NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
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
sander wrote: My eyes are equally untrained. I had problems in some parts of the script where it looks like mattyshack has an alias (or something else) where sometimes the path doesn't include "/c/" before addon-config so I'd look for that.
Are you sure you did the part where it says:
# Copy VBox Modules into the directory matching your kernel release from uname -r
# If you have RAIDiator 4.2.21 installed, it should match 2.6.37.6.RNx86_64.2.4
Code: Select all
uname -r
cp *.ko /lib/modules/2.6.37.6.RNx86_64.2.4/
Thanks for the reply Sander, yes, I have copied the VBox modules over, I think the output is listed above in my post, but I've not checked.
As for the paths being inconsistent, I can't say I really noticed but when I try again, (it's on the backburner again for the next few days) I'll be sure to keep the paths identical each time.
Thanks again. :thumbsup:- Apologies if this is elsewhere in the forum but does anyone have an up to date set of steps for installing VirtualBox on the PRO Pioneer?
I'm not massively familiar with Linux so be gentle!
Would make a very popular add-on or even something to consider as a built in feature of the ReadyNAS.
Thanks in advance. - While this does have fairly wide appeal to tech savvy users, it would be a big pain for a developer to get an add-on working for it. Not to mention that any and every firmware update might break it requiring an update to be developed.
Also to get the most out of VirtualBox you'd need more than the stock 1GB RAM module. 3rd party memory is unsupported.
If you're not comfortable with using SSH then you shouldn't be running VirtualBox on your Pro. Before attempting to install it be sure that your backup is up to date (you should ensure that you have an up to date backup regularly anyway). dementiacs wrote: Apologies if this is elsewhere in the forum but does anyone have an up to date set of steps for installing VirtualBox on the PRO Pioneer?
I'm not massively familiar with Linux so be gentle!
Would make a very popular add-on or even something to consider as a built in feature of the ReadyNAS.
Thanks in advance.
The guides have been posted already in this thread. Just go back a few pages and you'll find two or three very good, AND recent updated guides. Some issues may, or may not occur depending on your NAS firmware and/or conflicts between FW or VBox updates. But that said, if the FW is stable, and system in good condition, following the guide/s to a successful conclusion should be possible.
Just take your time, pick one of recent guides and follow it through. Make sure you have all backups up to date before proceeding anything.
Good luck. :thumbsup:
I've tinkered with my NAS so much, which would explain why I'm having problems. Most people's systems won't be like mine, I've installed all sorts of different things and that is why I am probably having issues. I've probably borked something that VBox requires and I am missing the reason for this failiure.- Almost there with this now. I HAD to drop back to 4.2.21 because I just could not get the source to behave on 4.2.22. After downgrading to 4.2.21 most seems to be working properly.
I'm still having an issue, which is the reason for my post. I've always manually installed PHPVBoxManager, rather than using the WhoCares addon as this was my previous method which never caused me any problem. However, I'm trying with the latest version of PHPVBoxManager (4.2-4) but it's not working as previously it did under v 4.1-8. I'm getting to the point of using the old v4.1-8 version, but wondered before I go tinkering again, if anyone was having any success with the latest version of PHPVBoxManager?
Thanks - I'm running 4.2-2 but I used Whocares addon as described in the how-to and it works although on my last reboot I had to restart the vobxweb-service to login.
I can share any directories or config files if your interested. - Original Post: Vbox Guide v2.6
Update version posted below.
Thanks - Matty, wow, how long did that post take to write? Great info!
I notice a few code blocks dont have ; or new lines for cd;wget, might wanna fix those spacing/newlines. - Wow, matty this was quite a procedure. I finally bit the bullet because I really want to run some things I can't on etch. So thanks for the detailed instructions. I got through everything and didn't toast the system :-) so that's the good news. However at the end after the last reboot when I try to open phpvboxmgr on the web I get an error about namespace not found from php. There is another couple of guys who had this using whocare's addon but they could not recall how they fixed it. I'm using whocare's PHP addon. Maybe there is a config step related to that I'm missing?
thanks,
steve - What happens if you remove whocare's php addon and use the procedure described in this guide to add php?
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
