Topic: Testing SME in virtualbox on Debian (squeeze)

[jerome]

Hi everybody,

For my job, i have a new need: hosting multiple website !
At this moment i have a Debian squeeze which fits the need but i thought about SME Server (the first distribution which allow me to discover linux years ago !) which could be better choice because really made for it (but maybe i'm already wrong here ?)
So i decided to try to install SME Server 9 (from iso) in virtualbox but my server is headless and always send me :

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Failed to open the X11 display!
Could someone help me with the dedicated command line to set up a new virtual machine in virtualbox for SME Server 9 (ISO) ?
(sorry for my english, and the potential bul... in this message, i'm newbee about virtualmachine and SME)

[Stefano]

just guessing but: how are you trying to connect to your SME? via VNC/RDP from virtualbox?

another question/request: can you give us more details about what are you trying to achieve and how (in your mind)? will your SME be in server & gateway or server only mode?

[jerome]

Hi Stefano

And thx for your interest... and hope i will have clear answers

For the moment i cant connect my SME because i didn't have created the virtual server yet
I can access my Debian on which i installed virtualbox by ssh and would like to do so (when SME will be set ut virtualbox) with SME

I my mind the SME will be "server only mode" (cause my server is behind a Box which handle the network stuff and allow all ext. entering traffic from port 80 to the debian). For the moment this Debian handle several website with virtualhost of apache2 but i would like to try SME for this task because i remember it was really dedicated to this and allow me to have mail, ftp... created with a bay (quite similar to a site in my mind)

Hope have being clear

[stephdl]

You cannot use the gui of virtualbox if your server is headless....you have to use phpvirtualbox or something similar. At the minute when you try to use virtualbox, the software is looking about a x server which is not installed because you are headless.

[jerome]

I thought it could be possible when i read that
http://xmodulo.com/how-to-create-and-start-virtualbox-vm-without-gui.html

But maybe not ? and will install phpvirtualbox !
Thx

[guest22]

For my job, i have a new need: hosting multiple website !

SME Server by default can host multiple websites. e.g:
- Have the DNS registrar point the specific domain IP's to the same IP of SME Server
- Create an ibay for each website
- Create the domains in server manager and have each respective domain point to the related ibay
- Upload your content to each ibay.

or am I missing something here?

[jerome]

I'm afraid not being so clear i thought i was

SME Server by default can host multiple websites. ...

I know that but want to test it before migrate all to SME !
(that s why i first want to try in a virtualbox)
Am i clear 

[guest22]

Why trying to do all that on a production Debian box for testing only?

[jerome]

cause i only have one production server !
(if you are interested in sending me money to have a dev serveur...

[stephdl]

So i decided to try to install SME Server 9 (from iso) in virtualbox but my server is headless and always send me :

Code: [Select]

Failed to open the X11 display!

That error message doesn't come from sme, but from virtualbox....no ?
It seems to me that you tried to launch virtualbox by a command line in a terminal of your debian server...do i'm right ?

You cannot use virtualbox in a headless environment except by specific command to virtualbox http://wiki.contribs.org/VirtualBox#Usage_-_VBoxManage

[jerome]

Totally right !
... i think i gonna try by adding a complete testing sme server (without going through virtualbox which is a bit over my undersantding
Anyway thanx for the link (which was exactly what i needed) and long life SME !!

[stephdl]

I can see some solutions

-install phpvirtualbox in your debian squeeze and manage virtualbox
-try this also, but I  do not test http://remotebox.knobgoblin.org.uk/
-manage by command line virtualbox
-install a xorg on your server and manage virtualbox with the gui
...

If you use smeserver as a host, you can use smeserver-phpvirtualhost to manage guests...

My 2C

[Xavier.A]

Hi everybody,

For my job, i have a new need: hosting multiple website !
At this moment i have a Debian squeeze which fits the need but i thought about SME Server (the first distribution which allow me to discover linux years ago !) which could be better choice because really made for it (but maybe i'm already wrong here ?)
So i decided to try to install SME Server 9 (from iso) in virtualbox but my server is headless and always send me :

Code: [Select]

Failed to open the X11 display!
Could someone help me with the dedicated command line to set up a new virtual machine in virtualbox for SME Server 9 (ISO) ?
(sorry for my english, and the potential bul... in this message, i'm newbee about virtualmachine and SME)

REFERENCES :

• http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi/OpenBSD-current/man1/slogin.1?query=ssh&sec=1
• https://wiki.debian.org/SSH

Installation

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yum install xorg-x11-xauth
create a custom template:

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mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/ssh/sshd_config
cat > /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/ssh/sshd_config/50X11Forwarding << EOF
X11Forwarding yes
X11UseLocalhost no
EOF
re-start the service

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expand-template /etc/ssh/sshd_config
cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sv t /service/sshd or service sshd restart

re-connect to the server with the "X option" and blowfish compression

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exit
ssh -c blowfish -X root@[server ip] -p [SSH port]
echo $DISPLAY

if you need help > http://www.unix.com/, if you are french > http://virtualisation.developpez.com/

A+

[Stefano]

@kid of leognan:

For the moment i cant connect my SME because i didn't have created the virtual server yet

the issue is with debian and virtualbox, not SME AFAICT

[Xavier.A]

REFERENCES :

• http://libvirt.org/
• http://virt-tools.org/
• https://www.berrange.com/
• https://wiki.debian.org/KVM
• http://www.inetdoc.net/guides/vm/index.html
• http://inetdoc.developpez.com/tutoriels/virtualisation-systeme-enseignement/

and if you like Perl:

• http://search.cpan.org/dist/Sys-Virt/
• http://notesofenthropy.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/using-perl-sysvirt-module-to-manage-linux-kvm-virtualization/

On the Debian vm Host with root

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apt-get install kvm libvirt-bin libvirt virt-manager
and

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modprobe kvm
lsmod | grep kvm
Download the ISO file

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mkdir -p /storage/local/{images,iso,lxc}
cd /storage/local/iso
wget http://mirror.smeserver.eu/smeserver/releases/9.0/iso/x86_64/smeserver-9.0-x86_64.iso
Create the disk:

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qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o preallocation=metadata /storage/local/images/vmsme9-64.qcow2 20G
Create the VM

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screen
virt-install --connect qemu:///system \
--name vmsme9-64 \
--ram 1024 \
--vcpus 1 \
--disk path=/storage/local/images/vmsme9-64.qcow2,format=qcow2,bus=virtio,cache=none \
--network=bridge:br0,model=virtio \
--vnc \
--os-type=linux \
--os-variant=rhel6 \
--cdrom /storage/local/iso/smeserver-9.0-x86_64.iso \
--accelerate \
--noautoconsole \
--keymap=fr
   

Detach screen

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CTRL+A+D

Launch virt-manager

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virt-manager
Set up this guest to start automatically whenever the host is booted:

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virsh autostart vmsme9-64
-/-