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5 <title>Cake LAMP VM Documentation</title>
8 <h1 style="text-align: center;">The cakelampvm VM:<br>
9 Configuration and Usage</h1>
10 <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">By Chris
11 Koeritz</span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"></span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"></span><br>
12 <span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">feisty meow® concerns ltd</span>.</div>
13 <h3 style=" text-align: center;"> Vintage: cakelampvm v002
14 Updated: 2018-1-7 (rev. i)</h3>
15 <p>The cakelampvm project provides a Virtualbox VM that acts as an "internet
16 in a bottle", serving up your web sites securely and only to your local
17 host. The virtual machine provides DNS services (<a target="_blank"
18 title="dns server" href="http://www.bind9.net/">bind9</a>), a Web server
19 (<a target="_blank" title="patchy" href="https://httpd.apache.org/">Apache2</a>),
20 a full <a target="_blank" title="ubuntu means compassion and humanity" href="https://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a>
21 <a target="_blank" title="it's pronounced leenoox" href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/">Linux</a>
22 desktop environment, the <a target="_blank" title="flux is change" href="http://fluxbox.org/">Fluxbox</a>
23 <a target="_blank" title="x11 -- best windowing system" href="https://www.x.org/">X
24 window manager</a>, and a suite of tools called the <a target="_blank"
25 title="feisty meow® concerns ltd. website" href="https://feistymeow.org/">Feisty
26 Meow® codebase</a> . Together, these services provide you with a
27 very flexible and powerful testbed for web development, especially suited
28 for <a target="_blank" title="it's cake" href="https://cakephp.org/">CakePHP</a>.
29 This VM was built with the assistance of and was partially funded by <a target="_blank"
30 title="saco design" href="http://sacodesign.com">Saco Design</a> of <a
31 target="_blank" title="winterport" href="http://www.winterportmaine.gov/">Winterport,
33 <p>Commands in fixed-width bold below are intended to be typed into a bash
34 shell running on the cakelampvm virtual machine. The bash shell can
35 be obtained either by logging into the VM through ssh or by logging in
36 directly to the Virtualbox VM console. You may find the ssh session
37 more convenient, because copy & paste features work as expected.</p>
38 <p>Commands preceded by a greater-than symbol ('>') are intended to be
39 run on the Host PC in a Windows command prompt (or in a bash prompt
40 running on the Host PC).</p>
41 <h2> Guest VM Configuration<a id="#config" name="#config"></a></h2>
43 <li>Hostname: <a target="_blank" title="the vm's website, when configured properly"
44 href="https://cakelampvm.com/">cakelampvm.com</a></li>
45 <li>Local IP Address: 10.28.42.20</li>
46 <li>Services Included: DNS (bind9), apache2, fluxbox X windowing system, <a
47 target="_blank" title="not just in the garden" href="https://www.gnome.org/">gnome
48 display manager</a></li>
49 <li>Main VM User: developer (password distributed separately)</li>
50 <li>Database Access: mysql root account, password: (password distributed
53 <h2>How to set up virtualbox for your host PC<a id="#virtualbox-setup" name="#virtualbox-setup"></a></h2>
55 <li>Download and install virtualbox: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads">https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads</a></li>
56 <li>Install the extension pack for Virtualbox: This provides USB drivers
57 and other features. This is installed on Virtualbox itself (on the
58 Host PC), not on the guests.</li>
60 <li>Download the extension pack (also) at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads">https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads</a></li>
61 <li>Stop any running Virtualbox VMs.</li>
62 <li>Close the Virtualbox control panel.</li>
63 <li>Double-click on the downloaded extensions package (in a file
64 explorer) and Virtualbox should be launched to install it.</li>
66 <li>Run the Virtualbox control panel.</li>
67 <li>Download the cakelampvm guest vm package and unzip it. Store the
68 unzipped version in some appropriate place where you want the virtual
69 machine to reside on your host's hard drive.</li>
70 <li>Add the guest VM to your list of VMs. From the Virtualbox menus,
71 choose the "Machine" menu and select "Add". Point the selector
72 dialog at the cakelampvm folder you created above and open the
73 cakelampvm.vbox file.</li>
74 <li>Now the cakelampvm should show up in the list of virtual
75 machines. Before starting it, perform the following network
76 configuration sections.</li>
78 <h3>Configure the Host-Only network on Virtualbox<a id="#host-only" name="#host-only"></a></h3>
79 <p>Configuring host-only networking for the VM makes the VM completely local
80 to your machine. The cakelampvm will not be accessible on the
81 internet or from the LAN, and can only be accessed by your host PC.
