Install transmission

sudo apt-get install transmission-cli transmission-common transmission-daemon

Configure

transmission-daemon will start automatically each time you start your server, with the settings defined in /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json

Make sure the Transmission daemon is not running when changing the config file otherwise your changes will be over written.

sudo systemctl stop transmission-daemon

Now we need to change a few settings.

sudo nano /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json

Username and Password

The default rpc-username and password is “transmission”

Change the default user name and password under rpc-username and rpc password change it to whatever you want (any password will work).

"rpc-password": "{62b16db87b89a91dd49a5110a7cafc06d20eb4f2wtK6kqPj",
"rpc-username": "transmission",

Whitelist

This must be changed for remote access

rpc-whitelist defines access to transmission. Localhost (127.0.0.1) is defined by default. We need to add,192.268.*.* to allow any machine on my LAN access.

"rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1,192.168.*.*",

You will also have to set the “umask” parameter in Transmission’s settings file to “2” (default is 18) for the account user to have full access to files/folders created by Transmission.

"umask": 2,

Default File Directory

By default transmission stores the torrents to the following path

/var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/

Here I changed the following lines

"download-dir': "/media/server/downloads"
"incomplete-dir": "media/server/downloads"

Configure Users and Permissions

I change that but first, we also need to set up the necessary permissions to transmission. Add user to the “debian-transmission” group, for the following command don’t forget to change the $user to your user.

sudo usermod -a -G debian-transmission $user

change the folder ownership

sudo chgrp debian-transmission /media/server 

grant write access to the group

sudo chmod 770 /media/server

It is recommended that Transmission runs under it’s own username for security reasons.

Transmission Restart

After configuration change, restart transmission

 sudo systemctl start transmission-daemon 

Bash Aliases

Create shortcuts add the following bash aliases to /home/user/.bash_aliases

sudo nano /home/user/.bash_aliases

alias t-start='sudo service transmission-daemon start'
alias t-stop='sudo service transmission-daemon stop'
alias t-reload='sudo service transmission-daemon reload'
alias t-list='transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -l'
alias t-basicstats='transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -st'
alias t-fullstats='transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -si'

source /home/user/.bash_aliases

Example

user@SVR:~$ t-list

will run

transmission-remote -n ‘transmission:transmission’ -l

Web Interface

With your browser you can now add torrents, download and seed. You can also configure many transmission settings.

http://server-ip:9091

Port Forward

There are many options but one of the more important one’s is port forwarding

Check your ports are open

Edit

Port Forward

If you port says “closed” you will need to configure your internet router to forward the correct port to your Transmission server/client. Google “How to port forward”

If you don’t use “Port Forward” another option is “UPnP”. Once again this depends on you internet router setup.

Command Line Interface

With a headless server full control of Transmission requires CLI

Transmission Create

Create a torrent file with transmission CLI. Torrent files can be generated from either a single file or directories. The example below is a directory example

transmission-create -o /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/files.torrent -c "My comments" -t udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80 -t udp://open.demonii.com:1337 -t udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969 -t udp://tracker.leechers-paradise.org:6969 ~/torrent/complete/

-o /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/files.torrent

New torrent name and where to store the torrent

-c “My comments”

Any comments to be attached to the file

-t udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80

-t udp://open.demonii.com:1337

-t udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969

-t udp://tracker.leechers-paradise.org:6969

Trackers for the torrents, more than one tracker is recommended in case one or more goes down.

~/torrent/complete/

Directory to be made into a torrent. If a single file is required use this format “/var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/MyFile.txt”

For more information about “transmission-create”

transmission-create -h

Add a Torrent

To add a torrent to the daemon, use this command:

transmission-remote -a [path to file].torrent

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -a /var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads/files.torrent

Torrent Information

Display information about torrent’s being downloaded

Help information

transmission-remote -h

List all torrents

Note Authentication is required

transmission-remote -n ‘username:password’ -l

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -l

Basic Stats All Torrents

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -st

Full Stats All Torrents

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -si

Torrent #3 Full Stats

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -t 3 -f

Torrent #3 Summary Stats

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -t 3 -i

Transmission Control

Start all torrents

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -s

Stop all torrents

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -S

Start a specific torrent

transmission-remote -s [hash]

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -s -t 3

Stop a specific torrent

transmission-remote -S [hash]

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -S -t 3

Remove all torrents

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -r

Remove a specific torrent

transmission-remote -r [hash]

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -r -t 3

Get hashes for all torrents

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -i

Quit the daemon

transmission-remote -n 'transmission:transmission' -q