Update – Monday 26th December 2011.
Being a long term Logitech Squeezebox owner, I’m pleased to see that they have now incorperated a DNLA Server into their software and renamed it “Logitech Media Server“. I now no longer use Twonkyserver as the above software now serves my needs.
However, I’m keeping the instructions below so that other people can configure Twonkyserver on Linux.
Before we begin.
This is a commercial product, you will have to buy a license, however IMHO, it’s well worth the asking price, as it vastly outperforms the opensource products like Fuppes and MediaTomb with much better stability, and much lower runtime resources. There is a free trial, so you can evaluate it’s performance before you buy.
First thing you need to do is download twonkyserver to your machine.
wget http://www.twonky.com/upfiles/twonkymedia-i386-glibc-2.2.5-6.0.23.sh
Next we have to install it as root
chmod 744 twonkymedia-i386-glibc-2.2.5-6.0.23.sh
sudo ./twonkymedia-i386-glibc-2.2.5-6.0.23.sh
Set up the appropopriate multicast address to broadcast your files on your network.
sudo route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0
Of course, the above will only be in your routing table until the next time you reboot your server. So a better solution is to append the following file.
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
Add the following to the bottom of the file (append to the bottom of your network settings, usually eth0 if you only have one network card.
# Adding a multicast static route for Twonkymedia Server up route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0 down route del -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0
Starting Twonkyserver at boot using upstart or Debian runlevels
We need to start twonkyserver on the default runlevels. I’m including two ways of doing this. One specifically for Ubuntu 10.04 onwards using upstart and another for a default Debian install.
Ubuntu 10.04 runlevels using Upstart
Stop tonkyserver running.
sudo /etc/init.d/twonkyserver stop
Delete the installed twonkyserver startup script.
sudo rm /etc/init.d/twonkyserver
Create an upstart startup file called twonkyserver.conf in directory /etc/init/
sudo nano /etc/init/twonkyserver.conf
Copy and paste the following code snippet.
# Mostly Raymond Day's work, thanks for the suggestion. # If your going to run Twonkyserver as a daemon, # append the -D to the command line at the bottom. # Not currently running as a daemon to support # transcoding. The default is with a -D so feel # free to add it if you don't intend to use # transcoding. description "TonkyMedia UPnP Server" start on (local-filesystems and net-device-up IFACE!=lo) stop on runlevel [!2345] exec /usr/local/twonkymedia/twonkymediaserver
Create a symbolic link in the init.d directory to start the upstart job on reboot.
sudo ln -s /lib/init/upstart-job /etc/init.d/twonkyserver
Now to Test.
Start twonkyserver from the command line.
sudo start twonkyserver
You should get a message similar to the following.
twonkyserver start/running, process 1258
If you need to stop twonkyserver, you type the following.
sudo stop twonkyserver
At this point, it may be worth rebooting your linux server to ensure that twonkyserver comes up correctly. After you’ve done so, you can check to make sure that twonkyserver is running by typing the following.
sudo status twonkyserver
If all is well, it should come back with the message
twonkyserver start/running, process 1699
All done, you of course will most likely have a different process id 
Debian default runlevels
sudo update-rc.d twonkyserver defaults 99 20
Setting up Transcoding
Info: If you are running Ubuntu 10.04 or later, and have created an upstart script using the instructions above. In the instructions below, you will ask to restart twonkyserver a couple of time. To do this using the upstart script type.
sudo restart twonkyserver
This isn’t really needed if you only have mp3′s and a media player that supports mpeg4 (the new PS3 slim for example), if however, you have flac music files and mvk video files for instance, then you will need to transcode (change there format) on the fly.
The default install of twonkymedia only supports transcoding of the jpeg photo format by default (see screen shot below).
Enabling Video Transcoding
Install ffmpeg:
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-unstripped-52 \ libavdevice-unstripped-52 libavformat-unstripped-52 \ libavutil-unstripped-49 libpostproc-unstripped-51 \ libswscale-unstripped-0 ffmpeg
Note: Installing the unstripped libraries as in the above step insures that MKVs will transcode, otherwise the transcode will fail because mpeg2video will be missing. If while running that last command the install fails because of a missing package, do an apt-cache search libavcodec (replace libavcodec with whatever package it says is missing – this way you can see if perhaps you need *-unstripped-52 rather that 51, etc).
Open /usr/local/twonkymedia/cgi-bin/ffmpeg.location in your editor and replace c:/ffmpeg with /usr/bin
sudo nano /usr/local/twonkymedia/cgi-bin/ffmpeg.location
It is necessary to run the mediaserver in the foreground for transcoding to work properly. If you are using the supplied Twonky startup script, you need to remove the -D from the line around line 91 that reads “$TWONKYSRV -D”
Edit the startup script:
sudo nano /etc/init.d/twonkyserver
Restart twonkyserver.
sudo /etc/init.d/twonkyserver restart
Now when you go to the transcoding page of your twonkyserver, you should see the following.
More on MKV Files
For MKVs to transcode, you need to place a .desc file in twonkymedia’s cgi-bin folder.
Create the file /usr/local/twonkymedia/cgi-bin/ffmpeg-mkv-mpeg.desc
sudo touch /usr/local/twonkymedia/cgi-bin/ffmpeg-mkv-mpeg.desc
Set the new file’s permissions to 644.
chmod 644 /usr/local/twonkymedia/cgi-bin/ffmpeg-mkv-mpeg.desc
Inside the file, paste the following:
exec: ffmpeg -threads 2 -i $infile -vcodec mpeg2video -sameq -acodec copy -f vob -copyts -y $outfile # capabilities from=video/x-matroska to=video/mpeg synchronous priority=idle
On the transcoding page in the web interface, make sure mpeg2 is checked.
Restart the twonkyserver
sudo /etc/init.d/twonkyserver restart
References:
Sheevaplug Wiki
Sheevaplug/GuruPlug at Twonkyforum
Transcoding Twonky
DBSTalk.com
Getting started – Using upstart
Great post. Works like a charm now. Next stuggle is now the subtitles.
THX, works almost perfect (64Bit issue), if anyone will use this Tutorial, on a 64bit Server you also have to install 32Bit Librarys (“sudo apt-get install ia32-libs”) – if you don’T you’ll get a start error “-bash: **** twonkymedia: No such file or directory”
Thanks for the additional information
hi, i followed your instructions on my ubuntu server 10.04 – 64bit, but the boxes are still grey. (32bit libs are installed)
what can i do ? any ideas?
thanks
adi
If I have time tomorrow, I’ll go through my instructions on a VM (Virtual Machine) and see if there is anything missing. Unfortunately I don’t have a 64bit PC to test the instructions on. If I think of anything, I’ll get back to you.
Followed the instructions on a VirtualBox VM this morning and everything seems to work fine for a 32bit processor. Sorry Adi, I don’t have the hardware to diagnose your problem. But if you managed to find a solution then please let me know and I’ll update the instuctions for the next person.
Regards,
Billy
hi,
sorry – during installation of the ffmpeg, it get the wrong permissions. after adaptation it works.
thanks!!!!
Thx for this documentation, very easy to follow.
In the ‘More on MKV files’ part, there seems to be a typo in the command for creating the file, it should read ‘mkv’ instead of ‘mvk’, i.e.
sudo touch /usr/local/twonkymedia/cgi-bin/ffmpeg-mkv-mpeg.desc
Thanks for spotting that, just changed it
I’ve running a TwonkyServer on Ubuntu 10.10 for a while.
But I’ve got a problem with transcoding.
The TwonkyServer is so stupid that he transcodes all mkv files in a directory although I just want to view one file.
That’s really kind of pissing me off.
But the worst thing is that I can’t view my MKV files because everytime I try to view a MKV file my XBOX says Connection problems.
All the other files are working fine.
A few weeks ago I got it working even though I don’t really know how but then I reinstalled Ubuntu and now I don’t know how to get it working.
Thats my desc file for MKV to WMV Transcoding:
ffmpeg-mkv-wmv.desc
# transcode video (mkv to wmv)
exec: ffmpeg -i $infile -vcodec wmv2 -acodec wmav2 -ab 192k -ac 2 -sameq -y $outfile
# capabilities
from=video/x-matroska
to=video/x-ms-wmv
synchronous
priority=idle
Hi Stefan,
I don’t have an XBox so although my config works with my PS3, it may not work with your XBox. Saying that, if I think of something I’ll let you know.
Regards,
Billy
yeah but i know that its possible and it worked a while ago.
But another question do you have the same problem that twonky converts all mkv files in a directory.
In the same boat. I just want TwonkyMedia to transcode files on the fly for me.
Not transcode all files in a folder, since that would take up an sick amount of space. 
Is the DESC config file structure documented anywhere?
Btw, great writeup!
Stefan & Wing Wong
If I have a bit of time this week, I’ll look into the mkv issue and post any extra information I can find. All dependent on work and family life of course
Awesome write-up! This is the first one that was comprehensive enough to actually get twonky to transcode successfully. Of course once it started I quickly realized two things to my horror.
1) Twonky transcodes everything ahead of time instead of on the fly
2) It doesn’t give you any quality options or the ability to tell it where to dump the massive files once they’re done!
I was able to hunt down the directory it was using in my var partition and create a symlink to a folder that was actually within my storage array which took care of the space issue but since it doesn’t give me any quality options it looks like it’s going to try to transcode my entire 2TB movie/TV show collection at same quality, taking up another 2TB. I guess it’s back to Google to try to find a solution that actually transcodes on the fly in Linux, but so far the offerings have been pretty sparse
do we need license for ubuntu -twonky ?
Yes you need to buy a licence for Twonky Server, Ubuntu of course if free.
Here is what you need to auto start Twonky Server on Ubuntu.
# TwonkyMediaServer
#
# TwonkyMedia UPnP server
description “TwonkyMedia UPnP server”
start on runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]
exec /usr/local/twonkymedia/twonkymediaserver
That last post I did is were he says “Edit the startup script:
sudo nano /etc/init.d/twonkyserver”
Just put what I put in the last post beside what I typed in the startup script.
Thanks Raymond,
I’ll add the above to the instructions next week time permitting. Thanks for that, much appreciated, if you think of anything else please comment again.
Cheers,
Billy
Not sure yet but I think that start up will not let it restart. But it does boot up with it started.
How to fully uninstall on ubuntu?
Stop the running process.
1) sudo stop twonkyserver
2) Remove the startup script and the symbolic link.
sudo rm /etc/init/twonkyserver.conf /etc/init.d/twonkyserver
3) Delete the executable
sudo rm -r /usr/local/twonkymedia
Hej.
I have a server with one Wan and two Lan interface, One for Parent and One for the Childrin, the Childrien Lan is closing in the Night hour, I whant my Media server to run on both Lan interface, is it enof to do like this:
sudo route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth1
sudo route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth2
up route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth1
up route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth2
down route del -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth1
down route del -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth2
or is ´ther more to do.
Svenn,
I don’t see any reason that shouldn’t work, I’ve not got a VM set up, so I can’t test at the moment. If it doesn’t work, then let me know and I’ll have a look into it. Time permitting.
Thanks for the write-up. I found it really easy to follow but I’m stuck at the point of trying to display the twonkyserver transcoding page options. What do I have to up into the address bar?
Hi Martin
Its usually the IP address of your twonkyserver followed by the port number (usually 9000), for example, my twonkyserver has an IP of 192.168.1.15, so to get access to the twonky setup page, I would put the following into the browsers address bar.
http://192.168.1.15:9000
Hope that helps,
Billy
Got it. Thanks Billy.
Just a quick comment. You only need to check the MPEG2 box if you want twonky to transcode everything in the background. This is only needed if you have limited processing capability and you don’t mind giving up the space! If you don’t check this box then twonky will transcode everything on-the-fly or real time. It will also cache it in a smaller cache so if you play it again it will not need to transcode it. In 7.x releases, the background transcoding had been removed completely!