A Jenkins build server (LTS release) can now be easily installed on the minimalistic Debian VM:
- Download and install Virtualbox
- Download debian-stable-amd64-minimal.ova and import it into Virtualbox
- Start the “debian-stable-amd64-minimal” VM in Virtualbox
- If you are outside Nova Scotia, please review debian-stable-amd64-minimal.txt and adjust locale, timezone and Debian mirror based on your location
- Start an ssh session to localhost, port 1111 (using PuTTY, for example)
- Log in as user (default password is “user”)
- Issue “sudo install.sh jenkins” (default root password is “root”)
- Press enter for any questions during installation
- Open http://localhost:8888/ in a browser on the host OS for Jenkins web ui
You can go to “Manage Jenkins” – “Configure System” and see that JDK, Ant and Maven entries are already configured for you.
Important: Make sure to change root and user passwords to something secure, as mentioned in debian-stable-amd64-minimal.txt.
Regarding the VM that I mentioned in my previous post – this way I also got it to work in VMware Player:
- Install and start Virtualbox (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads)
- Go to File – Import Appliance (and import the ova file mentioned in my last post)
- Close Virtualbox
- Use VBoxManage on the command line to clone the VDI to VMDK, roughly as described here (but do not try to uninstall guest additions): http://scottlinux.com/2011/06/24/convert-vdi-to-vmdk-virtualbox-to-vmware/
- Create a new empty Linux/Debian VM in VMware Player
- Close VMware Player
- Edit the new vmx file so that it points to the cloned vmdk
- Then open the VM in VMware player again. Now it should boot into Debian.
I uploaded a VM image to doepner.net: It is a minimalistic Debian VM that can be used as a base for lean servers. It is in OVA format, exported from Virtualbox 4.1.6. Details are in the corresponding txt file.
You can add the VM to your Virtualbox using “File” – “Import Appliance …”. VMware should also work but might require some compatibility conversion of the ova file.
Recipes for specific Nexus, Jenkins, Wiki, Bugzilla setups will follow … I will publish those as scripts/instructions relative to the minimal base image, rather than maintaining several VMs.
With Virtualbox OSE 1.5.2, host Kubuntu 7.10 and guest Win XP I have intermittent clipboard problems: Garbled text, often even from one Linux app to another.
I tried upgrading to VirtualBox 1.5.4 non-free but had network problems with it.
Finally I came up with the following workaround. The idea is to write/read the clipboard using a temporary shared file. Prerequisites:
- Install xclip in Kubuntu.
- Put the cat, pclip and gclip commands in the PATH of the Windows system.
- Set up a Samba share that both guest and host can read and write to.
In my setup the share is /share in the guest and mounted as network drive S: in the guest. The temporary file will be in /share/clipboard/.
Create an application shortcut in Kubuntu with the Application command
xclip -o > /share/clipboard/clip.txt
and drag it on the taskbar so that you can execute it with one click. To avoid annoying startup notifications disable them in the “Advanced Options” in the “Application” tab of the shortcut. Now you should be able to copy the content of the X clipboard to the temporary file with one click.
In the guest system (Windows) you do the same thing in reverse but with a keyboard shortcut: Put a file clip-in.bat into a safe location (where you won’t accidentally delete it) with the following one line of code:
cat S:\clipboard\clip.txt | gclip
Create a desktop shortcut pointing to clip-in.bat and define a keybard shortcut for it (under right-click, Properties..), e.g. ALT-CTRL-C.
Now you should be able to mark and paste from the host to the guest system in the following way:
- Mark some text in the host (Kubuntu) system
- Click the shortcut in the KDE taskbar
- In the host system press CTR-ALT-C and then CTRL-V (to paste)
Until quite recently I did not use any operating system virtualization software. On my main PC I ran only Kubuntu and on my laptop I had a dual boot setup with the Windows XP installation that came pre-installed and Kubuntu.
VMware was not very appealing to me since it is proprietary software, not Open Source. A few weeks ago I gave VirtualBox a try. It is available as an Open Source Edition (OSE). There are packages included in the Ubuntu distribution so it was quite easy to install.
I must say that I am very impressed. The UI is intuitive, well documented and straightforward to use. I installed Windows XP Professional as a guest system and it worked without problems.
I had to realize, though, that “Shared Folders” are only supported in the Commercial Edition. That is not a problem since Folder Sharing can be done with Samba.
“Seamless mode” makes the experience even better: The windows from the Win XP desktop and the Kubuntu desktop appear as parts of one united desktop, with the taskbar and desktop background changing according to what window is currently active.
VirtualBox is developed by the German company InnoTek. Keep up the good work, guys!
