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Running VirtualBox VM host on ReadyNAS Pro
What is VirtualBox?
So, I got bored while laundry was going... and decided to see how well a virtual OS would run on the Pro. My first choice of VM was VirtualBox, just cause I'm familiar with it after using it for ages, plus its open and free :) Eventually, I may look into VMWare as well.
After a bit of messing around, got it installed. Since the system is based off of Debian, was easy to get VirtualBox itself there (deb package). The trickiest part was getting the kernel modules required installed (see end of post).
In the end, I've got Windows 2003 R2 running on my Pro, interacting with it via RDP, and I am happy with the performance. I've added an extra 1GB memory (for a total of 2GB). I assigned 1GB of ram to my virtual OS, which still leaves the default configuration of 1GB for the NAS itself (which is more than enough still, 800MB+ is always cached).
I made a 10GB virtual disk to install the OS on. If I need more space later for extra applications, I can just add another virtual drive to that installation. And since I always like a bit extra security, I went a bit beyond the usual, and also have TrueCrypt running full disk encryption in the virtual OS. So no one can even boot and read the data in that OS without my bootup password.
I don't really have any screenshots to show, just a standard Windows installation. Here is a few of the steps I used while creating the VM on the console:
VirtualBox 3.1 has changed the CLI configuration. Until I update this how-to, please reference this: http://www.uhleeka.com/blog/2009/12/vir ... 9-04-host/
With the OS booted up and just sitting at the desktop, top reports:
Ad-hoc installation of VirtualBox. Should work for RAIDiator 4.2.4. Download links for the kernel modules, for those who don't want to go through the mess of compiling them.
So, I got bored while laundry was going... and decided to see how well a virtual OS would run on the Pro. My first choice of VM was VirtualBox, just cause I'm familiar with it after using it for ages, plus its open and free :) Eventually, I may look into VMWare as well.
After a bit of messing around, got it installed. Since the system is based off of Debian, was easy to get VirtualBox itself there (deb package). The trickiest part was getting the kernel modules required installed (see end of post).
In the end, I've got Windows 2003 R2 running on my Pro, interacting with it via RDP, and I am happy with the performance. I've added an extra 1GB memory (for a total of 2GB). I assigned 1GB of ram to my virtual OS, which still leaves the default configuration of 1GB for the NAS itself (which is more than enough still, 800MB+ is always cached).
I made a 10GB virtual disk to install the OS on. If I need more space later for extra applications, I can just add another virtual drive to that installation. And since I always like a bit extra security, I went a bit beyond the usual, and also have TrueCrypt running full disk encryption in the virtual OS. So no one can even boot and read the data in that OS without my bootup password.
I don't really have any screenshots to show, just a standard Windows installation. Here is a few of the steps I used while creating the VM on the console:
VirtualBox 3.1 has changed the CLI configuration. Until I update this how-to, please reference this: http://www.uhleeka.com/blog/2009/12/vir ... 9-04-host/
# Creating the Virtual Machine.
$ VBoxManage createvm -name "Windows2003" -register
$ VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows2003" -memory "1024MB" -acpi on -boot1 dvd -nic1 nat
$ VBoxManage createvdi -filename "/c/backup/VirtualBox/Windows2003.vdi" -size 10000 -register
$ VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows2003" -hda "/c/backup/VirtualBox/Windows2003.vdi"
$ VBoxManage registerimage dvd /c/backup/VirtualBox/Windows2003Ent.iso
$ VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows2003" -dvd /c/backup/VirtualBox/Windows2003Ent.iso