82 This is a key component of security for your VM and your host PC, and is
83 considered a crucial configuration step.</p>
84 <p>Note: If the host-only or NAT network exist ahead of time, Virtualbox may
85 complain about them even if they have the correct configuration.
86 This can be corrected simply by opening the cakelampvm settings and
87 selecting the appropriate network names again.</p>
88 <p>To configure the host-only network, follow these steps:</p>
90 <li> Go to virtual box "Preferences" (global preferences, not for a
92 <li> Click on the "Network" tab.</li>
93 <li> Choose the "Host-only Networks" tab from within "Network".</li>
94 <li> Click the plus icon to add a new host-only network, or if there is
95 already a Host-only network, then edit it.</li>
96 <li>Set the "Adapter" parameters:<br>
97 IPv4 Address: 10.28.42.1<br>
98 IPv4 Network Mask: 255.255.255.0<br>
99 IPv6 Address: (leave blank)<br>
100 IPv6 Prefix Length: 0<br>
101 Virtualbox will fill in the other details like so (this dialog may
102 differ between versions of virtualbox):<br>
103 <p><img alt="host only network adapter" src="images/host_only_network_adapter.png"></p>
105 <li>Set the "DHCP Server Settings" to disabled, e.g.<br>
106 <img alt="host only dhcp" src="images/host_only_adapter_dhcp_server.png"><br>
107 This is disabled because we will be using statically assigned addresses
108 for convenience and stability.</li>
110 <p>Additional information on host-only (and other) network adapter types is
111 at: https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html#network_nat_service</p>
112 <h3>Configure the NAT Network on Virtualbox<a id="#nat-network" name="#nat-network"></a></h3>
113 <p>The NAT (Network Address Translation) network allows the VM to get off of
114 the machine and onto the internet safely. It will use this interface
115 for any communication off of the host machine. This is another
116 crucial component for the security of the VM and your host PC. Since
117 the real IP address of the VM is hidden behind the NAT firewall on
118 Virtualbox, this keeps the VM safe from attackers, and hence your machine
119 stays safe as well.</p>
120 <p>To set up the NAT network, follow these steps:</p>
122 <li> Go to virtual box "Preferences" (global preferences, not for a
124 <li> Click on the "Network" tab.</li>
125 <li> Choose the "Nat Networks" tab from within "Network".</li>
126 <li> Click the plus icon to add a new host-only network.</li>
127 <li>Set the "NAT Network Details" parameters:<br>
128 Network Name: NatNetwork<br>
129 Network CIDR: 10.0.2.0/24<br>
130 Supports DHCP: checked<br>
131 Supports IPv6: optionally checked<br>
132 These are my settings, with IPv6 left disabled (this dialog may differ
133 between versions of virtualbox):<br>
134 <img alt="nat net config" src="images/nat_network_config.png"></li>
136 <h2>Starting up the VM and Connecting to It<a id="#start-vm" name="#start-vm"></a></h2>
137 <p>Using the Virtualbox interface, you should now be able to start your
138 virtual machine. Virtualbox will complain if it detects any
139 remaining configuration problems in the VM. The Linux boot sequence
140 will show many lines of text, before bringing up a black console window
141 with a login dialog.</p>
142 <p>If Windows complains about the Virtualbox application slamming into its
143 firewall, then allow the Virtualbox to get through. Usually, telling
144 Windows that once is enough, but if any odd network access problems
145 result, edit the Windows firewall settings and allow Virtualbox to use
146 both "Public" and "Private" networks. (Cortana can find the firewall
147 settings if you ask her about 'firewall'. Within the firewall
148 configuration dialog, look for "Allow an app or feature through..." on the
149 left and configure Virtualbox from within that list.)</p>
150 You can log in directly on the VM console with the developer account, but it
151 is generally more useful to connect to the cakelampvm over ssh. If the
152 networking has been established properly, you should be able to do this
154 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ssh developer@10.28.42.20<br># or perform the equivalent connection with your ssh client.</span></pre>
155 <p>And then provide the password to log in.</p>
156 <p>Once the DNS services are set up (discussed in detail below), you will be
