• A local computer to get set up. This tutorial is based on Windows, but if you're using a Mac or other system, that would work too,

• A little computer knowledge - you know how to use a mouse and keyboard and can find your way around your local computer,

• Time, patience and a bit of perseverance. Also you need to own a domain.

Sign up with a preferred cloud service. As of this writing, only Google Workspace Enterprise and Dropbox Business offer unlimited storage.

Upload your media

While you are getting ready to set up your server, you might as well upload a few movies/TV shows to your cloud service. There are various tutorials on how to prepare your media for usage with Plex, Emby or Jellyfin. It is also assumed that you know how to upload files to your cloud service, so neither subject will be covered in this tutorial.

The heart of everything is Rclone. It will be installed and configured during the setup. This tutorial does not cover advanced topics such as data encryption. If this is a concern, you will be able to find numerous sources on the web that explain the ins and outs on how to enable encryption using Rclone.

You can install OmniStream on any Linux machine, from a computer in house to an external dedicated server or even on a VPS. The latter two usually offer various preselected Linux distros out of the box.

These are the minimum specs you will need in order to stream HD content comfortably:

• 4 CPU cores

• 16GB of Ram

• 80GB disk space

If you want to use your VPS to copy or sync files between your server and your cloud service, you'd want to make sure that you have a fast Internet connection, unlimited bandwidth and generous rules on network usage.

This tutorial is based on the 64bit version of Debian 10 or newer.

If in your enthusiasm you already picked a distro when you signed up for a VPS, fret not... Most providers allow you to easily rebuild your server. If you host your server at home, it is assumed that you know how to install Linux on it and how to configure your router.

You are free to pick any other distro, but in that case, you probably won’t need this tutorial. Which is our polite way of saying "it'll probably work, but you'll be entirely on your own in getting there" 😊

For our setup we need FUSE. Many budget VPS services do not enable this by default, but will do so on request. You will need to open a ticket and submit a request so that your new provider enables FUSE for you.

You are almost ready to begin your Linux adventures. Unless you host your media server at home, you will need a terminal emulator to connect to your server. The most widely used application is PuTTY. You can download it here: putty.org.

You will need to install it on your local computer, so pick the package that is most suitable for your system.

We'll explain how to use the terminal throughout this tutorial.

Start PuTTY - you’ll see the configuration screen. Enter the IP address your VPS provider supplied you with, enter a descriptive name underneath Saved Sessions and click Save. Leave Port 22 as it is.

PuTTY will now remember your credentials for next time, always handy!

Next, click Open (2nd button from the bottom right). You'll probably get a very scary warning about a potential security breach. Don't panic, it is okay, that always happens the first time you access your VPS from a new location. You can safely click YES.

The first time you login, you need to use the password your VPS provider gave you. In most cases, you can find it in the control panel your new host provided you with.

Now, if you wish you can copy (Ctrl-C) that password so you won't have to type it out.

Then go back to your black PuTTY terminal. Behind "login as" you need to type:

root

Press the Enter key.

It will ask you for your password. Do not enter Ctrl-V! Resist that temptation - it won't work. Don't say you weren't warned... just... you know... don't.

Instead, right click with your mouse button inside the terminal. But... nothing happened? Yes, your password that you copied before was pasted invisibly. Press the Enter key and if all goes well, you'll be presented with a screen similar to the screenshot shown.

Admire that splash of green in an otherwise black and white world... that is your cursor.