$ VBoxHeadless -startvm "Windows2003" &
# Connected via Remote Desktop at this point.
# After the installation, first page requires Ctrl-Alt-Del, so I sent the keycodes.
$ VBoxManage controlvm "Windows2003" keyboardputscancode 1d 38 53
# System is up and running, time to install GuestAdditions for better video, etc.
$ wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.2.2/VBoxGuestAdditions_2.2.2.iso
$ VBoxManage registerimage dvd /c/backup/VirtualBox/VBoxGuestAdditions_2.2.2.iso
$ VBoxManage controlvm "Windows2003" dvdattach /c/backup/VirtualBox/VBoxGuestAdditions_2.2.2.iso
With the OS booted up and just sitting at the desktop, top reports:
top - 16:17:10 up 1 day, 17:58, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.00
Tasks: 93 total, 1 running, 92 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.7%us, 0.2%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.2%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 2072432k total, 2020100k used, 52332k free, 6120k buffers
Swap: 1048536k total, 144k used, 1048392k free, 784620k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
10297 root 20 0 1104m 1.0g 4720 S 4 52.5 57:31.53 VBoxHeadless
12792 root 20 0 46092 9520 1720 S 1 0.5 59:54.51 motion
12196 root 20 0 9196 7688 980 S 0 0.4 0:57.72 wastesrv
1 root 20 0 1948 600 508 S 0 0.0 0:01.30 init
Ad-hoc installation of VirtualBox. Should work for RAIDiator 4.2.4. Download links for the kernel modules, for those who don't want to go through the mess of compiling them.
$ mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/miscOr, if you want to compile the kernel modules yourself:
$ cd /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc
$ wget http://www.readynas.com/contributed/chirpa/modules/virtualbox/pro/vboxdrv.ko
$ wget http://www.readynas.com/contributed/chirpa/modules/virtualbox/pro/vboxnetflt.ko
$ echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian etch non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
$ wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | apt-key add -
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install virtualbox-2.1
$ /etc/init.d/vboxdrv start
envyious:/c/backup# echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian etch non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.listInstall of VirtualBox 2.2.2, before Sun updates the Debian Repository...
envyious:/c/backup# wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | apt-key add -
envyious:/c/backup# apt-get update && apt-get install build-essential
...
Setting up build-essential (11.3) ...
envyious:/c/backup# wget -q http://www.readynas.com/download/GPL/RNDP6xxx_4.2.4_WW_src.zip
envyious:/c/backup# unzip -q RNDP6xxx_4.2.4_WW_src.zip -d ./GPL
envyious:/c/backup# cd GPL/linux-x86-2.6/
envyious:/c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6# make && make prepare
...
envyious:/c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6# ln -s /c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6/ /usr/src/linux
envyious:/c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6# KERN_DIR=/usr/src/linux
envyious:/c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6# apt-get install virtualbox-2.1
...
Setting up virtualbox-2.1 (2.1.4-42893_Debian_etch) ...
Adding group `vboxusers' (GID 101) ...
Done.
Messages emitted during module compilation will be logged to /var/log/vbox-install.log.
Success!
Starting VirtualBox kernel module: done.
envyious:/c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6# cd
envyious:/c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6# VBoxManage list vms
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.4
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.
# wget -q http://www.readynas.com/download/GPL/RNDP6xxx_4.2.4_WW_src.zip
# unzip -q RNDP6xxx_4.2.4_WW_src.zip -d ./GPL
# cd GPL/linux-x86-2.6/
# make && make prepare
# ln -s /c/backup/GPL/linux-x86-2.6/ /usr/src/linux
# export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/linux
# apt-get install libfontconfig1 libglib2.0-0 libice6 libsdl1.2debian libsm6 libx11-6 libxcursor1 libxext6 libxi6 libxmu6 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxslt1.1 libxt6 python2.4
# wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.2.2/virtualbox-2.2_2.2.2-46594_Debian_etch_i386.deb
# dpkg -i virtualbox-2.2_2.2.2-46594_Debian_etch_i386.deb
Setting up virtualbox-2.2 (2.2.2-46594_Debian_etch) ...
Recompiling VirtualBox kernel module: done.
Starting VirtualBox kernel module: done.
441 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- VirtualBox 3.2.10 is out: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog
- Just updated to 3.2.10 on my Ultra-4 - update went fine.