157 able to run the much friendlier command:</p>
158 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ssh developer@cakelampvm.com</span></pre>
159 <h4>Key Forwarding to the VM</h4>
160 <p>It is important to set up ssh key forwarding to enable your use of git
161 repositories while logged into the VM. Key forwarding should be
162 enabled for the VM's two fake host identities:</p>
163 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">cakelampvm.com<br>10.28.42.20</span></pre>
164 <h2>Updating cakelampvm to the Latest Model<a id="#update-vm" name="#update-vm"></a></h2>
165 <p>The cakelampvm v002 is released with the intention that it not need to be
166 released again. Version 001 was not built with that explicit
167 intention, which then required the release of Version 002. But we
168 hope to not need a v003 release...</p>
169 <p>There is an update feature built into the VM that is quite easy to
170 use. The updates are driven by the feisty meow script repository in
171 conjunction with a local scripted command. To activate the "update
172 process" for your VM, run the following commands on the VM:</p>
173 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;"># update to the latest version of feisty meow.<br>rpuffer $FEISTY_MEOW_APEX; reconfigure_feisty_meow<br># enact any configuration changes needed, such as permissions and account setup.
174 revamp_cakelampvm</span></pre>
175 <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>
176 <p>These two commands can be run at any time to patch up your VM to the
178 <p>Recent versions of feisty meow support a new "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: monospace;">get_feisty</span>"
179 command, which will behave the same as the first line above. Once
180 you have run the "puffer..." command above for the first time (on
181 cakelampvm v002), this new command becomes available.</p>
183 <li>The "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: monospace;">get_feisty</span>"
184 command is useful in its own right for getting the latest version of the
185 feisty meow code; run it again if you need bug fixes or if you want the
186 most recent cakelampvm documentation.</li>
187 <li>The "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: monospace;">revamp_cakelampvm</span>"
188 command can be used to repair many situations when the cakelampvm has
189 gone astray, especially for problems with permissions.</li>
191 <h2>First Tasks as the Developer User</h2>
192 <p>Here are some first steps that will make the vm your own:</p>
194 <li>Change your password for the developer account. (This may
195 eventually be required and automatic.) First, log into the VM with
196 ssh. Then type this command:<br>
197 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">passwd</span></pre>
198 The 'passwd' command will ask for your current password, and then for a
199 new password plus a verification of that new password.<br>
200 You will probably want to change your samba password as well, which is
201 used when accessing the virtual machine over the network. This is
202 a different, but very similar, command on Linux:<br>
203 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">smbpasswd</span></pre>
205 <li>Change your git configuration for the user and email address.
206 This is how we've configured it so far:<br>
209 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">git config --global user.email "developer@cakelampvm.com"</span></pre>
212 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">git config --global user.name "Developer J. Cakemo"</span></pre>
215 If you're developing on a real project, you probably don't want the
216 bogus email and even more bogus name above attached to your
217 commits. Just run the two commands again but with proper values.</li>
219 <h2>Powering up with the Feisty Meow® scripts<a id="#powerup" name="#powerup"></a></h2>
220 The feisty meow scripts are a cohesive bash scripting environment for
221 getting a variety of tasks done. The feisty meow scripts recently
222 incorporated the "avbash" collection from Saco Design and added those
223 scripts to a new "site_avenger" collection of scripts. The site
224 avenger scripts provide tools for bringing up CakePHP web sites and managing
225 the collection of repositories for those sites. Each website is
226 considered an "application", and the application name itself (e.g.
