Charles Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I am currently running a copy of Server 2008 Eval on my desktop box, but I was wondering if it's possible to set up VMWare or VBox on my home server (which doesn't have a GUI). I heard that VMWare has a web interface that might prove useful, but I am unsure as to where to start. It is just that I am thinking of just running the VMs on the server, which is on 24/7, instead of my desktop which is usually on only when I am home. Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing? The server is currently running Ubuntu 9.10 x64 with 4GB RAM and a 2.5Ghz Dual core CPU. I am currently Downloading episode 609, so that might answer some of my questions. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 VMware Server is intended to run as you wish. I still prefer the version 1 interface (a client must be installed to use the server) over version 2 (web interface with optional client), it was more stable, and I didn't have to login three of four times before things start working, and firefox updates brake the interface and it uses a not valid SSL cert by default which makes it awkward to use with IE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks for the info. So you'd need a VMWare client to access whatever VMs that are running? Didn't know that. I wonder if that would cause problems when I want to tunnel into the VM using RDP over SSH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks for the info. So you'd need a VMWare client to access whatever VMs that are running? Didn't know that. I wonder if that would cause problems when I want to tunnel into the VM using RDP over SSH. If you are using remote desktop no method of administration will be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 VirtualBox's built in RDP servers (one per VM) are awesome, you can run VMs "headless" from a command line and RDP in... but unlike using an RDP server in the guest OS, you actually get to see the entire bootup and shutdown process, so if something goes horribly wrong, you can see it, you don't have to just try to guess why your guest OS's RDP server isn't responding. It also resizes the guest OS's screen according to your RDP client's settings (as long as guest additions are installed), which means you can see what any given OS would look like running natively on your phone. Maybe that's more useful to me than you, but it's nice to be able to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 If you are using remote desktop no method of administration will be a problem. Well I could do remote desktop or SSH/VNC if it's a linux box. Right now, I'm connecting to my home server from work and using an SSH tunnel to get to the machine running inside a VM. VirtualBox's built in RDP servers (one per VM) are awesome, you can run VMs "headless" from a command line and RDP in... but unlike using an RDP server in the guest OS, you actually get to see the entire bootup and shutdown process, so if something goes horribly wrong, you can see it, you don't have to just try to guess why your guest OS's RDP server isn't responding. If you use those, how do you connect? I'm totally clueless in that respect as I haven't used them. I'm basically trying to get it set up from the command line, but I can install a GUI if that would make it simpler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 If you use those, how do you connect? I'm totally clueless in that respect as I haven't used them. I'm basically trying to get it set up from the command line, but I can install a GUI if that would make it simpler. I've never set up a VM entirely from a command line before, and I'd personally suggest either creating the VM on another machine or using a GUI just to create the machines, but connecting is easy, once the VM is launched (whether headless or not) you can just point your chosen RDP client at the appropriate IP/port (port is configurable, IP is the IP of the host machine) and connect as you would to any other machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) Thank you moonlit. I'm probably going to give it a shot in a VM and see how it goes. I bet it would probably be a hell of a lot easier then trying to do it via command-line only. EDIT: I am doing a major *headdesk* now, since I've been trying to use the IP address of the guest machine, instead of a host machine. When in doubt, bash head against keyboard and then figure out what you are doing wrong. Haha. Edited March 8, 2010 by Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) Wow, that was easier then I thought it would be. I installed Virtualbox on my file server and created the VM on my Windows 7 machine - exported it and then imported it on the server. Seemed to run flawlessly. It's definitely easier to create it elsewhere, and import it to the server. VBoxHeadless -s "VM" -p 3389 Then ctrl + z to get back at a shell, then bg (job number) and the VM is left running, even after the SSH tunnel is closed. That's great. Thank you everyone! Edited March 8, 2010 by Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 No problemo, glad to be of assistance. <3 VirtualBox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) I was able to RDP into the VMs, but not RDP into the OS that was running on the VM.. turned out that I had to tweak my firewall settings so that it allowed the ports I was using. Now that I know how great virtualization is, I'll be planning my next server upgrade with that in mind - Running 2 VMs on a Dual core Pentium with 4GB of RAM means I've got around 75% of my memory in use.. but since it's not doing anything I don't foresee any problems. Edited March 8, 2010 by Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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