LinuxMCE 14.04 on ESXi?

[brononius]

Hey,

Finally came to a point that I can give 14.04 a test run.
I want to do this on ESXi since most of my home machines run on there, and it's a great way to split the resources/risks/...

But when i try to install the "LMCE­ 1404­ 20150326121­930361.iso", it starts to install linux, and it gets stuck on the desktop. Everything has been copied and so, but i'm getting the kubuntu destktop, without any icons or so.
Any hints?


ps Is there any way to install it as an 'application' instead of full system?

[phenigma]

The short answer is that it's not been tested this way.  I would recommend using the network install method rather than the DVD for this type of testing. 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'application'.  LinuxMCE is a combination of many, many applications with a framework to interconnect and control those applications.  There are two ways of installing: the DVD, netinstall.

I'll be updating 1404 pkgs in the main repo after dinner (EST) tonight.

J.

[brononius]

I mean that we first install kubuntu, and afterwards all the rest.
This way, we can pindown if the problem with my installation is in kubuntu, or in linuxmce.


But I guess that the netinstall is the way to test now?
Is there somewhere a small quick how-to?
I'll see to try this tomorrow after.

[phenigma]

Follow the instructions for the netinstall on 1204, the only difference is you start with a kubuntu 1404 installation.

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Installing_1204

J.

[brononius]

Works!

Or at the least the installation. I had to run 3x the script to get to the end. But it gets there. I recieved the AVwizard, and everything seem OK now (nice orbiter screen after booting).
See the attached logfiles (stripped for upload size limit) for more info on the errors that stopped the installation script.


Next step, putting in all configs from my old LinuxMCE... 
Let me know if you guys want me to test anything else. Before I start really putting all my config in there.


And let's hope that the ESXi setup keeps as stable as everything else.



ps When I changed the internal ip from 192.168.80.1 to 192.168.111.254, it ended up with 192.168.111.1? After manually changing /etc/network/interfaces and a reboot, this seem to be ok...
And maybe a tip for future ESXi installations? Give the first interface the external network, and the second one the internal one. Can save you some headaches for network. Certainly when you're using trunks between your ESXi and switch.

[phenigma]

Hey brononious, thanks for the feedback!  I think the issues you describe have been fixed over the weekend.  If you try again let me know how it goes.  Otherwise I hope you'll share your experiences!  Thanks again!

J.

[brononius]

Hey,

Just did a re-installation, and indeed, the script runs nicely to the end.

Thanks!!!



ps still have the issue when I want to change my internall IP. But I guess it has something to do with /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf. When I comment the dns, make managed true, update /etc/network/interface, it works a lot better...

[phenigma]

Hey,
Just did a re-installation, and indeed, the script runs nicely to the end.
Thanks!!!

Awesome!  Thanks!  Great to hear the feedback!   

ps still have the issue when I want to change my internall IP. But I guess it has something to do with /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf. When I comment the dns, make managed true, update /etc/network/interface, it works a lot better...

This makes me wonder a lot.  Can you provide some more specifics about the issue?  NetworkManager *should* be disabled.  If it is still having an influence I'm not aware of it.  Please let us know any and all specifics you can provide about this!  Thanks!

J.

[brononius]

Sure I can give a bit more explanation.

After a clean install of kubuntu in ESXi, I'm getting:

• eth0, connection WAN: 192.168.0.102 (dhcp from internet provider modem)
• eth1, connection LAN: 192.168.111.120 (dhcp from old LinuxMCE server)

After this, I run the install script, and I'm getting after the reboot:

• eth0, connection WAN: 192.168.0.102 (dhcp from internet provider modem)
• eth1, connection LAN: 192.168.80.1 (fix default ip in LinuxMCE)

Now I want to change the IP for the server:

• I change the eth1 setting towards 192.168.111.250, nothing happens.
• I reboot the server, eth0 and eth1 are gone in CLI.
• I check the LinuxMCE admin page, it's telling me that eth0 should be 192.168.111.250.
• I bring both interfaces up (ifconfig eth0 up & ifconfig eth1 up), eth1 is working correctly, eth0 doesn't have any IP. After a "dhclient eth0", I recieve nicely an IP from my internet provider.

