Linux Virtual Machines for use with BOINC

Linux Virtual Machines (VMs) are useful for several purposes in BOINC:

• Running a BOINC server in a VM. Use a 'BOINC virtual server' VM for this (see below).
• Compiling applications so that they will run on older Linux versions. Use a 'compatibility VM' for this (see below).
• Applications that run in a VM on the client. This is an object of research.

The BOINC virtual server

This VM is for use as a BOINC server. It has all the BOINC prerequisites installed, the BOINC software installed and compiled, and user accounts and permissions set up. It's ready to run make_project and go.

Instructions and more information is in the readme.html file in ~boincadm. The passwords can be found in the file README-vmware-image that is part of the zip file. The root (or sudo) password is 'rootpw'. There is a user account 'boincadm' with password 'boincadmpw'; build software under this account. Change these passwords if you're concerned about security.

The BOINC software on this VM is not necessarily the latest version. If you want the latest version, run update_latest.sh and then configure/make.

The Linux/PHP/MySQL/Apache software on these VMs is not necessarily the latest version. If you want the latest version, use 'yum' or other distro-specific tool.

This is a VMWare virtual machines; you'll need the ​VMWare player (freeware). The file is large (~1 GB). Please download it as seldom as possible.

The following versions are available:

• ​Debian 4.0 32-bit (updated 23 Feb 2008).

Network Access

VMWare provides two ways to access the network from the VM: Bridged Ethernet and NAT (Network Address Translation). These are selected using the pulldown menu below "Ethernet" in the VMWare player. We recommend that you start with Bridged Ethernet.

The first time you boot the VM, log on as root and delete the file

/etc/udev/rules.d/rules.d/z25_persistent-net.rules

General info about network configuration under Debian is ​here.

Bridged Ethernet

In this mode, the VM will act like a separate machine on your network. Scanning the network will reveal two machines, your host and the VM. Outgoing and incoming connections are possible.

We recommend that you give the VM a static IP address. To do this, edit /etc/network/interfaces. For example:

# The primary network interface
auto eth0

iface eth0 inet static
address 141.142.234.9
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 141.142.234.1
dns-search yourdomain.edu
dns-nameservers a.b.c.d

Where a.b.c.d is your DNS server IP address (you can supply more than one).

Edit /etc/resolv.conf to include

nameserver a.b.c.d

where a.b.c.d is the DNS server IP address

You should also add the IP address and hostname of the VM to your hosts file. To do this edit C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (if the host is Windows) or /etc/hosts (as root; if the host is Unix) with an editor, and add for example:

141.142.234.9 debian.localdomain

With this you can connect a client from your host machine to your VM. If you're using a proxy to access the internet you should add 'debian.localdomain' to your list of exceptions in your browser. You won't need a proxy to resolve a local address.

Alternatively, you can get an IP address via DHCP. We don't recommend this because clients will get confused if the IP address changes. To do this, edit /etc/network/interfaces to include:

iface eth0 inet dhcp

This will work if your network has a DHCP server configured to issue IP address to new hosts.

NAT

In this mode, the VM shares the IP address of the host machine in order to make outgoing connections (access Internet sites from within the VM). Scanning the network will only reveal one machine.

Incoming connections (except the host machine) are generally not possible. However, this can be circumvented using port forwarding (not available with the free VMware player). To do this, use the VMware virtual network editor (Edit > Virtual Network Settings > NAT > Edit > Port Forwarding). More information in ​Configuring a Virtual Network. On Windows, if NAT is to be used and not already set, do the following to get network access in the VM:

Start | Programs | VMware | VMware Server | Manage Virtual Networks
(Virtual Network Editor):
Host Virtual Network Mapping:
VMnet0: Bridged to an automatically chosen adapter.
VMnet8: VMware Network Adapter VMnet8
In the NAT tab: VMnet host: VMnet8

SSH

The VMWare player provides only a 24x80 non-scrolling console window. Once you have networking, it's much handier to SSH into the server. To enable the SSH daemon:

su -c '/usr/sbin/sshd'