This article assumes you have just prepared a brand new Linux-based server, as described in creating_a_server.

Connect keyboard and mouse to the server, then turn on the power. After some brief initial messages, the screen shown below should appear.

This message indicates that there's no PIXILAB License key connected. Find your license key and plug it into a USB connector on the server. The server should now start.

Before you do anything else, you must set the server's passwords.

It is very important that you perform these steps, choosing good, strong passwords, before proceeding. If you don't do this, you leave your server open to anyone that may know the default passwords.

There are two users at the operating system level:

• The account named pixi-server is a limited account, used to run the server.
• The account named pixi-admin is an administrator account, used to make changes to the server's operating system.

Note that both these accounts are only related to the server's operating system. Neither of these passwords are needed for the day-to-day operation of the system. In addition to these two OS-level users, there's also an admin user inside the BLOCKS Server program, which is configured later in this article.

To change the Linux user's passwords, start by clicking the cogwheel button in the area of icons along the left hand side of the screen. This opens the "System Settings" window. Click the small search icon on the top left and type "Users" to get to the Users settings. Never mind the Network Manager message in the settings window we will show how to make the network settings later.

Click the "User Accounts" button in the bottom row.

Click the padlock symbol in the top right hand corner of this window to allow for changes. This will prompt you for the admin user's password. If this is the first time you configure the server, type pixi into the password field. If you have already configured the server, type the appropriate administrator password instead. Then select the pixi-server user and click the "Password ••••" field to change the password.

First type the old password for the pixi-server user. If this is the first time you configure the server, type PixiServer! into the Current Password field. If you have already configured the server, type the appropriate password instead. Type the new password into the two following fields, then click Change.

Repeat the procedure for the pixi-admin user. Make sure you choose a strong password, and make a secure note of this in a safe place, as this will be required to make any further changes to the server's configuration.

Click Change to apply the new password, then close the User Accounts window.

Connect a network cable to the server. Connect the other end of the cable to a network switch. If connecting to an existing network, you need to obtain a suitable network address from your systems administrator. The remainder of this article assumes a new network is being established, where you're free to chose the addresses and other network parameters shown.

Access Webmin by open the browser and type https://localhost:10000 in the adress bar. There may be a warning about certificate, choose to accept and continue to the web page. Log in webmin to the admin account (pixi-admin by default).

Select Networking/Network configuration from the left hand side menu.

Click the Network Interfaces icon to open the settings page. Reset any settings that may be inherited from a different hardware used during the build of the server image by selecting the "Activated at boot" tab click select all and hit the red Delete and Apply Selected Interfaces button.

Next step is to add the new interfaces. Change to the Active now tab to check the names of available Network Interfaces. Copy the Name of the preferred interface and return to the Activated at Boot tab. (Please note, there is a bug in Webmin not yet fixed in version 1.920 that affects this section, reade more about that here).

At the Activated at Boot tab, select the Add a new interface option.

Paste your Network Interface name copied from the Active tab and setup you IP settings. In this case I selected the default Pixi Server ip settings. Click the Create and Apply to confirm.

If the server has several network connectors, now is a good time to label the physical ports on the server. Assuming only one Ethernet Interface has been configured and made active you can do the following to find out which physical port we just added: plug in the network cable that is connected to a ethernet switch to one of the ports. If the status LEDs remain black move the cable to the next until you find the one that is active confirmed by the status LED become active.

Do not set the gateway parameters unless you have an actual gateway available and need outside network access via this gateway. Specifying a gateway when none exists may result network delays or timeouts while looking for the non-existing gateway.

Click the Networking and select Network Configuration to open the open the configuration panel.

Click the Routing and Gateways button.

Select the Gateway radio button and enter your gateway ip adress and select the ethernet interface connected to the network with the gateway.

• Click the green "Save" button.
• Click the blue "Return to network configuration" button.
• Click the blue "Click to apply Configuration" to apply the saved settings without reboot the computer.

Only specify an upstream DNS if you need this to access external services from your Blocks system. This is not required for a stand alone system without internet access.

From the Network configuration panel, click the "Hostname and DNS client button".

Enter the IP-adress of your favorite DNS server(s) in the text boxes.

• Click the green "Save" button.
• Click the blue "Return to network configuration" button.
• Click the blue "Apply configuration" to apply the settings without reboot the computer.

Connect another computer to the same network. If there's no DHCP server on this network (which is likely, since we're setting up a new network), you need to enter a fixed IP address in to this computer. Follow the proper procedure for your computer's operating system to do so, entering the following details:

• Address: 10.2.0.73
• Netmask: 255.255.0.0

Make sure the settings are applied. The address chosen here is arbitrary, and the last group of digits can be anything between 2 and 254, except 10 (which is the server already connected to the same network). Open a web browser on this other computer, and type 10.2.0.10/edit into the address bar at the top. If the connection succeeds, you will be prompted to enter a user name and password:

• Name: admin
• Password: pixi

The password indicated above assumes this is the first time you access a newly created server. You will learn how to change this password below. If you have already done so, type the chosen password instead. The DISPLAY page should appear.

This page allows you to add and edit Spots and Blocks. Before doing so, you must change the admin user's password, as described next.

It is very important that you perform this steps, choosing a good, strong password, before proceeding with adding Spots and Blocks. If you don't do this, you leave your BLOCKS server open to anyone that knows the default passwords.

Chose MANAGE on the main menu, select Users in the column on the left hand side, then click the admin user.

Change the First Name, Last Name and Email fields as appropriate for the administrator, then type the desired password into the Password fields. The login name of the admin user can't be changed.

Make a note of this password in a safe place.

After completing this basic set-up, you may want to continue with more Advanced Server Configuration.