227 "winterportlibrary") can often provide all the details for "powering up" the
228 site. The feisty meow team has added additional scripts for managing
229 DNS domains and Apache websites that provide the capability to "stand up" an
230 entire website around an application, with an accompanying DNS domain and an
231 Apache2 site definition.
232 <p>The site avenger scripts are documented separately within the feisty meow
233 codebase. Consult the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">f</span><a
234 target="_blank" title="quickstart" href="https://feistymeow.org/feisty_meow/readme.txt">eisty
236 readme</a> file first, as it provides some valuable information on
237 configuring the codebase initially. The site avenger script commands
238 are documented in the <a target="_blank" title="useful commands" href="https://feistymeow.org/feisty_meow/documentation/feisty_meow_command_reference.txt">feisty
239 meow command reference</a> file.</p>
240 <p>(The feisty meow codebase is already configured for the developer account
241 on the cakelampvm virtual machine.)</p>
242 <h2>Using the guest VM's DNS services<a id="#dns-from-vm" name="#dns-from-vm"></a></h2>
243 <p>The cakelampvm has been set up to provide a DNS server which will answer
244 name lookup requests on any of the sites that the cakelampvm is hosting
245 for you. It will also serve as a general DNS server for any other
246 domains that need to be looked up.</p>
247 <p>To use the cakelampvm DNS, modify your host operating system network
248 configuration by adding or changing the DNS server to use the guest VM's
249 DNS service. The cakelampvm is available at the local IP address
250 10.28.42.20. (The DNS server can be tested with nslookup, dig and
252 <p>Note that the cakelampvm DNS should be listed first, if one intends to
253 override any DNS names that actually exist out on the internet.
254 Further, we have found it most effective to have *only* the cakelampvm as
255 your DNS server, because a secondary DNS server can "take over" providing
256 the name lookups, and thus foul up DNS requests that should succeed for
257 your VM-hosted sites.</p>
258 <p>If your Host PC is running Windows, see the DNS configuration section
259 below that is tailored to that operating system.</p>
260 <p>Important Note: It behooves you to remember to switch back to a normal
261 DNS server configuration when you shut off the cakelampvm, or your machine
262 will not know the names of any sites on the internet any more! The
263 official Google DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.</p>
264 <p>Once the DNS server is properly set up (by whatever means necessary),
265 these ping commands should get answering responses (from 10.28.42.20) on
266 both the cakelampvm VM and on your host PC. Note: ping on Linux
267 keeps going forever, so hit control-C when you are tired of seeing the
269 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ping cakelampvm.com</span></pre>
270 <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>
271 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ping www.cakelampvm.com</span></pre>
272 <p>Note that any other answer than 10.28.42.20 for the address is *bzzzt*
273 wrong, and means something needs to be fixed.</p>
274 <p>If these pings succeed (which hopefully they will!), then try accessing
275 the websites of each domain:</p>
276 <pre>(browse to) <a target="_blank" title="vm website if dns working" href="http://cakelampvm.com">http://cakelampvm.com</a></pre>
277 <pre>(browse to) <a target="_blank" title="mapsdemo app, hopefully functional"
278 href="http://mapsdemo.cakelampvm.com">http://mapsdemo.cakelampvm.com</a></pre>
279 <p>These should show local sites on the VM rather than sites on the
280 internet. If you instead get failures to find the domains, or if the
281 "real internet" site comes up for cakelampvm.com (the page covered with
282 red X marks and complaining), then the DNS is not hooked up properly yet.</p>
283 <h4>Setting up DNS on Windows<a id="#windoze-dns" name="#windoze-dns"></a></h4>
284 <p>The ipconfig tool will provide helpful information about your current
285 networking and DNS configuration:</p>
286 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">> ipconfig /all</span></pre>
287 <p>The DNS configuration on Windows is somewhat byzantine. The pipe
288 characters ('|') below are used to separate the menus or tabs or dialogs
289 to traverse. Follow this path to get to the DNS config:</p>
290 <pre>Control Panel | Network & Internet | Network & Sharing | click WiFI or Ethernet link near top right | click Adapter Settings button...<br> | click on the specific network device to modify | select Properties</pre>
