ComputingPhysicsBox < Main

---+ Physics Vagrant Box

This page is to document how to use our Vagrant box already shipped with CMSSW.

%TOC%

---++ Get the box

Currently is available at http://newman.ultralight.org/vagrant/centos-cvmfs.box

There is also a nicer alternative, that is to install [[https://www.vagrantup.com/downloads.html][Vagrant]] 1.5 + and just do the vagrant cloud mantra :

   * vagrant init samircury/centos-cvmfs 
   * Edit the "Vagrant" file to the box name you want (not default) 
   * vagrant up (this will download and start your VM). You will still need the memory configuration below.

---++ Setup the box

Obs: ALL the tutorial is considering the box name "physics" and not "centos-cvmfs".

Make sure to separate a directory for this and run something similar to :

<verbatim>
[samir@localhost physics]$ vagrant box add physics /home/samir/vagrant/centos/guinea-pig2/package.box
Downloading box from URL: file:/home/samir/vagrant/centos/guinea-pig2/package.box
Extracting box...te: 1870M/s, Estimated time remaining: --:--:--)
Successfully added box 'physics' with provider 'virtualbox'!

[samir@localhost physics]$ vagrant init
</verbatim>

We also need to do a bit of configuration. After vagrant init edit the "Vagrant" file (yes, it will be lying there in your chosen directory).

There are 2 points to configure in the Vagrant file :

   * The box name, let's call it "physics" :

<verbatim>
  # Every Vagrant virtual environment requires a box to build off of.
  config.vm.box = "physics"
</verbatim>

   * The available memory - this can change according to your use (CMSSW) :

<verbatim>
  config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |vb|
  #   # Don't boot with headless mode
  #   vb.gui = true
  #
  #   # Use VBoxManage to customize the VM. For example to change memory:
     vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", "2048"]
  end
</verbatim>

This piece of code will be commented, you have to uncomment it yourself, or copy and paste this piece of code in your Vagrant file, might also work.

---+ Starting and using

Now we're almost ready to go. Start the box :

<verbatim>
[samir@localhost physics]$ vagrant up
Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
[default] Importing base box 'physics'...
[default] Matching MAC address for NAT networking...
[default] Setting the name of the VM...
[default] Clearing any previously set forwarded ports...
[default] Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
[default] Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
[default] Forwarding ports...
[default] -- 22 => 2222 (adapter 1)
[default] Running 'pre-boot' VM customizations...
[default] Booting VM...
[default] Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
[default] Machine booted and ready!
[default] Mounting shared folders...
[default] -- /vagrant
</verbatim>

Sample output included just in case.

Now this part is not vagrant-standard. As the vagrant way to forward X (graphic environment) didn't work, I preferred to use the primitive and foolproof way. Once your box is up, we can use plain SSH :

<verbatim>
[samir@localhost physics]$ ssh student@localhost -X -A -p 2222
</verbatim>

And the password is "student".

Yes, I just did it, put in a public webpage a password. Why? Because this is not supposed to be secure. The Vagrant model itself has default root passwords (vagrant) and known key-pairs that allows anyone to have access to the box. Security is really not the point.

If you want to use this for deployments or anything more definitive then a temporary session, change the passwords.

Now to the physics.

---++ Using CMSSW and ROOT as "student"

Everything was taken care of before, so all you need to do is happily use CVMFS :

<verbatim>
[student@vagrant-centos64 ~]$ source /cvmfs/cms.cern.ch/cmsset_default.sh
</verbatim>

You have 2 options. Create a CMSSW area with your preferred release/arch (not the scope of this document), or use the default already shipped :

<verbatim>
[student@vagrant-centos64 ~]$ cd CMSSW_5_3_8/src/
[student@vagrant-centos64 src]$ cmsenv
</verbatim>

If nothing crashes at this point you have root and all CMS standard tools.

To test the X forward, call "root" and see the logo appearing on your screen. If you see messages like "display not set" something went wrong.

-- Main.samir - 2014-04-22
This topic: Main > ComputingPhysicsBox
Topic revision: r3 - 2014-04-22 - samir
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