VirtualBox - Revision history

Klenwell: /* Create VM with VBoxManage */

2021-03-08T02:33:16Z

‎Create VM with VBoxManage

Klenwell: /* Manually Set Up an Ubuntu Server */

2021-03-08T02:19:43Z

‎Manually Set Up an Ubuntu Server

Klenwell at 02:12, 8 March 2021

2021-03-08T02:12:47Z

Klenwell: /* Simulating an Ubuntu Server */

2021-03-08T02:12:15Z

‎Simulating an Ubuntu Server

Klenwell: /* Simulating an Ubuntu Server */

2021-03-08T02:11:45Z

‎Simulating an Ubuntu Server

Klenwell: /* Simulating an Ubuntu Server */

2021-03-08T02:09:46Z

‎Simulating an Ubuntu Server

Klenwell at 02:07, 8 March 2021

2021-03-08T02:07:14Z

Klenwell at 02:05, 8 March 2021

2021-03-08T02:05:35Z

Klenwell: Created page with "== Overview == VirtualBox is a free and open-source hypervisor that can be used to simulate a remote server as a virtual machine on your local development workstation. I use i..."

2021-03-08T02:05:11Z

Created page with "== Overview == VirtualBox is a free and open-source hypervisor that can be used to simulate a remote server as a virtual machine on your local development workstation. I use i..."

New page

== Overview ==
VirtualBox is a free and open-source hypervisor that can be used to simulate a remote server as a virtual machine on your local development workstation. I use it primarily to develop and test Ansible playbooks and deployment scripts.

For more information, see:

* https://www.virtualbox.org/
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtualBox

== Installation ==
See https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 # Ensure the vm system clock stays in sync with the real world (host machine)
 VBoxManage setextradata "${VBOX_NAME}" "VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled" 0
-VBoxManage guestproperty set "${VBOX_NAME}" "/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--timesync-set-threshold" 10000
+VBoxManage guestproperty set "${VBOX_NAME}" "/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--timesync-set-threshold" 10000</pre>
 Your VM is now configured, move onto the next section to install Ubuntu.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 # Go to VirtualBox > Preferences > Extensions > click the "+" sign at right side of dialog window.
 # Navigate to where your extension pack was downloaded and click OK and agree to terms.
 == Manually Set Up an Ubuntu Server ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:12, 8 March 2021
Line 173:		Line 173:
	<pre>SNAPSHOT_NAME="ansible-ready"		<pre>SNAPSHOT_NAME="ansible-ready"
	VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} take ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}</pre>		VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} take ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}</pre>
		+
		+	== Command Line Commands ==
		+	=== Start / Stop VM ===
		+	You'll usually want to run your new VM headless from the command line. To start and stop:
		+
		+	<pre># Start VM in headless mode
		+	VBoxManage startvm ${VBOX_NAME} --type headless
		+
		+	# Power off VM
		+	VBoxManage controlvm ${VBOX_NAME} poweroff
		+
		+	# List virtual machines
		+	VBoxManage list vms</pre>
		+
		+	=== Take / Restore Snapshots ===
		+	It is recommend you take a snapshot now so you can easily restore your VM to a new state for testing and troubleshooting DevOps scripts like Ansible.
		+
		+	<pre># Take Snapshot
		+	SNAPSHOT_NAME="fresh-install"
		+	VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} take ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}
		+
		+	# Restore Snapshot
		+	VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} restore ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}
		+
		+	# List Snapshots
		+	VBoxManage showvminfo ${VBOX_NAME}
		+
		+	# Delete Snapshot
		+	VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} delete ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}</pre>

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 # Navigate to where your extension pack was downloaded and click OK and agree to terms.
-== Simulating an Ubuntu Server ==
+== Manually Set Up an Ubuntu Server ==
 This section will outline how to create an Ubuntu virtual machine on your local machine to simulate a remote server. This is useful for developing and testing Ansible playbooks.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:11, 8 March 2021
Line 118:		Line 118:

	<pre>SNAPSHOT_NAME="new-server"		<pre>SNAPSHOT_NAME="new-server"
		+	VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} take ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}</pre>
		+
		+	=== Pre-Ansible: Manually Configure VM ===
		+	==== Setup SSH Keys ====
		+	You may need to generate a new Github ssh key for deploy. If so, follow steps to generate a key and add to ssh-agent:
		+
		+	* https://help.github.com/articles/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent/
		+
		+	Then set up passwordless SSH key access for your playbook user:
		+
		+	* From your terminal, ssh into server
		+
		+	<pre># Say yes to adding server to known_hosts file.
		+	ssh provision@localhost -p 8022
		+	exit</pre>
		+
		+	You may get an error regarding authentication, especially if you've set up multiple VM's in the past and have copied your id_rsa key over to the remote server. If so, navigate to your known_hosts file:
		+
		+	<pre>
		+	vim ~/.ssh/known_hosts
		+	</pre>
		+
		+	If you have an existing [localhost]:8022 entry, select entire line, remove, and save file.
		+
		+	Try to ssh into your server now.
		+
		+	* Copy rsa public key to server
		+
		+	<pre># Your id_rsa filename may be different, if so, change it in the command below.
		+	ssh-copy-id provision@localhost -p 8022
		+
		+	# If that fails, try specifying your key file.
		+	ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa provision@localhost -p 8022</pre>
		+
		+	==== Install Core Packages ====
		+	* On the target VM (i.e., "remote") server, make sure to update Ubuntu repositories as follows so that Ansible will be able to bootstrap itself and do its magic:
		+
		+	<pre># SSH into VM server
		+	ssh provision@localhost -p 8022
		+
		+	# Run following sudo commands
		+	sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
		+	sudo apt-add-repository universe
		+	sudo apt-get update
		+	sudo apt-get install python
		+	sudo apt-get install python-pip
		+	sudo apt-get install python-apt</pre>
		+
		+	These are the only non-Ansible-driven changes you should need to make on that server.
		+
		+	==== Take Snapshot ====
		+	As you're building and troubleshooting your Ansible playbook, this is the snapshot you'll want to revert to when you want to test it from scratch:
		+
		+	<pre>SNAPSHOT_NAME="ansible-ready"
	VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} take ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}</pre>		VBoxManage snapshot ${VBOX_NAME} take ${SNAPSHOT_NAME}</pre>