291 <p>Once the properties dialog is displayed, find "internet protocol version
292 4" in the list and double click it.</p>
293 <p>Change the DNS setting from "obtain...automatically" to "use the
294 following dns addresses".</p>
295 <p>Enter 10.28.42.20 as the first DNS address and clear the second address
297 <p>Hit okay, then okay, then close, etc to back out of adapter
299 <h4>Troubleshooting the DNS</h4>
300 <p>If your pings are getting the wrong answers and you're certain the DNS
301 settings on your Host PC are right, then you may need to flush your DNS
302 cache, and that might be sufficient to start getting the right IP
303 address. On Windows, the command for flushing DNS is:</p>
304 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">> ipconfig /flushdns</span></pre>
305 <p>and on Linux the flush DNS command can be many different things, but try
306 these two most common options:</p>
307 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;"># restarts the client side DNS cache.<br>sudo service dns-clean restart</span></pre>
309 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;"># restarts the nscd caching server.<br>sudo service nscd restart</span></pre>
310 After, this try the pings again. If they still fail, please go back
311 over your DNS configuration very carefully. The cakelampvm's DNS
312 feature *does* actually work, but operating systems sometimes do their best
314 <h4>Host Key Issues for ssh</h4>
315 <p>There is one caveat to be aware of when connecting to the cakelampvm.com
316 domain. If you have accidentally added the "real" cakelampvm.com
317 domain from the internet to your ssh known_keys at some point, then ssh
318 will complain about connecting to the VM on the cakelampvm.com
319 domain. This complaint will look like:</p>
320 <pre>The authenticity of host 'cakelampvm.com (104.236.56.82)' can't be established.</pre>
321 <p>Note that the IP address shown is not our beloved 10.28.42.20 local IP
323 <p>To fix this, remove the entry pointing at the "real" site from the
324 known_hosts file (ssh will print out the line number of the offending
325 entry). The DNS configuration needs to be configured before you will
326 get the warning about the cakelampvm.com domain. Up until then, the
327 domain name is always referring to the site out on the internet with the
328 red X's and warnings. See the DNS configuration section below to
329 configure DNS the first time.</p>
330 <p>Once you connect to the VM and the ssh client records the VM's host key
331 in your known_hosts, then you're in good shape. This state also
332 gives you a "canary in a coal mine" warning system... Once the VM is
333 registered as a known host, then any attempt to connect back to the "real"
334 internet version of cakelampvm.com will garner a complaint from ssh.
335 This version of the ssh warning should be heeded; you do not want to
336 connect to the real internet site, and the warning indicates that the host
337 PC is no longer using the DNS on the VM (since it reached the real
338 internet site instead of the VM). That situation needs to be
339 corrected by running through the DNS configuration section again (and
340 testing the DNS until it is working).</p>
341 <h4>Troubleshooting the Apache Sites</h4>
342 <p>If your DNS pings and lookups are functioning properly, but you're just
343 not getting the right websites, then try clearing your browser's cache and
344 shutting the browser application down. Then, start the browser up
345 and try the address again. Often this cache dumping is enough to fix
346 the browser so that you start seeing the local website versions on
348 <h2>Editing files on the guest VM from the host<a id="#editing-files-on-vm"
349 name="#editing-files-on-vm"></a></h2>
350 <p>On the host computer, look for the guest vm as a networked computer
351 called cakelampvm. This should provide some network shares using
352 Microsoft SMB protocol, and they can be attached to using the "developer"
353 user and its password.</p>
354 <p>On windows, one may want to mount this network location as a drive letter
355 for easier access.</p>
356 <p>Currently, the root of all web servers is exposed as "www". Editing
357 the files in those folders requires ownership by the developer user.
358 The existing mapsdemo site is owned by a different user ("fred") rather
359 than developer, mostly as a test case. The "fred", "developer", and
360 "www-data" accounts on the VM have all been put into each others Unix
361 "groups" so that they can access each other's files, and thus you may not
362 notice any issues editing fred's files.</p>
363 <p>One should be able to create a new directory over the network also.
