This is a short README file regarding the VirtualBox shared installation on nsls2expdev1 Windows 2012 server.

I. VirtualBox shared directory

By default, each user has his own configuration & machines in the VirtualBox environment. As of today, VirtualBox was configured to use a shared directory available to all users, which is at D:\VMs\.

The instructions for multiple users access are adapted from http://lifeofageekadmin.com/allow-multiple-users/:

• VBOXUSERS group was created with 2 users (BNL\chubar and BNL\mrakitin);
• VBOX_USER_HOME environment variable was set to D:\VMs\.VirtualBox (that's the path where all configuration files of the VirtualBox installation are stored.

II. VirtualBox service

For MS Windows, VirtualBox does not have an option to run a VM as a service. For that purpose third-party software packages exist. I've choosen a free implementation VBoxVmService. This allows to install a service for a VM to run as the impersonated user (does not require to run a service as a domain user => no need to change the password for the service every 3-6 months). The instructions for configuration of the service are available at http://techgenix.com/start-virtualbox-service/. The package is installed in D:\VMs\VBoxVmService\, the VBoxVmService.ini file should look like:

[Settings]
VBOX_USER_HOME=D:\VMs\.VirtualBox
RunWebService=no
PauseShutdown=30000

[Vm0]
VmName=Sirepo
ShutdownMethod=savestate
AutoStart=yes

The service was installed in the Administrator mode by the following commands:

> D:\
> cd D:\VMs\VBoxVmService\
> VmServiceControl.exe -i

or use VmServiceControl.exe -u and then VmServiceControl.exe -i to reinstall the service.

The startup type of the created service VBoxVmService should be updated to be Automatic (Delayed Start) to run 2 minutes after all Windows services have started.

Note: the GUI will not display correct status of the VM since it runs in a separate environment. Check the logs at D:\VMs\VBoxVmService\VBoxVmService.log for the correct status information. Something like the following should be in the logs:

09/05/2017, 10:05:46 - VBoxVmService started.
09/05/2017, 10:05:47 - List all the VMs found by VBoxVmService
09/05/2017, 10:05:47 -   VM0: Sirepo is saved.
09/05/2017, 10:05:53 -   VM Sirepo has been started up.

The structure of D:\VMs\:

• .VirtualBox\ - general VirtualBox configuration files
• VBoxVmService\ - VBoxVmService files
• VirtualBox VMs\ - Sirepo VM configuration and disk files

III. Sirepo services inside Sirepo VM:

Connect over ssh to nsls2expdev1.bnl.gov:2222 with vagrant user and run:

screen -R -D my

To switch between screens use Ctrl>+^ then Space bar.

• screen 0:

htop

• screen 1:

If there is an existing container, clean it by the command:

bash ~/src/mrakitin/utils/bash/clean_docker.sh mgmt

Then run:

docker pull rabbitmq:management
docker run --rm --hostname rabbit --name rabbit -p 5672:5672 -p 15672:15672 rabbitmq:management

• screen 2:

celery worker -A sirepo.celery_tasks -l info -Q parallel,sequential

• screen 3:

celery flower -A sirepo.celery_tasks

• screen 4:

sirepo service http

• screen 5 (used for console operations):

cd ~/src/radiasoft/sirepo
git pull --all  # pull the latest version of Sirepo

IV. Troubleshooting

If Sirepo fails to open any of the predefined examples (e.g., Undulator Radiation), it may mean the server is missing some of the simulaiton codes.

To install the missing packages, execute the following commands:

cd ~/src/radiasoft/sirepo
pip install -r requirements.txt

To install WARP, do the following:

curl radia.run | bash -s code warp rsbeams

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2017-09-06 by Maksim Rakitin