Minimal VirtualBox VRDP Setup - a quick guide

[Jock_McTartan]

Been setting up a minimal VRDP server and thought I'd share....it's a work in porgress

VRDP lets you run a headless server and access the VMs via RDP

Minimal VirtualBox

This is based on a minimal install of Debian Etch so first off download the Netinst iso – currently at:
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r1/i386/iso-cd/

Install base system - when it prompts to add a mirror say no, reboot and login

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to add these lines

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib

Run the following

apt-get update

Add X (optional)

Install X, WM and Desktop

apt-get install xserver-xorg-core xorg
apt-get install gdm
apt-get install fluxbox

May be handy to install a browser:

apt-get install firefox

Download VirtualBox

wget http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1.5.2/virtualbox_1.5.2-25433_Debian_etch_i386.deb

Install it

dpkg -i virtualbox_1.5.2-25433_Debian_etch_i386.deb

Fix the dependancy errors

apt-get install -f

Once X is added Debs boots to it in all runlevels so we'll make our own console bootup

cd /etc/rc4.d/
mv Sxxgdm to Kxxgdm

Change the line in /etc/inittab to boot to init 4

id:4:initdefault

As root add the user that will run the VM to vboxusers group

usermod -G vboxusers [your user]

Check that /dev/vboxdrv has execute rights for vboxusers group

The networking setup will vary depending on what you require - I wanted a seperate network for my VMs but still RDP from my main machine

On my Windows box (where I will RDP from and not part of VM network) I set a secondary IP (eg 192.168.111.1)

Reconfigure IP on VM box by editing
/etc/network/interfaces

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0

iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.111.2
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        broadcast 191.168.111.255
        gateway 192.168.111.1

Or at command line

ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 192.168.111.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

Add route if needed (not necessary as want to be seperate)
route add default gw 192.168.111.1

I'm using ISOs stored on the server for installs purely for ease of use
Bung the CD in the drive and do the following:

mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /cdrom
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=cd.iso

Now create a VM and enable RDP – we will also change the listening port for each one created to allow you to run multiple VMs

VBoxManage createvm -name “Your VM” -register
VBoxManage modifyvm “Your VM” -memory “128MB” -acpi on -boot1 dvd -nic1 intnet
VBoxManage createvdi -filename “VM.vdi” -size 4000 -register
VBoxManage modifyvm “Your VM” -hda “VM.vdi”
VBoxManage registerimage dvd /full/path/to/iso.iso
VBoxManage modifyvm “Your VM” -dvd /full/path/to/iso.iso
VBoxManage modifyvm “Your VM” -vrdpport 3390
VBoxVRDP -startvm “Your VM”

Your VM will now be running - lets put it in the background to allow you to create some more
Hit CTRL + Z and type

bg

To bring it back use

fg

To stop it running use

kill [PID]

Now you should be able to connect to your VMs using a RDP client and the port you specified

If using a Windows machine to RDp from tey this for a better response from RDP - edit the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client
Add a DWORD - Min Send Interval
Value - 10

Also you may have issues with the mouse pointer until the guestadditions have been installed

Now add a SSH server so you can remotelly issue commands etc...

Hope that's of some use to someone