364 Try creating a junk folder in the "www" folder, and then deleting it
365 again. That should succeed, and this approach can be used to create
366 folders (from the Host PC) that are owned by the developer user (on the
367 VM). You should be able to create folders or copy files within the
368 developer's home folder also ("/home/developer").</p>
369 <p>If you run into any permission problems that prevent file access, either
370 remotely or within the VM itself, then try running this command to fix
371 them (repeated from the section above about updating the cakelampvm):</p>
372 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">revamp_cakelampvm</span></pre>
373 <p>Afterwards, the www folder and others should allow the developer user to
374 create new folders at will.</p>
375 <h2>Accessing files on the host PC from the guest VM<a id="#samba-shares" name="#samba-shares"></a></h2>
376 <p>If you want to share a folder from the host to the guest, perhaps for
377 driver updates or other conveniences, then make the share with these
380 <li>Create a folder on the host that is to be shared.</li>
381 <li>Right-click on the vm in Virtualbox manager and choose "Settings".</li>
382 <li>In the "Shared Folders" tab of the settings, go to "Machine Folders".</li>
383 <li>Click the folder plus icon to create a new share.</li>
384 <li>Fill in the "Folder Path" on the host PC to the folder that will be
385 shared, and give it a name for the guest. We assume the folder
386 name will be "myshare".</li>
387 <li>On the guest vm, run the following commands to mount the share:<br>
388 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;"># make the guest's version of the shared folder<br>mkdir ~/shared<br># mount the vm's share name onto the folder on the vm.<br>sudo mount -t vboxsf myshare ~/shared</span></pre>
391 <h2>X11 applications launched from the VM</h2>
392 <p>[incomplete section]</p>
393 <p>If a feature called "X forwarding" is enabled in your ssh client, then
394 you can start graphical applications on the VM and display them on your
395 local machine. This works right away on most Linux hosts, but can
396 also work on PCs with X window system installed. This section
397 describes how to set up Cygwin to run X server, which enables X11
398 forwarding to your local display.</p>
399 <p>...{insert that info}...</p>
400 <h2>Adding a new website and domain on the guest VM</h2>
401 <p>Note: these instructions, even the quick approaches below, pale in
402 comparison to the ease of use of the "standup" command in feisty meow's
403 site avenger scripts. The standup command is detailed in the <a
404 target="_blank" title="useful commands" href="https://feistymeow.org/feisty_meow/documentation/feisty_meow_command_reference.txt">feisty
405 meow command reference</a> document. These instructions are for
406 situations when the domain or site is idiosyncratic in some way that
407 standup doesn't support.</p>
408 <p>To add a new website, you will first need to pick one of the DNS options
409 below (A or B) depending on how you want to name the site. If the
410 DNS name of the site is contained within another existing domain (e.g.,
411 "A.B.C" has subdomain A contained in domain B.C), use Option A. If
412 the DNS name is a so-called "Second Level Domain" (SLD), then it stands on
413 its own (e.g., "B.C" is an SLD).</p>
414 <p>Once the DNS option has been picked and implemented, continue to the next
415 section of "Creating a New Apache Site".</p>
416 <p>For either Option A or Option B, first connect to the cakelampvm via ssh
417 as the developer user, e.g.: ssh developer@cakelampvm.com </p>
418 <h3>DNS Option A: Adding a sub-domain in an existing domain</h3>
419 <p>Let us say a customer needs an application called "excalibur". It
420 will be a new subdomain within an existing domain, such as the
421 "cakelampvm.com" domain, meaning we want the VM to start answering
422 requests for "excalibur.cakelampvm.com".</p>
423 Note that this option requires the containing domain "cakelampvm.com" to
424 already exist before adding the subdomain; see DNS Option B below for
425 details on how to add a containing domain for the first time.
