Running a BitTorrent client from a web server is a good way for sites like Jamendo to seed the torrents that they offer on their sites. This is also an excellent opportunity for authors of Open-Source and Freeware applications to cut their bandwidth costs by sharing the bandwidth with the users who are downloading the software. If you run a BitTorent client from a server you are platform independent which means that you can access the client from every computer with Internet access - even from work or school to add new torrents to the queue, check the current downloads or administrate the client.
After outlining the main advantages of running web-based torrent client I would like to point out that there are also some disadvantages. If you happen to download "questionable" torrents they can be traced easily back to you. You rent the web server, you pay the bills and a simple whois can reveal your real name, address and phone number in a matter of seconds. The conclusion is that you can perfectly use it to distribute your own files (or share files with close friends) but should not consider downloading copyrighted files with it.
Back to the client that I'm going to introduce now. It is called Torrentflux and requires a *nix system, PHP, MySQL and Python 2.2 or higher. A version for Windows is also available for those who run a Windows server.
Torrentflux has many options that can be compared to the options of popular clients such as uTorrent or Azureus.
Installation for Torrentflux does not take long, just follow the following easy steps:
That is it. You successfully installed the bittorrent client on your web server.
Update: Torrentflux is no longer available. The original site is now redirecting to a torrent hosting site. We have removed the links as a result of this.
You can use the web interface of clients such as uTorrent as an alternative, even though it means that you will have to keep your home computer running for that.
Advertising revenue is falling fast across the Internet, and independently-run sites like Ghacks are hit hardest by it. The advertising model in its current form is coming to an end, and we have to find other ways to continue operating this site.
We are committed to keeping our content free and independent, which means no paywalls, no sponsored posts, no annoying ad formats (video ads) or subscription fees.
If you like our content, and would like to help, please consider making a contribution:
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
I was using TorrentFlux for a long time and it was very good tool (now I cant due to lack of bandwidth).
For me biggest advantage was that, I could download torrents to server, and then through ftp/http in place like my university, where torrents are blocked, but http works with 2-3MB/s (MB not mbit).
I’d checked torrentflux with couple of web hosting companies, but no one of them allowed to run it. So please let me know couple of TorrentFlux supported shared web hosting companies.