Deploying VM Applications

Introduction

Using virtual machine technology with the BOINC client presents an interesting challenge to projects. Projects not only have to follow the rules BOINC requires projects to follow but they also have to follow the rules that the virtual machine technology requires as well. With this document we hope to provide a general outline of how to utilize the VirtualBox virtual machine technology within a BOINC-based project.

Usage Scenarios

There are basically two usage scenarios supported by the stock BOINC VboxWrapper:

• Network-focused VM

• Task-focused VM

Network-Focused VM

A network- focused VM usually launches its own task agent which downloads work to be processed and eventually shuts down when completed.

Requirements: VboxWrapper, VM job description file, and VM Image.

NOTES: Network communication can be hampered if the host machine is sitting behind a restrictive firewall or proxy server.

Task-Focused VM

A task-focused VM launches a single job downloaded by the BOINC client software and then shuts down.

Requirements: VboxWrapper, VM job description file, and VM Image, startup script, worker application

NOTES: All network communication is disabled for the VM.

Configuring the BOINC Server

Using VirtualBox requires the use of two plan classes:

• vbox32: Is the application version assigned to 32-bit machines.

• vbox64: Is the application version assigned to 64-bit machines.

NOTES: The bitness of the VboxWrapper and VM image should match which plan class they are assigned too. A 32-bit wrapper cannot properly detect or use Virtual Box on a 64-bit machine.

A typical installation would look like this:

apps/uppercase/
    6.18
        windows_intelx86__vbox32
            version.xml
            ...
        windows_x86_64__vbox64
            version.xml
            ...

Application Version Record

Version.xml:

<version>
   <file>
      <physical_name>vboxwrapper_6.20_windows_x86_64.exe</physical_name>
      <copy_file/>
      <main_program/>
   </file>
   <file>
      <physical_name>vmimagex64_6_18.vdi</physical_name>
      <logical_name>vm_image.vdi</logical_name>
      <copy_file/>
      <gzip/>
   </file>
   <file>
      <physical_name>vbox_job_6_18_windows_x86_64.xml</physical_name>
      <logical_name>vbox_job.xml</logical_name>
      <copy_file/>
   </file>
   <file>
      <physical_name>boinc_start_6_18_windows_x86_64.sh</physical_name>
      <logical_name>shared/boinc_start.sh</logical_name>
      <copy_file/>
   </file>
   <file>
      <physical_name>uppercase_6.18_i686-pc-linux-gnu</physical_name>
      <logical_name>shared/uppercase_6.18_i686-pc-linux-gnu</logical_name>
      <copy_file/>
   </file>
   <dont_throttle/>
   <file_prefix>shared</file_prefix>
</version>

Configuration options for version.xml can be found here.

Virtual Machine Description

vbox_job.xml:

<vbox_job>
    <os_name>Linux26_64</os_name>
    <memory_size_mb>256</memory_size_mb>
    <enable_shared_directory/>
</vbox_job>

Configuration options for VboxWrapper? can be found here.

Startup Script

boinc_start.sh:

#
# Automatically executed by the vmimagex64 at startup.
#
./uppercase_6.18_i686-pc-linux-gnu

#
# Shutdown when complete
#
shutdown -hP 0

NOTES: Make sure the linefeeds conform to the UNIX standard otherwise bash will complain.

Appendix

Premade BOINC VM Wrapper

Windows

x86: vboxwrapper_6.20_windows_intelx86.exe.gz

x64: vboxwrapper_6.20_windows_x86_64.exe.gz

Mac

TBD

Linux

TBD

Premade Linux VM Images

x86: vmimagex86.vdi.gz

x64: vmimagex64.vdi.gz

Hand-build VM Image

The easiest way to begin putting together a Linux VM is to install the network install of Debian within the VM. You can find the netinst images ​here.

Main advantages:

• Small install size
• VirtualBox guest additions installed by default

The VirtualBox guest extensions are required in order to use the shared directory feature to communicate between the guest and host operating systems.

Role Selection

During install you'll be asked what role should this Linux machine be configured for, make sure all roles are unselected before continuing.

Updating Grub

If you want to speed up the boot process you should change the default timeout for grub by modifing /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_TIMEOUT = 0

After saving the update run:

root@boinc-vm-image:/etc/default# update-grub

Updating Inittab

To configure Linux for automatic login you'll need to install a different terminal handler, mingetty seems to work pretty well for our purposes.

You'll need to install mingetty:

root@boinc-vm-image:/etc/default# apt-get install mingetty

Next you'll need to change the terminal handler assigned to the first virtual terminal, change line:

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

To:

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty --autologin root --noclear tty1

Updating .bashrc

Adding the following to the end of the .bashrc file for root:

# BOINC VM Initialization
echo BOINC VM Initialization [Sleeping 10 seconds]
sleep 5

The basic gist here is to give you time to break into a console session via CTRL-C to be able to make changes to the VM in the future. After executing any job you want the VM to accomplish you'll need to shutdown the VM. If you encounter an error shutdown the VM so that BOINC can error out the task instance and report the failure.

Shared Directory Usage

Adding the following to the end of the .bashrc file for root:

echo -- Mounting shared directory
mount -t vboxsf shared /root/shared
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo ---- Failed to mount shared directory
    sleep 5
    shutdown -hP 0
fi

echo -- Launching boinc_start.sh script
if [ -f ~/shared/boinc_start.sh ]; then
    cd ~/shared
    bash ./boinc_start.sh
else
    echo ---- Failed to launch script
    sleep 5
    shutdown -hP 0
fi

Be sure to create a directory called 'shared' in root's home directory.

The 'boinc_start.sh' script should contain whatever is needed to execute your job from within the VM.