Extras
Glossary#
| Word | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| Server | A computer that stays on and provides something (files, remote access) to other devices. |
| Linux / Debian | Linux is a free operating system; Debian is one popular, stable version of it. |
| Terminal / shell | A window where you type commands instead of clicking. |
| Prompt | The text before your cursor, e.g. alex@homeserver:~$. It tells you which computer you're typing on. |
| sudo | "Do this as administrator." Asks for your password. |
| apt | Debian's app store, used from the terminal. |
| SSH | A secure way to type commands on another computer over the network. |
| SSH key | A pair of files that replaces a password. The private key stays on your device; the public key goes on the server. |
| Passphrase | A password that protects your private key file. |
| IP address | A device's number on a network, e.g. 192.168.1.50. |
.local name |
A name like homeserver.local that works on your home network only. |
| Router | The box from your internet provider that connects your home to the internet. |
| Port | A numbered "door" for one kind of service: 22 = SSH, 445 = file sharing. |
| Port forwarding | Opening a door on your router to the internet. Don't, for this server. |
| Firewall (UFW) | Blocks every door except the ones you allow. |
| Tailscale | A private network linking only your devices, from anywhere. |
| Samba / SMB | How Linux shares folders with Mac Finder and Windows Explorer. |
| Partition | A section of a disk. |
| Format / filesystem (ext4) | Preparing a disk so it can store files. Erases it. ext4 is the standard Linux format. |
| Mount | Making a disk appear as a folder, e.g. /srv/files. |
| UUID | A drive's permanent ID, which never changes (unlike sdb). |
| fstab | The file listing which drives to mount at startup. |
| Backup / snapshot | A saved copy from a point in time that you can restore from. |
| Kernel | The core of Linux. Updating it needs a restart. |
| Headless | Running without a screen or keyboard. |
| AI model / LLM | A program trained on lots of text that writes answers. LLM = large language model. |
| GGUF | The file format for models used by llama.cpp. One model = one .gguf file. |
| Q4_K_M | A "compressed" model size: smaller and faster, slightly less accurate. |
| llama.cpp / llama-server | The free engine that runs GGUF models on an ordinary CPU. |
| Token | A piece of a word. Models count text in tokens (roughly 1 token ≈ ¾ of a word). |
| Context | How much text the model can read at once (--ctx-size). |
| localhost / 127.0.0.1 | A computer's address for itself. Not reachable from outside. |
| SSH tunnel | Carrying a connection (e.g. to the AI) inside your SSH connection. |
| Service account | An account like ai that runs one program and can't log in. |
| nftables | Linux's built-in firewall engine. The AI network guard uses it. |
| Recoll | A search tool that indexes your documents and shows matching pages. |
| Agent | A program that follows set steps and tools to do a job, sometimes using the AI. |
| Linger | Keeps a user's services running after logout and starts them at boot. |
| Fail2ban | Watches login failures and blocks the address that keeps failing. |
| Cockpit | A web dashboard for watching and managing the server. |
| NTP | Keeps the clock right by asking time servers on the internet. |
| Hardening | Switching off what you don't need, so there's less to attack. |
| Snapshot | A saved copy of settings at one moment, to go back to. |
| chmod / chown | Change who may read/write/run a file / change who owns it. |