SABnzbd+ Install, Setup, & Configuration Guide for Ubuntu & Linux Mint!
Introduction
Welcome! This update should be fairly straight-forward as SABnzbd+ and its package on Ubuntu and Linux Mint are quite mature at this point. This guide will be written using Ubuntu’s now-stardard Unity shell interface for the GNOME desktop environment. This guide should also be almost one-hundred percent the same if you’re using Unity 2D instead. However, if you’re using Linux Mint’s latest and greatest release (or any other Ubuntu derivatives), you may need to adapt the guide a little bit in terms of how you navigate to any applications we use, and also you will need to replace the Ubuntu Software Center with Linux Mint’s Software Manager, or Synaptic, or whatever you prefer.
One more bit of house-keeping before we get into the good stuff. I have broken out much of my repetitive introductory information into a MetaGuide. If you’ve never read the MetaGuide, I strongly encourage you to take a few minutes now and give it a quick scan (if nothing else). Our guides at Ainer.org are fairly peculiar, and we’ve put down the details so you can get the most out of this content that we’ve provided. If you’ve already read it, awesome! You know what to expect below!
Anyway, with that aside lets move on to the topic at hand! SABnzbd+ is, simply put, a Usenet client. It allows access to Usenet in the same way that a Web Browser, such as Firefox, allows access to the World Wide Web, or as an email client (be it Web based, like Gmail, or installed directly onto your computer, like Thunderbird) allows access to your email servers.
Usenet is an old, old network that actually pre-dates the Web. However, like the Web it allows for the exchange of information over the Internet. Usenet however, uses a much less centralized method compared to the Web, as most of the content on Usenet is distributed across many, many different servers whereas any one website will likely only be hosted by a single server (or a single cluster of servers). As such, any content that’s hosted on Usenet can be accessed directly from your Usenet service provider of choice (Ainer.org recommends Supernews as the bang for your buck option, but Giganews is great too if you got a hole burning in your pocket or if you want complimentary access to bolt-on services like VyprVPN).
SABnzbd+ itself is focused on accessing binary content on Usenet (versus non-binary content, such as text based messages) courtesy of bookmark-like NZB files. SABnzbd+ is a highly robust and mature program and works wonderfully as the central hub for an incredibly automated and streamlined multi-media and home theater personal computer (HTPC) setup featuring Sick Beard, Couch Potato, Headphones or Spotify, and XBMC Media Center.
If you’re wondering how to read “SABnzbd+” as you’re going along, “SAB-nzb-daemon-plus” is probably pretty close to accurate. I personally use “SAB” or “SAB-newzbin” as an old habit as they’re a bit easier to spit out.
And with that, be sure to hit up the MetaGuide if you haven’t already, and lets get ready to install SABnzbd+! On the next page you’ll find the new Table of Contents and on Page 3 the Tutorial begins.
To install from the command line:
http://forums.sabnzbd.org/viewtopic.php?t=387&start=0
This will also trust the keys properly..
Hey Anonymous Coward,
Yeah that will work, but the keys should be trusted properly as outlined in my guide as well (and were in subsequent testing, I just ran into the bug once and wanted to note it, and an easy fix, in case others ran into the same hiccup ;) ).
The first two commands provided by JCFP can also be simplified greatly by using “sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jcfp/ppa”. Also, if you’re looking for a streamlined terminal option, I’d recommend checking out Mar2zz’s installation scripts (https://github.com/Mar2zz/LaSi).
He does a great job in this area, and it’s just not one I plan to focus on (as there are already tons of terminal based instructions out there).
Cheers!
Hey Anonymous Coward,
Yeah that will work, but the keys should be trusted properly as outlined in my guide as well (and were in subsequent testing, I just ran into the bug once and wanted to note it, and an easy fix, in case others ran into the same hiccup ;) ).
The first two commands provided by JCFP can also be simplified greatly by using “sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jcfp/ppa”. Also, if you’re looking for a streamlined terminal option, I’d recommend checking out Mar2zz’s installation scripts (https://github.com/Mar2zz/LaSi).
He does a great job in this area, and it’s just not one I plan to focus on (as there are already tons of terminal based instructions out there).
Cheers!
Hi,
Firstly, thanks for an amazingly well-explained tutorial.
