1) Better remote server support.
I’ve used the vpn, I’ve used adito, I’m currently using web-apps proxy...none of it is great. With services like gallery, wordpress, joomla, and ampache, it really needs to be easier to access some services outside the network. Apps-proxy is the best solution I’ve seen so far, but things should really be able to be protected/un-protected behind the password wall. I know there are solutions out there, but none are easy enough to use on this system which is so close to being “one-click for everything.”
My big thing is ampache, my palm pre has an ampache app, but it can’t connect through the proxy OR through vpn, it just kills it. I’d love to stream my music from home when I’m out and about, but since it’s behind the wall, it’s not working. I even tried to get compache (I think that’s what it was called) working to no avail. I'd taken to setting up ampache stand alone on my other server just to get this working.
By the way, eXtplorer doesn’t work over proxy
2) More complete DNS support
I actually run a second box, a mythtv backend server, which I use for dvr and access from around the house AND remotely. There have been a few other services/sites I’ve hosted there, particularly related to multimedia production work I do (8TB of raw video). I ran a gallery2 installation from there for a while, a forum, etc. I also have my own hosted space (http://www.surfrock66.com) which I use as my bouncing off point for a lot of services. Right now, I didn’t set that domain as my HDA domain (I’m using sr66.com since I was worried about setting up conflicting dns) but what would be perfect is for http://www.surfrock66.com to go to my hosted space, some of my subdomains pointing home through a redirect to ports on the existing server, and other web services pointing to the amahi server. (So, right now, gallery.surfrock66.com would redirect to surfrock66.yourhda.com/?aproxy=gallery ...which breaks with the whole ?reset thing, and requires a password)
I would have love to use my own domain and integrate it with my HDA domain as indicated above, but with the HDA intercepting all traffic to that domain and trying to route it, it seemed like a huge black hole for complications. Even then, it’s not so seamless to change the HDA’s dns from openDNS (I did it, I changed it to google’s dns, but it should be easier). Also, as long as the amahi server is acting as a dns server, I’d love for it to be easier to configure my routing table within the server, rather than just configuring my openDNS account as some people have suggested.
3) Backup Solutions
I reconfigure my servers all the time, but now that I’m getting a software configuration I like, I am thinking about adding a rack to my house. I’m worried about migrating amahi to a new machine and retaining all of my configuration. Keeping with the “one-click” spirit of amahi, I’d love a migration tool or some sort of backup-packager.
4) MythTV backend support
I’ve mentioned I have a mythTV box sitting in the home network, not only would it be awesome to have mythTV as an app so that I just have 1 server, some customization so that recorded programs could integrate with the DLNA server. Would be BAD ASS. I do understand how complicated of a request that is as I have been wrestling with MythTV since about 2006.
5) Transmission File Permissions/Ownership
When I use the web based transmission interface, the files I download can’t be moved/edited. Using extplorer or ajaxplorer, I can’t move or edit the files remotely then. I’ve set up a crontab to change the ownership to me every 30 minutes for my whole downloads folder, but this should be fixed.
6) Improve the wiki.
This is more of a community thing, but the amahi account should tie in with the wiki editor, so if I want to suggest a change I don't need to create a new account. I'm sure this is by design, but with stuff changing so fast the wiki feels outdated a lot and making it easier to contribute to can only help.
Again, I don't want to come off as a hater. My original tweet was something like "I'm reaching the limits of what I can do with Amahi" and I stand by that, though I plan to keep using it even if I have to maintain my second box. Clearly the system is quickly changing and evolving, so I have faith that many of these things may be resolved soon on their own. Thanks for reading my rant!
