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I rented a virtual ubuntu server and am trying to setup a web application. I am working from ubuntu.

I know how to use the command line, but it is slow and as a visual person, I prefer graphical interfaces. So I connected with nautilus via ssh and was now able to browse the directories graphically. But my permissions are just those of "other", so I cannot do much without o+rwx.

What tools do you use to do setup and administrate your servers? Should I write code locally rather then directly on the server and rsync it?

EDIT: It is NOT a production server, I am simply fiddling around there.

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closed as not constructive by Zoredache, John Gardeniers, rnxrx, Michael Hampton, sysadmin1138 Oct 21 '12 at 2:25


You should no write code on your production servers! Setup a dev VM on your workstation or something. Learn how to use the command line if you are going to admin your own servers. Even Microsoft is going away from GUI-based administration. –  Zoredache Oct 19 '12 at 23:29
It is not a production server. I know how to use the command line. But I don't like editing text files with nano or vim. Also, what is wrong with my question? –  Konstantin Oct 19 '12 at 23:34
I would recommend working locally if you can. My low-powered laptop has no trouble running relatively bulky php + mysql + nginx web apps. Another thing to look at is fixing the way you're mounting that remote volume. Can you update the connection properties (or use sshfs directly for more control) so you're connecting as the user who CAN edit the files? (BTW, the learning curve is nothing to be ashamed of, but the command line can be much faster than GUIs with practice.) –  user6803 Oct 20 '12 at 0:31
You are probably right with your suggestion to work locally. I never really thought about this, but it makes sense. Also, you are spot on with your suggestion to connect with a different user. Thank you. –  Konstantin Oct 20 '12 at 0:34

2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I suggest you just samba share your Apache directory.

Install samba if its not installed

# sudo apt-get install samba

Edit the samba config file

# sudo pico /etc/samba/smb.conf

Put a new entry for www

read only=no

After saving the smb.conf restart the samba service

# sudo service smbd restart

Windows uses other password hash than UNIX so set a password

# sudo smbpasswd -a

Show the server ip

# ifconfig 

Then you gui browse from your workstation to the ubuntu server ip in Windows for example \\\www

If you need even more gui control than that you can take a look at Ajenti from ajenti.org

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Have you ever tried Webmin? It allows you to do many things the visual way!

File administration too!

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Thank you, that's a nice suggestion. –  Konstantin Oct 20 '12 at 12:18
