HSBB Unifi users! Sharing is caring!

2010-06-20 00:05:41
Lets go back a little down in memory lane. Remember when we first got our Streamyx 384kbps (^^") LOL, that was quite a while back and it's like having and EDGE phone nowadays. That amazing feeling i had that really struck me was the fact that we evolve from dial-up to 24 hours always online broadband, where you need not have to worry about long dial-up time phone bills anymore. My first download and i recall clearly was downloading CSI through iMesh.

When Unifi first came out 1st phase at TTDI, i was excited as a little boy waiting for christmas. It wasn't the same feeling i had when i first got my Streamyx, but the change in lifestyle use of internet was definitely drastic. Having 20mbit uplink changes everything. (Of course the 20mbit download speeds up most of the things too).



A few examples: I sync & backup more stuff to the cloud now, i no longer store my downloaded programs like i use to, i download only h.264 720/1080p movies only, i dont download porn anymore; but STREAM porn now (^^") on demand! These are the kind of changes i meant. Different lifestyle usage of the internet.

Another new way of our interconnected life i discover after HSBB Unifi was that i now remote desktop to my home more frequently and i finally understood and vision the future of cloud computing. Ok enough memory lane and the wonders of HSBB Unifi. Let's get back to my title of this article. Sharing is Caring!

As a Unifi user, we should share, because Sharing is Caring. What i'm teaching you today is how to share using a simple and sophisticated really good freeware program i found called HFS (Http File Server). HFS is a very simple HTTP server that does a very good job on one thing, SHARE! It has a really good built in and highly customizable file directory listing system that integrates with its web server running on your pc. The best of all its a single file hfs.exe without any dependencies like the shitty missing .NET framework error you get from those shitty .NET programs out there.

Before you can properly use HFS,  there are few things you must do beforehand. Basing on a perspective of a Unifi customer, or any home network setup for that matter, we are confined by the internal subnetwork assigned by your router. This means that you are actually not part of the "Internet" so to say but you are a part of your "Home Network". Your router is part of the "Internet" and its sharing its "Internet" with you people in the house. So here is what you have to do:

Setting up DMZ

  1. Connect through Wifi or LAN to your D-Link N Router (DIR-615).

  2. Using Internet Explorer 8 type in http://192.168.0.1 and login using admin/<password> (The reason im recommending IE because this aint a website, its a admin panel & IT SHOULD by standards work with IE. I had incident where the AJAX or Javascript went nuts with Firefox and Chrome)

  3. Click on ADVANCED -> Firewall & DMZ

  4. Follow as screenshot but replace the IP with your internal IP. To get internal IP Windows XP: On bottom right tray bar, a blink blink flashy computer screen icon, double click -> Status tab. Look for your IP it should start with 192.168.0.XXX. Windows Vista/7: OMG Figure it out your selves, so complex.

  5. Save Settings.


What this does is that it puts your computer with that internal IP in the De-Militarize-Zone (DMZ) which means that whatever traffic from the internet world your router gets right now will be re-directed to you and vice versa. In this case you are actually part of the "Internet" now. To get your internet public IP, and the easiest way that i've been doing for years is to go to http://ipchicken.com (Kevin Rose taught me this on TechTV) or if you can't remember chicken then just go http://whatismyip.com

Once steps above are completed, and you are now part of the "Internet" HFS and other apps that requires direct peer connection would work flawlessly without any hassle of port forwarding etc. (which is another complex settings in the router which i dont want to get into, DMZ works best for me)

Setting up free Dynamic DNS Domain

What is this for? Since Unifi provides a dynamic IP to you every time you get connected, there is no way for you to update your friends of your latest public IP, because of this problem, therefore mankind has created a dynamic domain system built in the router. This means that you only need to remember one domain name, and it will automatically translate to your router's IP address. Here's how you configure it.

  1. Get your self an account at http://www.dyndns.com/

  2. Login and then click on My Account -> Add Host Service
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  3. Pick a hostname i.e. arsyan.dyndns.org

  4. Click on the link that auto fills the field with your current IP (This ip will change once you configure your router to auto update Dyndns if you had a change of IP) Once you're done picking your hostname and domain, click Add To Cart. Dont worry it will charge you $0.00 for the available "sohai" domains.

  5. Now go back to your router admin window http://192.168.0.1 and click on Maintenance -> DDNS Setting (on the left column) -> Enter your Dyndns username password and hostname & domain name you've chosen.

  6. Test (If successful) then Save Settings. DONE.


Congratulations! Now that you successfully completed the 2 hardest part, now i only need to show you how to use HFS, if you already know how to, then you can skip the next part and enjoy your HFS with your fellow Unifi users (^^)v.

Setting up HFS

  1. Download HFS (Http File Server)

  2. Extract it somewhere, since there's no installation i suggest you put it as standards at C:\Program Files\HFS\

  3. Execute it (Double Click on the file). Now the first thing you have to do is to check weather your HFS is working or not, sometimes due to "Special" & "Highly Secured" sohai firewall installed on your computer, it blocks you from even accessing your own port 80 which is the standard port for HTTP transfers.

  4. Open your favorite web browser, and type http://localhost or http://127.0.0.1 and see if you can see the HFS web interface loaded on your browser. If you can't that means there are some firewall programs in your computer that you need to disable, heck, disable windows default firewall program also if you have to!

  5. On the left column of HFS you'll see a Virtual File System, this is where all your shared folder should be listed down. Right click on the house icon -> Add folder from disk.

  6. Pick the folder you want to share your stuff, when prompted Real Folder or Virtual Folder, always pick Real Folder. I dont really know the difference but just follow what the Hint says :P

  7. You can also set a password for your HFS by right click home icon -> Set User/Pass. Then only certain people only can access your HFS. Like mine :) i only share if he/she shares his stash with me >:) email me if you want to trade arsyan at gmail.

  8. YOU'RE DONE! Now you can share your DDNS url http://arsyan.is-a-geek.com (whatever domain you chose) with your friends and they can download stuff of you.


Please ask me questions in comments if you have any. Enjoy and remember, Sharing is Caring! (^^)v Hidup HSBB Unifi!