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Revision as of 06:58, 19 May 2009

Sun VirtualBox 2.2.2 on SME Server 7.4

PythonIcon.png Skill level: Advanced
The instructions on this page may require deviations from standard procedures. A good understanding of linux and Koozali SME Server is recommended.


Note - This contrib requires the installation of kernel modules, which may impact server reliablity.

Maintainer

Kevin Schneider

Description

This contribution for smeserver adds Sun VirtualBox 2.2.2 for Headless operation (ie creates a virtual machine on your server that can be access via an RDP client such as 'Remote Desktop Connection' on Windows. This allows you to have a virtual Windows machine running on at a remote location to perform various administrative tasks. You can run network applications as if I were in the remote office and will not tying up a physical machine.

Requirements

You need SME Server 7.4, kernel 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL or 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp check your current kernel using 

uname -r

You will also need to download the following files 

wget ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/www.whiteboxlinux.org/whitebox/4/en/updates/i386/alsa-lib-1.0.6-5.RHEL4.i386.rpm
wget ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/ftp.centos.org/4.7/os/x86_64/CentOS/RPMS/SDL-1.2.7-8.i386.rpm
wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.2.2/VirtualBox-2.2.2_46594_rhel4-1.i386.rpm

You will also need the precompiled kernel modules

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

File:Vboxdrv-2.2.2smp.tar.gz

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

File:Vboxdrv-2.2.2.tar.gz

Installation

1. Download the files to your folder on your server (it is a good idea to keep these file around if you ever need to rebuild a server)

2. Install the dependencies for VirtualBox 

rpm -Uvh alsa-lib-1.0.6-5.RHEL4.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh SDL-1.2.7-8.i386.rpm

3. Create a new group ‘vboxusers’ in the server manager and assign the appropriate users.

4. Create a new ibay for the VirtualBox settings and hard drive files. Set the Group to ‘vboxusers’ and User Access to ‘read=group, write=group’.

5. Install VirtualBox using the following command 

rpm -Uvh VirtualBox-2.2.2_46594_rhel4-1.i386.rpm

Note - You will get the following error message, which you can ignore, we will manually copy and install the precompiled modules 

Creating group 'vboxusers'. VM users must be member of that group!

No precompiled module for this kernel found -- trying to build one. Messages
emitted during module compilation will be logged to /var/log/vbox-install.log. 

Compilation of the kernel module FAILED! VirtualBox will not start until this
problem is fixed. Please consult /var/log/vbox-install.log to find out why the
kernel module does not compile. Most probably the kernel sources are not found.
Install them and execute

  /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

as root.

6. Extract files from vboxdrv-2.2.2*.tar.gz 

tar -zxvf vboxdrv-2.2.2*.tar.gz

7. Copy precompiled VirtualBox drivers to the appropriate lib/modules/… folder

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

cp vboxdrv.ko /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/
cp vboxnetflt.ko /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp 

cp vboxdrv.ko /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/
cp vboxnetflt.ko /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/

8. Change module permissions and owner using the following commands (this step might not be required)

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

chown root:root /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxdrv.ko
chown root:root /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxnetflt.ko
chmod 644 /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxdrv.ko
chmod 644 /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxnetflt.ko

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp 

chown root:root /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxdrv.ko
chown root:root /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxnetflt.ko
chmod 644 /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxdrv.ko
chmod 644 /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxnetflt.ko

9. Test the kernel module, if there are no error messages, you can keep going, if not, you may have to compile the modules for yourself.

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

insmod /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxdrv.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxnetflt.ko

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp 

insmod /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxdrv.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxnetflt.ko

10. Verify the kernel modules are loaded 

lsmod | grep vbox

Should result in 

vboxnetflt             78504  0
vboxdrv               100008  1 vboxnetflt

11. Unload the kernel modules 

rmmod vboxnetflt
rmmod vboxdrv

12. Edit the modules.dep file

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

pico /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/modules.dep

Add the following two lines to the end and save 

/lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxdrv.ko:
/lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxnetflt.ko: /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vboxdrv.ko

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp 

pico /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/modules.dep

Add the following two lines to the end and save 

/lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxdrv.ko:
/lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxnetflt.ko: /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vboxdrv.ko