426 <h4>Quick approach: Use the feisty meow "add_domain" command.</h4>
427 <p>Run this command in a bash shell on the VM:</p>
428 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">add_domain excalibur.cakelampvm.com</span></pre>
430 <h4>Manual approach: Edit the bind9 configuration.</h4>
431 <p>Note: the manual approach is not compatible with later use of feisty
432 meow's "remove_domain".</p>
433 Execute the following command to edit the DNS file for the cakelampvm
435 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo vi /etc/bind/cakelampvm.com.conf</span></pre>
436 <p>Add a stanza for the new site at the end of this file:</p>
437 <pre>excalibur.cakelampvm.com. IN A 10.28.42.20<br> IN HINFO "linux server" "ubuntu"</pre>
438 <p>Restart the DNS server:</p>
439 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo service bind9 restart</span></pre>
440 <p>Afterwards, pinging excalibur.cakelampvm.com should work from both the
441 guest VM and the host PC.</p>
442 <h3>DNS Option B: Using an entirely new domain for the site</h3>
443 <p>This is a similar procedure to Option A, but we will create a totally new
444 config file for the new domain and add it to the bind directory. For
445 this example, we need to add the site "excalibur.tv" into the DNS.</p>
446 <h4>Quick approach: Use the feisty meow "add_domain" command.</h4>
447 Run this command in a bash shell on the VM:
448 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">add_domain excalibur.tv</span></pre>
450 <h4>Manual approach: Edit a new DNS config file</h4>
451 <p>Note: the manual approach is not compatible with later use of feisty
452 meow's "remove_domain".</p>
453 Create a file called /etc/bind/excalibur.tv.conf for our new domain
454 excalibur.tv with these contents:
455 <pre>$TTL 1W<br>@ IN SOA @ fred.cakelampvm.com. (<br> 2017100801 ; serial<br> 2H ; refresh<br> 8M ; retry<br> 14D ; expiry<br> 6H ) ; minimum<br><br> IN NS ns.cakelampvm.com.<br> IN MX 10 mail.cakelampvm.com.<br><br># new SLD for our excalibur site.<br>excalibur.tv. IN A 10.28.42.20<br> IN HINFO "linux server" "ubuntu"</pre>
456 The gnarly prefix stuff above the "excalibur.tv." listing establishes
457 configuration info for the new domain. This file relies on the
458 existing cakelampvm.com infrastructure in DNS, such as the "ns" host, which
459 is the domain's name server. However, the new domain does <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span>
460 live inside the cakelampvm.com domain.<br>
461 <p>Now that the config file is in place, edit "/etc/bind/named.conf.local"
462 to add the new file by adding this bit of configuration at the end:</p>
463 <pre>zone "excalibur.tv" in {<br> file "/etc/bind/excalibur.tv.conf";<br> type master;<br> allow-query { any; };<br>};</pre>
464 <p>Restart the DNS server:</p>
465 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo service bind9 restart</span></pre>
466 <p>Afterwards, pinging excalibur.tv should work from both the guest and the
468 <h3>Creating a New Apache Site</h3>
469 <p>First, connect to the cakelampvm via ssh as the developer user, e.g.: ssh
470 developer@cakelampvm.com </p>
471 <h4>Quick approach: Use the feisty meow "add_apache_site" command.</h4>
472 <p>Run this command in a bash shell on the VM:</p>
473 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">add_apache_site excalibur excalibur.tv</span></pre>
474 <p>(The first parameter is the application name, the second is the domain
477 <h4>Manual approach: Edit an Apache config file</h4>
478 <p>Note: the manual approach is not compatible with later use of feisty
479 meow's "remove_apache_site".</p>
480 <p>For Apache, the choice of DNS Option A or B, subdomain or SLD, does not
481 matter. The site configuration file just has to accurately specify
482 the domain in question.</p>
483 <p>Start with the following template file for the new website, and modify it
484 for the appropriate host name and "DocumentRoot" path:</p>
485 <pre><VirtualHost *:80><br> ServerName excalibur.tv
486 DocumentRoot /home/apps/excalibur<br> ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/excalibur.tv-error.log<br> CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/excalibur.tv-access.log combined<br> Include /etc/apache2/conf-library/basic-options.conf<br> Include /etc/apache2/conf-library/rewrite-enabling.conf<br></VirtualHost></pre>
487 <p>The above example is appropriate for our excalibur app in the
488 excalibur.tv domain (using DNS Option B). Modifying the excalibur.tv
