network, the Incoming Ports (the From: and To: ports inclusively) are the ports you need to open on your router. You can obviously change these ports if you so wish, but make sure they match your router settings. Make sure you also uncheck the Use Random Ports option if you’re going to be opening a specific port range on your router.
NOTE: The above instructions are a summary of the excellent guide which can be found here: