SEnuke X VPS Setup Guide

You are free to pick any VPS company you like, but you must ensure the VPS is a Windows one, most are Linux based and SEnuke X will not work on such a system.

Specification wise you are looking for RAM and CPU power. Now quite amazingly you don't need huge amounts of either to run SEnuke X, 1GB of ram on a 2Ghz CPU is enough for very Basic Nuking, however most people prefer a little more. Those of you who would like to run some major Nuking projects on your VPS would be better suited to pick a VPS with a little more ram tsuch as the 1.5GB or 2GB models. As a special service to all SEnuke X users I have negotiated some special offers for servers from 1GB - 4GB. The highest of the models comes with 4vCPU and 4GB RAM, i.e. it has similar performance to lower end dedicated servers for a fraction of the cost! These servers are only available from the SEnuke X VPS link. The VPS offered here are all based on Microsofts Hyper-V platform, and as such you are getting dedicated RAM and vCPU allocations. Most cheap VPS offerings use software virtualization and do not really offer dedicated RAM, rather it is shared amongst many users.

OK back to our VPS, if you have the resources I highly recomend you go with the Deluxe of higher package. The extra vCPU and RAM makes all the difference to the end experience. Current VPS specials are:

Value

1vCPU

1GB

$24

Deluxe

2vCPU

1.5GB

$34

Power

3vCPU

2GB

$40

Jumbo

4vCPU

4GB

$60

Well so many people asked me to pre-configure their servers for them that I have arranged with Accu Webhosting to do this for you.

If you order a VPS for SEnuke X direct from this link you will get it full configured with everything below. This includes:

• Security restriction of Server 2008 altered for X to work


• Windows Update set to notify only


• Microsoft Security Essentials installed for AV


• Internet Explorer 9 installed


• All Internet Explorer tweaks applied


• DropBox installed

SEnuke X will autoupdate the first time you run it with your login details. I still recomend you look through this guide, it will show you how to connect to your VPS and at the end there are a few Optional enhancements you can make which I have not included in the pre-configured installed.

Right now the pre-configured SEnuke X VPS is only on the Windows 64bit option, it is likely to stay that way as there really is no reason to use any other OS.

So remember you can ONLY get this if you use our special SEnuke X VPS link and tick the ;Yes, Install SEnukeX' option on the order form.

If you want the maximum power for SEnuke X then you need to have the minimum amount of programs installed on your VPS. Every program running will use up RAM, and thus be taking away performance from SEnuke X.

For the Deluxe VPS after you have agreed to the TOS you need to fill in a few details:

• Billing Cycle - You can get a slight discount if you order for longer periods of time, but most people just select monthly.


• Hostname - As we are only using this server for SEnuke X you can put anything you want here, as long as it follows valid domain name rules. For example 'vps.senuke-x.com', you do not need to buy a domain name. (If you do intend to use this server for hosting websites then you MUST use a domain name you own, you will also really need 2 IP address so the Opal package is not best suited to this)


• NS1 & NS2 - This relates to the above hostname, but again if you are not going to host websites on the server it is not important, for our example we will use ns1.senuke-x.com & ns2.senuke-x.com


• Root Password - MAKE IT SECURE!

Then:

• Backup Service - Optional, I don't use it.


• SEnukeX Installation - tick 'Yes'


• Operating System - All the specials now come with Server 2008 R2


• Additional IP Address - Not Required


• Additional RAM - Not Required (If you want more RAM it's $15/month for an extra 512mb)


• Additional Bandwidth - Not Required


• Additional Disk Space - Not Required


• Managed Services - Slef Managed VPS
  
  

Your screen should now look like the image below (no need to follow me exactly, i.e. you don't need to use senuke-x.com!!).
Click checkout and pay.

Once you have placed your order you will need to wait a while for the server to be configured. This can be anywhere from almost instant to several hours, if you are desperate to get going use this time to learn about how to use the program with free SEnuke training!

When your server is setup you will get an email with login details, if you paid via PayPal this will be sent to your PayPal email address regardless of what email address you used to order the VPS.

Within that email you are looking for a section that looks like this:

RDP Details:
IP Address: 173.248.XXX.XX
Username: administrator
Password: &^DS((SD*&

This is how you will connect to the server using the Remote Desktop client that comes with Windows, Mac users have other options (I am told Microsoft have a Mac version of remote desktop). Remote Desktop client for Windows can be found in START > ACCESSORIES - Remote Desktop

Launch the program, enter the IP Address you were given and when prompted the username and password, if you get a security certificate error you can safely ignore it. After a short pause you will be connected to your new Windows Server 2008 R2 desktop! Those who use Windows 7 will be very familiar with this desktop already, however there are a few things you MUST change in order to get SEnuke X working.

Note: If you have trouble connecting by Remote Desktop with a 'Wrong Credentials' error try typing in your password and username rather than copying and pasting. The copy paste function often adds an extra at the end of the password and this will stop it from working.

Now IF you ticked the 'Yes, Install SEnukeX' box you don't technically need the rest of this guide (you can skip to the advanced section). However it is still worth a read so you understand exactly what we have done to allow SEnuke to run on a server.

If you did not tick that box, or you ordered your VPS elsewhere then you do need to read on.

Windows update can me a real pain if it decides to update during an SEnuke X run, so stop it from doing so!
Firstly open Windows update: Control Panel > Systen and Security > Windows update
Now check for and install any updates, reboot if needed.
Once everything is up to day click on 'Change Settings' and select 'Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them' from the drop down list.

Now when updates are available you will be notified and you can install them when you are between Nukes.

This is an absolutely VITAL step, miss this out and SEnuke X will not work at all!

In the Server Manager, the same place we just checked .Net was installed, click on the very top of the list where it simply says 'Server Manager (Your Server Name). Now about halfway down the screen on the right you will see 'Configure IE ESC', click this and turn it off completely.

Now that you have turned off IE-ESC Senuke X will work, however you will still find the current security configuration is too high. You can lower this a little if you want, I do.

Open Internet Explorer and click on: Tools > Internet Options - Security

Drag the security bar down to 'Medium' and un-tick 'Enable Protected Mode', click OK and close Internet Explorer. Turning off Protected Mode is not absolutely required, so if you are not happy about doing that you can leave it on.

This is the last part of setting up the system, but it's an important part if you want all the sites in SEnuke X to work.

Open Internet Explorer again and go to: Tools > Internet Options > Advanced

Scroll down until you reach 'Security' and un-tick 'Check for publisher's certificate revocation' & 'Check for server certificate revocation', press 'OK' and close Internet Explorer. Official advice also says you should scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and ensure the last three items are not ticked as well.

That's it, we are done setting up!

Now it's time to installed SEnuke X, this is exactly the same as on a desktop PC, go to the SEnuke X website and login to your account then download the latest installer program to your server. The installer is about 600kb in size, so it will download pretty fast.

Once downloaded 'Run' the installer, and follow the prompts.

Once complete SEnuke X will start automatically...

You now have a fully working copy of SEnuke X installed on a server, however there are a couple of things you can do still if you want.

Get Some Free Training
If you are new to SEnuke X then you will soon learn that there are very few official help guides. You can take a look at SEnuke X info where there is a free PDF guide showing you how to do your first Nuke (with Social Network, Bookmarking, RSS, Indexing and Article Nuke).

Use Private Proxies
The proxies that come with SEnuke X are shared by everybody, if you want to have a higher success rate, as well as increased speed, you might like to consider some High Speed SEnuke X Proxies, you will find 10 is probably enough. If you use the code 'BHWONLY' during checkout you get 25% off, forever!

A lot of people have told me they use a program called Hide My Ass instead of proxies, and on paper they seem like a good option. However recently they have been banning a lot of accounts of people who used SEnuke with them. If you want to take the risk then fine, however do note the proxy company above is in agreement with SEnukeX and they know what the program is all about. You are much less likely to have issues with them than HMA.

Upgrade to IE9
The default installation of Server 2008R2 comes with IE8, an upgrade to IE9 is really worth doing and improves success rates with X. It's from from Microsoft, after installing it please remember to go back and check security levels and Certificate revocation checks as these tend to be restored during the upgrade process.

Drop Box
Perhaps the best thing since sliced bread! Install DropBox on your server AND on your desktop computer. Now any file you store in it will be synced automatically between the two. This makes working on the server a breeze, as you can write documents and articles on your home computer, save them in DropBox and when you go to the server they are already there. Best of all its free! BTW using that link to get a free DropBox account gives you are little bit of extra space free.

One issue with DropBox is the default install takes its proxy settings from Internet Explorer, this if you use the SEnuke X proxies it will stop working! However this is very easy to fix. Right click on the DropBox icon down by the clock and select 'Preferences'. Now select 'Proxies' and tick the box saying 'No Proxy Server'.

Install Anti-Virus
Most AntiVirus packages for servers will cost you money, however ClamAV is available for free. You can also use Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free too.

CCleaner
SEnuke X now comes with its own cookie cleaner, but I find it easier to use CCleaner, which is free. If you use CCleaner you might want to add an exception to the built in Window Closer in SEnuke X, add the tittle 'Pirisoft CCleaner'.

Since about version .42 the inbuilt proxy cleaner has been greatly improved, as such I don't often need CCleaner anymore.

Flash Player
While strictly not required you may like to install FlashPlayer from Adobe, some of the sites will not display properly without it. If you do install this then make sure to keep it up to date, Flash is a common security hole in computer systems.

Install Traffic Travis
Now it is true that Market Samurai is probably better than Traffic Travis, BUT it is much harder to use and Traffic Travis is free! I keep a copy of Traffic Travis installed on my server, that way I can access it from anywhere, and its a MUCH better way to do research than using the tools inside SEnuke X. You can of course install this on your home PC rather than the VPS, but if its on the VPS you can access it from your iPhone (see below).

Run SEnuke X From Your iPad/iPhone, Android device etc.
If you can get a remote desktop client then you can get access to SEnuke X on your VPS from it! On my iPhone I used iResktop which is a completely free client, there is nothing better than seeing SEnuke X running on the iPhone!

Use New Forum Lists
The forum lists included in X are used by everybody, and there are also not that many of them. If you want to really use SEnuke X to the max then you want to use new lists quite often. To get these lists you could scrape them yourself, test them, refine your list and then use. Of course you need to do this every month or so. If you don't want to bother with messing about scraping lists then you can get a new list of 500 forums each and every month with DEFCON3 membership at SEnuke X info

I must point out that while nothing is 100% certain in life we are filtering out as many 'dangerous' sites as possible from his lists, if you create your own lists and don't know how to do this then I assure you problems are going to come your way pretty quickly!