I have seen the following issue - so hopefully solved in this release as the change log claims:VBoxHeadless: fixed event queue processing problems which led to hangs if the VM could not be started successfully
Also noticed there is a new startup script included for vboxwebsrv (/etc/init.d/vboxweb-service) To get it to work however, needed to define the user vboxdrv runs as in /etc/vbox/vbox.cfg - just add the line:VBOXWEB_USER='root'
- Sorry to ask. Newbie question coming through.
I complied the modules manually. How does one update the VirtualBox installation afterwards? - In a nutshell: shut down all running virtual machines, shut down VirtualBox, download the new version of VirtualBox, install and compile the drivers as you did with the old version, restart VirtualBox, restart virtual machines.
-Stefan sphardy wrote: Just updated to 3.2.10 on my Ultra-4 - update went fine.
Upgraded to 4.2.15, recompiled kernel modules & all appears fine also- Hi, all
I have installed the VB 4.0.0 on Pro6. (RAIDiator 4.2.15)
Then finished the few jobs by VBoxManage.VBoxManage createvm --name "WinXP" --ostype "WindowsXP" --register --basefolder /c/backup/virtualbox/machines
VBoxManage createhd --filename "/c/backup/virtualbox/virtual_hdd/ WinXP" --size 5000
VBoxManage storagectl WinXP --name "IDE Controller" --add ide
VBoxManage storagectl WinXP --name "SATA Controller" --add sata
VBoxManage storageattach WinXP --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 0 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium "/c/backup/WinXP.iso"
VBoxManage storageattach WinXP --storagectl "SATA Controller" --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium "/c/backup/virtualbox/virtual_hdd/ WinXP.vdi"
VBoxManage modifyvm WinXP --memory 512 --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 eth0 --boot1 dvd --boot2 none --boot3 none --boot4 none
VBoxHeadless --startvm WinXP --vrdp on &
But I can't access the VM via MS remote desktop client.
What things should I check for resolve this problem?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks. - hi,
quick reply here.
I think that by default, the Vm rdp port is @8888
so you should try to connect to : ip_of_vm:8888
Keep us posted if it's ok or not alouch47 wrote: hi,
quick reply here.
I think that by default, the Vm rdp port is @8888
so you should try to connect to : ip_of_vm:8888
Keep us posted if it's ok or not
I tried to connect VM use port 8888 but failed..
Any more advice?sphardy wrote: So - I finally got around to reinstalling VB on my Ultra-4.
Here are the steps I used to install the 64 bit version of VB 3.2.8 under RAIDiator 4.2.13 - all worked perfectly first time (though hope I haven't forgotten to copy/paste something)cd /c/backup
apt-get update
apt-get install build-essential amd64-libs lib64stdc++6 bzip2 lib64z1 lzma
apt-get --reinstall install libc6-amd64
wget -q http://www.readynas.com/download/GPL/RNDP6xxx_4.2.13_WW_src.zip
unzip -q RNDP6xxx_4.2.13_WW_src.zip -d ./GPL
cd GPL/linux-2.6.33.6
make ARCH=x86_64
make prepare
ln -s /c/backup/GPL/linux-2.6.33.6 /usr/src/linux
export KERN_DIR=/usr/src/linux
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.2.8/VirtualBox-3.2.8-64453-Linux_amd64.run
chmod 755 VirtualBox-3.2.8-64453-Linux_amd64.run
./VirtualBox-3.2.8-64453-Linux_amd64.run
/etc/init.d/vboxdrv start
Hopefully a clean start for those still trying to get this working
Your instructions worked flawlessly, thank you!horim80 wrote: alouch47 wrote: hi,
quick reply here.
I think that by default, the Vm rdp port is @8888
so you should try to connect to : ip_of_vm:8888
Keep us posted if it's ok or not
I tried to connect VM use port 8888 but failed..
Any more advice?
I think the default RDP port is 3389. If you have a Windows system, just connect to the NAS IP, not the IP of the VM (although I'm sure that should work too if it's a Windows VM).
For example, I ran:$ VBoxHeadless --startvm "WinXP"
Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 3.2.8
(C) 2008-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.
Listening on port 3389.
and connected with Windows RDP with <readynas ip>
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