13. Test that the kernel modules load properly with the following command 

modprobe vboxnetflt

14. Verify the kernel modules are loaded 

lsmod | grep vbox

Should result in 

vboxnetflt             78504  0
vboxdrv               100008  1 vboxnetflt

15. Remove the file that flags vboxdrv and vboxnetflt module as not being installed properly 

rm /etc/vbox/module_not_compiled

16. Set Environment Variable (replace 'vbox_files' with the ibay you created) 

export VBOX_USER_HOME=/home/e-smith/files/ibays/vbox_files/files/.VirtualBox

17. Permanently set Environment Variable 

pico /etc/profile.d/vboxpath.sh

Add the two lines below (replace 'vbox_files' with the ibay you created) 

# /etc/profile.d/vboxpath.sh - Set Virtual Box Settings Location
export VBOX_USER_HOME=/home/e-smith/files/ibays/vbox_files/files/.VirtualBox

Change the permissions on the script to make it executable 

chmod 755 /etc/profile.d/vboxpath.sh

18. Verify the environment variable is set 

echo $VBOX_USER_HOME

Should result in (where 'vbox_files' is the ibay you created) 

/home/e-smith/files/ibays/vbox_files/files/.VirtualBox

19. You can now create and run your own virtual machines using VBoxManage and VBoxHeadless (located in /usr/bin/).

Usage - VBoxManage

To create a virtual machine, use the following command, replace "WinXP" with the name of your new virtual machine. 

VBoxManage createvm -name "WinXP" –register

Set the amount of RAM for your virtual machine 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -memory "128MB"

When modifying your virtual machine, you will need to pay close attention to the amount of physical ram in your server. Use the following command to check the amount of free memory in your server 

free -m

Enables 'ACPI' for your virtual machine in VirtualBox 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -acpi on

Creates a new virtual hard disk file (VDI). Note, size is in MB. The file will be saved to /home/e-smith/files/ibays/vbox_files/files/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/WinXP.vdi 

VBoxManage createvdi -filename "WinXP.vdi" -size 20000 -register

Assign the hard disk file to your new virtual machine 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -hda "WinXP.vdi"

Sets the first boot device for your virtual machine to dvd (ie installing OS) 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -boot1 dvd

Adds a CD/DVD image (located on your server) to VirtualBox media manager (note, replace the path below with the path to your installation media) 

VBoxManage registerimage dvd /home/e-smith/files/ibays/iso_images/files/WinXP.iso

Assigns the CD/DVD image to your virtual machine 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -dvd /home/e-smith/files/ibays/iso_images/files/WinXP.iso

Remove the CD/DVD image from your virtual machine 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -dvd none

Sets the Virtual NIC to the VirtualBox 'nat' (can't communicate with other computers on lan, but has internet access via your server) 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -nic1 nat

To give your virtual machine an IP Address from your local network (ie DHCP provided by another machine), use the following commands to change the Virtual NIC to use your LAN connection. If you server as configured as a gateway, make sure that 'eth0' is the LAN port not the WAN otherwise your virtual machine will be exposed to the internet without a firewall. 

VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -nic1 bridged
VBoxManage modifyvm "WinXP" -bridgeadapter1 eth0

The commands above were based on this guide. [1]

Usage - VBoxHeadless

To start your virtual machine use the following command 

VBoxHeadless -s "WinXP"

To access your virtual machine, you will need to connect via an RDP client. On Windows you can use the built in 'Remote Desktop Connection' to access your virtual machine. Open your RDP client and input the IP address/Name of your SME Server into the box and press Connect. File:Example.jpg Note there is no authentication when connecting by default, consult the VirtualBox documentation for instructions on implementing authentication.




Uninstall

rpm -e VirtualBox
rpm -e SDL
rpm -e alsa-lib

Remove the kernel modules from the /lib/modules/... folder

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.EL 

rm /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.EL/vbox*.ko

For 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp 

rm /lib/modules/2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp/vbox*.ko


Bugs

Please raise bugs under the SME-Contribs section in bugzilla.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.koozali.org/index.php?title=VirtualBox&oldid=12908"