I’ve installed sickbeard, sabnzbdplus, couchpotato and headphones almost as per your guide, but ran into a few problems that others may too:
1. JCFP’s ppa gave me GPG errors on command line in apt and some other error in the software manager. I’m running oneiric, so I tried to change the release in the ppa to ‘natty’ but that didn’t seem to help. Instead I removed JCFP’s ppa and installed from the default repository.
2. I’m running all these on my HTPC (HP Proliant Microserver, Nvidia Geforce 210, Ubuntu Oneiric) and want to connect to the services from my home network (laptop & tablet). All services are running on the ports I selected, but are only accessible from the same machine except for sickbeard. Running the command:
netstat -anltp | grep “LISTEN”
shows sickbeard is listening on 0.0.0.0 while the rest are on 127.0.0.1. According to the all-knowing Google, when a service listens on 127.0.0.1 it is only accessible from the same machine, so I have to edit the others’ config for 0.0.0.0 rather than the ‘localhost’ or 127.0.0.1 that I’d set them to.
Ciao,
Greg
Hey Greg,
You’re welcome for the guides!
1. I’m not quite sure what problem you’re running into here. I’ve noticed some bugs with adding PPA’s via the GUI but via add-apt-repository I’ve not had any issues. I’d suggest retrying via the above command and see if that fixes the issues (it should allow you to update SABnzbd+ if so).
2. I generally don’t cover anything more than single system setups. But you can change Couch Potato to 0.0.0.0 via the General tab via its web interface. Sick Beard can be configured by going into your .sickbeard folder and opening up the config.ini file and changing the web_host line (should be third one from the top).
Take care!
daemox
I think the Sabnzbd+ build is missing?? It fails to download
Hey Matt,
The PPA is up and hasn’t gone down anytime that I’ve seen. You may need to add the repository via the command line/terminal due to an annoying bug in Ubuntu.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jcfp/ppa
That should get you going.
Issue with sabnzbd+ I’m hoping you guys can help me with.
I’m running Ubuntu 11.04. Currently, I’m wanting SAB to connect through a VPN connection that I create using OpenVPN. When I connect to the VPN, I receive an IP address (assigned dynamically). I don’t have a problem manually specifying that IP address when I launch SAB (input as the –server command line argument at the terminal). When doing that, everything works fine and SAB performs as expected. However, this setup is part of a standalone media center PC (SAB->SickBeard->XBMC), so I’m trying to automate this setup as much as possible. For instance, I have a cron job that runs every few minutes to check and see if the VPN is down. If it is down, the cron job will reestablish the VPN, which means a new IP address, which means I have to manually specify it to SAB….and on and on if/when the VPN goes down.
I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to Linux networking stuff, so maybe you guys can help me out. Maybe there’s a solution to this problem in port forwarding or a dyndns type thing. I dunno, as I’ve said, I’m new at this and googling hasn’t yielded me any good answers yet.
Just wanted to report back that a combination of this : http://debian-bits-and-snips.blogspot.com/2011/12/openvpn-with-hide-my-ass.html
and this: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/k6bnt/any_suggestions_to_make_my_vpn_auto_reconnect_in/
should do the job.
Thanks for a great guide. I’m experienced in setting up SAB, but new to Ubuntu, and this really helped me out.
Hey, appreciate it Jason. Glad it worked out for you!
Hey Jason,
I was in a similar boat when I wrote my first guide. I wrote it just for my own reference, but people found it useful so I’ve been expanding (pretty much) ever since.
I don’t have as much time for this stuff right now, but definitely appreciate the feedback.
Take care!
Hi,
I would like to know if you can recommend any particular Motherboard and CPU that will be able to handle 1080P, SAB, SB, CP and Headphones without toomuch trouble?
im currently using an Asus F1A75-M PRO FM1 MOBO and AMD A8-3870 APU and have had nothing but problems with 1080p video. i keep getting a horizontal line running down the screen and i think it has something to do with the graphics as i only get it with 720p and upwards…
do you think getting a graphics card instead of using the onboard graphics could be a fix? or should i switch out the MOBO and APU for something that is more Ubuntu friendly?
thanks in advance
Hey Chris,
I have two options for you.
First one, is you can take a read through my recent hardware guide (update hopefully coming in the not too distant future as well): http://www.ainer.org/quarter-1-2012-home-theater-home-server-gaming-personal-computer-system-design-guide-suggestions
Second, is if you want a personalized suggestion I would be willing to do this for a “pay what you will” donation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_what_you_want)
I’ll send an email your way with more information if you’re interested.
Take care,
daemox