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:07, 8 March 2021
Line 17:		Line 17:
	# Go to VirtualBox > Preferences > Extensions > click the "+" sign at right side of dialog window.		# Go to VirtualBox > Preferences > Extensions > click the "+" sign at right side of dialog window.
	# Navigate to where your extension pack was downloaded and click OK and agree to terms.		# Navigate to where your extension pack was downloaded and click OK and agree to terms.
		+
		+	== Simulating an Ubuntu Server ==
		+	This section will outline how to create an Ubuntu virtual machine on your local machine to simulate a remote server. This is useful for developing and testing Ansible playbooks.
		+
		+	=== Create the Virtual Machine ===
		+	==== Choose Operating System Version ====
		+	Choose an operating system that matches as closely as possible the staging or production server used for the project. For new servers, we prefer to use the latest stable LTS (Long Term Support) version of Ubuntu. For this example, the OS will be Ubuntu 20.04.
		+
		+	==== Download Ubuntu Server Image ====
		+	# Go to https://www.ubuntu.com/download/server
		+	# Download latest stable LTS version Ubuntu Server
		+
		+	==== Create VM with VBoxManage ====
		+	Open your terminal and execute the VBoxManage commands:
		+
		+	<pre># Set VM name here as var. For this example, it will be local-vbox.
		+	VBOX_NAME="ubuntu-2004-vbox"
		+
		+	# Create a new VM. Name should be consistent in commands that follow.
		+	VBoxManage createvm --name "${VBOX_NAME}" --ostype "Ubuntu_64" --register
		+
		+	# Modify VM to set memory and RAM
		+	VBoxManage modifyvm "${VBOX_NAME}" --memory 1024 --vram 16
		+
		+	# Add a SATA hard drive
		+	VBoxManage storagectl "${VBOX_NAME}" --name "SATA" --add sata
		+
		+	# Create a Virtual Disk Image
		+	VBoxManage createmedium --filename ${VBOX_NAME}.vdi --size 20000 --format VDI --variant Fixed
		+
		+	# Attach virtual disk image to SATA
		+	VBoxManage storageattach "${VBOX_NAME}" --storagectl "SATA" --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium "${VBOX_NAME}.vdi"
		+
		+	# Create IDE controller for your Ubuntu iso file
		+	VBoxManage storagectl "${VBOX_NAME}" --name "IDE" --add ide
		+
		+	# Attach Ubuntu iso file medium to IDE. ISO_PATH is set as var.
		+	ISO_PATH="${HOME}/Downloads/ubuntu-20.04.2-live-server-amd64.iso"
		+	VBoxManage storageattach "${VBOX_NAME}" --storagectl "IDE" --port 0 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium ${ISO_PATH}
		+
		+	# Set NAT Port Forwarding Rules
		+	VBoxManage modifyvm "${VBOX_NAME}" --natpf1 "http,tcp,127.0.0.1,8000,10.0.2.15,80"
		+	VBoxManage modifyvm "${VBOX_NAME}" --natpf1 "https,tcp,127.0.0.1,8443,10.0.2.15,443"
		+	VBoxManage modifyvm "${VBOX_NAME}" --natpf1 "ssh,tcp,127.0.0.1,8022,10.0.2.15,22"
		+
		+	# Ensure the vm system clock stays in sync with the real world (host machine)
		+	VBoxManage setextradata "${VBOX_NAME}" "VBoxInternal/Devices/VMMDev/0/Config/GetHostTimeDisabled" 0
		+	// To verify: grep GetHostTimeDisabled ~/VirtualBox\ VMs/${VBOX_NAME}/${VBOX_NAME}.vbox
		+	VBoxManage guestproperty set "${VBOX_NAME}" "/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/VBoxService/--timesync-set-threshold" 10000
		+	// To verify: grep timesync ~/VirtualBox\ VMs/${VBOX_NAME}/${VBOX_NAME}.vbox
		+	</pre>
		+
		+	Your VM is now configured, move onto the next section to install Ubuntu.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:05, 8 March 2021
Line 9:		Line 9:
	== Installation ==		== Installation ==
	See https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads		See https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
		+
		+	=== Extension Pack ===
		+	It is also recommend you install the VirtualBox Extension Pack:
		+
		+	# Go to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads and click "VirtualBox 6.x.x Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" to download.
		+	# Launch the VirtualBox GUI.
		+	# Go to VirtualBox > Preferences > Extensions > click the "+" sign at right side of dialog window.
		+	# Navigate to where your extension pack was downloaded and click OK and agree to terms.