To solve the issue, I've changed 2 files:

[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile,ofono
#dns=dnsmasq

[ifupdown]
managed=true

#####
# Loopback interface
#####
iface lo inet loopback

#####
# IPv4 network interfaces
#####

# --- External NIC ---
iface eth0 inet dhcp
        pre-up sysctl -q -e -w  net.ipv6.conf.eth0.disable_ipv6=1

# --- Internal NIC ---
iface eth1 inet static
        address 192.168.111.254
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        pre-up sysctl -q -e -w  net.ipv6.conf.eth1.disable_ipv6=1
        # DNS Settings for Internal Net
        dns-nameservers 192.168.111.202 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
        dns-search oniria.lan

# ---   ---
#iface  inet static
#       address
#       netmask

#####
# Activating interfaces
#####
auto eth0 eth1 lo

And after a reboot, the settings are still valid. But I'm a bit worried that other things aren't configured correctly as well (fe firewall and so?).


btw Last time, I've enable ipv6 through the LinuxMCE admin page, and the network was again down. So I guess that I'm not allowed to change any network setting with the LinuxMCE admin page.

[phenigma]

  Much of the network stuff has been tested, but to be honest there's a shitload of work that's been going on and there are a few people testing new networking setups.  It doesn't surprise me that not all networking is functional as you would expect right now.    If you can file a couple of tickets with very specific information about your setup (and the before / after files) it could help a lot.  See the sticky in the Developers forum to get access to svn trac if you do not already have it.

Thanks!

J.

[brononius]

Ticket has been created...

http://svn.linuxmce.org/trac/ticket/2352

[phenigma]

And I closed it due to the ticket being about changing the internal IP address, which we do not support in any way and is well beyond network config and firewall issues, the IP is hardcoded in a million places throughout the code.  Patches are welcome to start moving away from hardcoded values.

J.

[brononius]

And I closed it due to the ticket being about changing the internal IP address, which we do not support in any way and is well beyond network config and firewall issues, the IP is hardcoded in a million places throughout the code.  Patches are welcome to start moving away from hardcoded values.

Do I understand it that we're not allow to change our internal network?
Why is this 'change' possible/allowed in the GUI??? Best to write this explicit, and 'grey out' the network settings in the GUI?
 
Bum, that's a real downside of the whole thing. With the previous LinuxMCE version, i've changed it to my internal network, and everything kept on working.
If this is the case with the new version, I need to change everything (IP-camera's, fixed ip's of routers, switches, wifi, printers, KNX router, ....). And also own scripts for other purposes (power monitoring, gas consumption, water levels, zoneminder, cacti...). Glad that most of those scripts are host/dns based. But nevertheless...

I'll see to create a global grep in the system/db's to find any remains of the 192.168.80.x. 

[phenigma]

Do I understand it that we're not allow to change our internal network?
Why is this 'change' possible/allowed in the GUI??? Best to write this explicit, and 'grey out' the network settings in the GUI?

I never said you were not 'allowed' to change your internal network.  I said it is not supported, and it never has been.  There are too many locations where the internal ip address is hardcoded.  If it has worked in the past that is great!  Networking configuration has changed significantly over the last 2 years and during that time things that we do not support may have broken further.

Bum, that's a real downside of the whole thing. With the previous LinuxMCE version, i've changed it to my internal network, and everything kept on working.

You are very fortunate.

If this is the case with the new version, I need to change everything (IP-camera's, fixed ip's of routers, switches, wifi, printers, KNX router, ....). And also own scripts for other purposes (power monitoring, gas consumption, water levels, zoneminder, cacti...). Glad that most of those scripts are host/dns based. But nevertheless...

That unfortunate that you may have to make changes.  Again, the way you have been operating is not, and never has been, supported.

I'll see to create a global grep in the system/db's to find any remains of the 192.168.80.x. 

That would be awesome!  We would love to be able to support this type of setup!  We will gladly accept patches!

J.