Smuxi Server

The Smuxi server (smuxi-server.exe) is a remote engine for a Smuxi frontend. Multiple Smuxi frontends can connect and be kept in sync, and when none are connected, keeps track and stays connected to chat services.

First connect or go to the system/server were you want to run the smuxi-server. It should be a system that is always connected to the internet and is never powered off. Usually SSH (or VNC for Windows) or your feet will do this job for you.

Configure smuxi-server

Before you can start and use the smuxi-server you need to configure a username and password. This is the only way the smuxi-server can tell that you are allowed to use this smuxi-server so pick something nobody else knows. The username is not seen anywhere outside of the smuxi-server itself, it has nothing to do with the IRC nickname or whatever.

To add the user and set the password run the following command from a shell/cmd and replace $myuser and $mypassword with appropriate values:

smuxi-server --add-user --username=$myuser --password=$mypassword

The smuxi-server should confirm the successful creation like this:

User "$myuser" successfully added to server.

If you need to make changes later to that username or password, make sure the smuxi-server is not running at that time. Otherwise the changes will be lost when the running smuxi-server instance stops!

Now you can go ahead and start your smuxi-server.

Start/Stop smuxi-server

Starting the smuxi-server is very simple, just run this command in a shell/cmd:

smuxi-server

If you want the smuxi-server to automatically start in the background when your system boots, continue reading the following sections. This is highly dependent of your operating system as each system provides its own way to auto start services.

To gracefully stop the running smuxi-server you can use a connected Smuxi frontend and simply issue the /shutdown command.

If you don't have a frontend handy right now, you can kill the smuxi-server process using kill on *nix , the Task Manager on Windows and the like.

Debian

Ubuntu

Other Linux

To always start the smuxi-server automatically when the Linux server boots, add this to your /etc/rc.local file:

sudo -u your_linux_user bash -c 'nohup smuxi-server > $HOME/smuxi-server.log &'

Mac OS X

Windows

There are a number of ways to configure Smuxi-server to run at startup on Windows. For instance, you could simply add a shortcut to C:\Program Files (x86)\Smuxi\smuxi-server.exe to your Startup directory. However, this is less than ideal because it leaves blank command-line window open on your desktop as long as the server is running. The best way to avoid this is to set up Smuxi to run as a Windows service.

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not provide a bult-in way to turn any executable into a Windows service. To get around this, you must use a separate program such as NSSM to turn a non-service executable into a service. This guide assumes you will be using NSSM, but there are other options available.

Before configuring smuxi-server to run as a service, you should configure the server with whatever users you want, as described above.

Configuring smuxi-server to run as a Windows service using NSSM:

• Download NSSM from the NSSM download page.
• Extract the appropriate executable for your version of Windows (i.e. 32 or 64-bit) to somewhere you'll be able to find it, such as Desktop.
• Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory to which you extracted the NSSM executable (e.g. %USERPROFILE%\Desktop)
• Type nssm install "Smuxi Engine". You may see a prompt asking you whether you want to allow the program to make changes to your computer. If you do, click Yes.
• The NSSM installation window will open. There are several options you must specify:
  • In the Application tab, enter the path to smuxi-server.exe in the Path field. By default, this is C:\Program Files\Smuxi\smuxi-server.exe (on a 32-bit system) or C:\Program Files (x86)\Smuxi\smuxi-server.exe (on a 64-bit system.) Leave the Arguments field blank.
  • In the Details tab, enter a name for the service (such as "Smuxi Engine") and description in the Display name and Description fields. Make sure the startup type is set to Automatic.
  • In the Log on tab, choose This account and enter your Windows username and password in the appropriate fields.
• Click "Install Service." You will get a pop-up informing you that the service installed correctly.
• Open the Windows service manager. On Windows Vista and later, this can be found by searching "Services" in the Start menu.
• Scroll down to "Smuxi Engine" (or whatever you entered in the Display name field). Select it and click Start.

Congratulations! Smuxi is now configured to run silently, in the background, when you start Windows. If you ever wish to stop the Smuxi engine (to add more users, for instance) you can do so from the same Windows services manager you started it from.

Connect frontend to smuxi-server

Tell the frontend to connect to the remote engine by using "Engine -> Add Remote Engine" from the frontend's menu. After that quit the frontend and it should ask you if you want to start a or connect to the newly added remote one.