virtual machines hold great promise as a way to distribute hard to configure applications. i have been using jeos vmbuilder (and some bash scripts) to generate my appliances, but i'm looking for something more elegant.
in my case, i'm looking for a solution that will build a linux-based vm with configured versions of tomcat and mysql as a base. each future release would be a new war file and a sql update script. it'd be really nice if already deployed vms could self-update and test builds could be pushed to ec2.
in my brief search, i've found rpath rbuilder, turnkey linux,
vagrant up, suse studio, jeos vmbuilder, and vmware studio. rather than try all of these, i figure i'd ask what this community uses to build and distribute appliances...
I use pungi myself.
Related
I have two CentOS platforms. Both run "CentOS release 5.10 (Final)". One is a "real" machine and the other is a VM. Both are 64 bit. Call the real machine Prod and the VM Spare.
When I got this gig I was told that the two machines were identical. Spare is supposed to be a hot spare for Prod. It is now obvious that is not true. The two machines have different yum repo lists. There are duplicate looking install packages from different channels. Prod looks like a server. Spare looks like it had been somebody's desktop with Evolution, OpenOffice and other desktop cruft.
Prod and Spare have similar applications installed but found in different repos so the available yum update levels are different.
I have tried disabling the non-standard repos and uninstalling the non-standard packages. This has led to tears as removing X-Windows, for example, has led to the removal of hundreds of dependant modules that in turn have dependants which, in the end, made Spare deaf, blind and mute. Blessedly we had a copy of the VM.
My latest idea is to migrate both machines to the latest stable CentOS level and basically have a do-over. The downside (I think) is the downtime to the production machine and unknown custom software vs new package level issues.
My basic question is, what is the best way to make the platforms as identical as possible, and minimize (or better yet negate) downtime.
How should we maintain packages and other installs across them into the future? I am aware of Puppet, Chef and CFEngine but have not used them before. Are these the way to go for the future? Something else?
This is not really a programming related question (You might have better luck at https://serverfault.com/)
Your question is quite broad, but essentially you want two machines that are as identical as possible, one production, one VM, correct?
Two get machines in a consistent state, you'll need a configuration tool of some sort. Ansible is probably the easiest to get setup and get cracking with. At it's most basic setup, is basically nice wrappers around SSH. With this you can create consistent, and easily track changes to servers as they happen.
To have a VM you can easily provision, I recommend reading up on Vagrant and Packer. Vagrant to easily create a VM that accurately reflects your production environment, packer so you can repeatedly create an image in various platforms. In an ideal case, you can take the configuration tool and use it to provision your VM, meaning you can test your production changes on a VM first.
In general, having repeatable automated configuration you can easily test, I'd also recommend reading up on the concept of DevOps
It may be a duplicate question but i could not find it anywhere.
Anyway, my goal to install operating system(both linux and windows) programatically on a virtual machine running on vmware hosts.
Although my search, I am quite lost about where to start.
Is there a framework or project you can suggest?
You could use templates; i.e. create a VM, install the Linux distribution of your choice and make the VM a template. Then don't create VMs but deploy the template.
Alternatively, google for the Linux distribution of your choice and something like "network installation". You'll need a DHCP server and probably a TFTP and/or web server.
Working with Templates and Clones
Creating VMware Virtual Machine Templates
Try having a look at Vagrant: http://www.vagrantup.com/. It allows you to install/uninstall a predefined VM from the command line.
I want to host the OSM (OpenStreetMap) locally. I need the basic idea what are required for hosting the OSM and how the task can be done in a step wise manner. I have to host it in Windows7 environment.
Any kind of help will be useful.
switch2osm contains detailed instructions and requirements for setting up a OSM server. If you have a Windows system then better set up a Linux VM inside it.
A bit too old but I will just put it here for someone who is searching for the same thing.
An exact instance of OpenStreetMap can be hosted locally by following the installation guide of OpenStreetMap.
Quoting from the Link:
"These instructions are designed for setting up The Rails Port for development and testing. If you want to deploy the software for your own project, then see the notes at the end.
You can install the software directly on your machine, which is the traditional and probably best-supported approach. However, there is an alternative which may be easier: Vagrant. This installs the software into a virtual machine, which makes it easier to get a consistent development environment and may avoid installation difficulties. For Vagrant instructions, see VAGRANT.md.
These instructions are based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, which is the platform used by the OSMF servers. The instructions also work, with only minor amendments, for all other current Ubuntu releases, Fedora and MacOSX
We don't recommend attempting to develop or deploy this software on Windows. If you need to use Windows, then try developing this software using Ubuntu in a virtual machine, or use Vagrant."
We have a large application that has been developed over 15 years and in installed in 200+ client locations. The application currently consists of an Access database and a bunch of executable and report files located on a network share. A Setup.EXE file is run on each client machine (dlls are installed on the client) and then the client machines run the executables directly from the network share. During our upgrade procedure the new executable and report files are copied to the network share and that way each client gets the update immediately.
Our current installation program is very old and, among other things, it doesn't handle x64 so we are in the process of moving to a new deployment tool. At the same time we are migrating client Access databases to SQL Server. I am having difficulty finding a deployment tool to do what we require. Specifically we need the install/upgrade file to do the following:
It must be able to be run from a client machine on a network and copy the new executable and report files to the network share. That share could be a Linux box or a dumb storage device.
Accept a password before running the installation
Allow the user to select the network share as the location to copy the executables
It must NOT add anything to the client machine from where the package is run (Add/Remove Programs, registry, etc.)
Connect to a SQL Server database and run a script
The install/upgrade must be contained in a single, standalone .msi or .exe file. (no dependencies on dlls or frameworks other than those that come with Windows XP)
The file must be able to be run in one simple step. It is the end user that runs the upgrade without our support and without involvement from IT.
It looks like the closest thing to what I need is WiX but the problem there is that whenever the .msi file is run from a client, the client machine thinks that a program is being installed so it allows the client machine to uninstall the product, which is not acceptable.
If the product were written today it would certainly be architected differently but it currently is what it is and we can’t change that. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!
WiX is just a toolset built on top of Windows Installer technology. It makes many things easier and simpler as well as hides lots of Windows Installer weird features... But, it is still limited by Windows Installer, its underlying technology.
Your list of requirements made me think that Windows Installer is not the right technology to choose. I would assume that you'll spend more time on workarounds, than on functional code... But I have no experience with other installation technologies, so I'll leave those recommendations to others.
I am going to be moving all my websites to a Windows Web Server 2008 R2 machine. I have installed it in a virtual machine to test that my websites work with it.
I have noticied that there is a program called Web Platform Installer. I have used it to install a few sites but I was just thinking is it a security risk using this? Would it be better for me to manually install the sites (WordPress, Umbraco, etc)
Thanks
We push that out to all our customers just for ease of deployment, and I have not seen any security issues with it, however, I would question its reliability as it fails about 10% of the time (to install whatever I have selected). Having said that, when it does work, its a fairly good tool, as it will install any prerequisites that you may not have been aware of (like SMO, or if you try to install Wordpress without MySQL), and will also keep you up-to-date on newer version of software that you have installed.