Introduction
Please see the article “Build a Linux-based Infrastructure Solution Demonstration Series” (https://blogs.czapski.id.au/2016/10/build-a-linux-based-infrastructure-solution-demonstration-series) for how this image came about and “gtkdialog Exploration” (https://blogs.czapski.id.au/2017/04/gtkdialog-exploration) for the rationale, introduction and links to articles in this series.
In this post I provide the link to the 7zip archive parts which put together will provide the VirtualBox “.ova” export file. The “.ova” can be imported into the VirtualBox 5.1.x as a new VirtualBox Machine Image.
This VirtualBox Machine Image has been built following steps in the series of blog articles under the collective heading of “Build a Linux-based Infrastructure Solution Demonstration Series”, to be found at https://blogs.czapski.id.au/2016/10/build-a-linux-based-infrastructure-solution-demonstration-series. It can be used as the basis for exploring other topics discussed in subsequent blog articles whether in this series or in related series.
Pre-Requisites
This article assumes that the Virtual Box 5.1.x software (https://www.virtualbox.org/) for the appropriate host OS has been installed.
Download Image Parts
The 7zip archive consists of 4 parts of around 650MB each, for a total of reconstructed .ova file of 2.5GB. The imported machine will take about 6GB of disk space.
Download the following to a suitable directory:
https://blogs.czapski.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.001
https://blogs.czapski.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.002
https://blogs.czapski.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.003
https://blogs.czapski.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.004
Combine Parts into .ova
Copy the parts to a suitable directory in a file system with at least 3 GB of free space.
Open the first part with an archiver capable of dealing with 7zip archives and extract the file demo_v1.1.3_20170408.ova.
On Windows in a command box the command might be like the following (substitute drive letters and paths as appropriate, noting that -oO:\ points to the output drive and directory and that there is a space between it and the name of the output file which follows):
"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" e D:\demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.001 -oO:\ demo_v1.1.3_20170408.ova -y
7-Zip [64] 16.04 : Copyright (c) 1999-2016 Igor Pavlov : 2016-10-04 Scanning the drive for archives: 1 file, 681574400 bytes (650 MiB) Extracting archive: D:\demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.001 -- Path = D:\demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z.001 Type = Split Physical Size = 681574400 Volumes = 4 Total Physical Size = 2546348186 ---- Path = demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z Size = 2546348186 -- Path = demo_v1.1.3_20170408.7z Type = 7z Physical Size = 2546348186 Headers Size = 154 Method = Copy Solid = - Blocks = 1 Everything is Ok Size: 2546348032 Compressed: 2546348186
Import Image
Use the VirtualBox Manager UI to import the .ova file.
Before you do, check where in your file system the machine directory will be created and change as appropriate, bearing in mind that the target directory must be on a device with at least 7GB of free space or that the directory has a quote of at least 7GB of space if your environment uses disk space quotas:
File->Preferences->General->Default Machine Folder: ???
Once you are happy that the machine will go into the directory appropriate for your environment import the machine image:
File->Import Appliance…
Locate the .ova file, change whatever machine settings seem in need of change, like increase the amount of memory, the number of CPUs, etc., and Import.
Agree to the copyright statement (in which I claim no copyright or any other rights).
On my machine the process takes about 2 minutes and produces a machine image directory which uses approximately 6.6GB of space.
Make and use Snapshots
So that I have a known place to revert to if I mess something up, the first this I always do after importing an image is to take a “as imported” snapshot. I also take snapshots at various points in my work so that I don’t have too much to re-do if I make am mistake and have to roll back and re-do some work. I recommend that you consider this as a piece of good advice.
073_import_vm.png
Credentials
As discussed in the article “Configure Virtual Box Virtual Machine and Install CentOS 6.8 Base Image”, https://blogs.czapski.id.au/2016/10/configure-virtual-box-virtual-machine-and-install-centos-6-8-base-image, all passwords configured to this point are “welcome1”. That includes the root password. Change as necessary.
The image is configured in such a way that on boot the user “demo” will be automatically logged in. That user is in the sudoers file and has passwordless sudo rights.