489 references in it (and the path in the DocumentRoot) is sufficient to
490 re-target it for any domain you want.</p>
491 <p>Copy the new site config file into "/etc/apache2/sites-available" with an
492 appropriate file name that includes the site's domain name. We will
493 call our config file "excalibur.tv.conf". If you developed the file
494 in your home folder, this would be the command to move it up to Apache:</p>
495 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo cp ~/excalibur.tv.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available</span></pre>
496 <p>Then tell apache to use the new file:</p>
497 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo a2ensite excalibur.tv<br># the '.conf' portion of the filename is unnecessary for this command.</span>
499 <p>Finally, restart apache to get it to begin serving the site:</p>
500 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo service apache2 restart</span></pre>
501 <h3>Test the new web site</h3>
502 <p>Given the configuration above, your host PC should now be able to access
503 the new website on the domain "excalibur.tv".</p>
504 <p>To test this, first try pinging the new DNS name:</p>
505 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ping excalibur.tv</span></pre>
506 <p>If there are responses to the ping <span style="font-weight: bold;">*and*</span>
507 the answer is 10.28.42.20, then it means the DNS is working.</p>
508 <p>If there are no responses or it's some other IP address talking back,
509 check the instructions in the above DNS sections.</p>
510 <p>Once the DNS is working, try browsing to the site at "<a title="it's excalibur, wilbur!"
511 href="http://excalibur.tv">http://excalibur.tv</a>". That should
512 at least bring up the configured site storage path, even if nothing is
513 being served from that folder yet.</p>
514 <p>If the new site is not showing up properly, try examining the apache logs
515 for any error messages that can be corrected. The log files are
516 stored in "/var/log/apache2" and are named after the website (if
517 configured through the above process).</p>
518 <h2>Handy Techniques for Using cakelampvm</h2>
519 <h3>Assorted Guides and Cheat-Sheets</h3>
520 <p>A Cheat sheet for the Vim editor (there are many of these available): <a
521 target="_blank" title="vim commands" href="https://vim.rtorr.com/">https://vim.rtorr.com/</a></p>
522 <p>A git branching model that seems to work well: <a target="_blank" title="release and patch process"
523 href="http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/">http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/</a></p>
524 <p>This is a basic guide to the Google Developer Console and API Key
525 management: <a target="_blank" title="apis and creds at google" href="https://feistymeow.org//feisty_meow/documentation/google_apis/google_apis_and_credentials.pdf">Google
526 API Docs</a> </p>
527 <h3>Using the "meld" Tool to Compare Files & Directories</h3>
528 <p>Meld is a great comparison tool that displays differences between two
529 files or directories or directory trees in a graphical view. Meld is
530 pre-installed on the VM. This tool can be launched either in the
531 VM's X Windowing System (on the console) or if X11 forwarding is enabled.</p>
532 <p>To run meld, just type this command:</p>
533 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">meld A B</span></pre>
534 <p>where A and B are either both file names or they are both directory
535 names. If A and B are directories, meld will compare the entire tree
536 structure between the two directories. It allows one to copy from
537 one side to the other, even if the item that needs to be copied is an
538 entire subdirectory.</p>
539 <h3>Get the network address on the guest vm</h3>
540 <p>Run this command:</p>
541 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ifconfig</span></pre>
542 <p>In the results, look for "<span style="font-family: monospace;">inet addr</span>".
543 There may be more than one, if there are multiple network interfaces.</p>
544 <p>The standard IP address is 10.28.42.20 for the cakelampvm.</p>
545 <h3>How to cleanly reboot or shut down the guest VM</h3>
546 <p>When you've got the DNS and everything integrated, these commands will
547 manage the vm's state:</p>
548 <p>First, log into the guest VM:</p>
549 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">ssh developer@cakelampvm.com</span></pre>
550 <p>Then, to reboot the guest VM:</p>
551 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo reboot</span></pre>
552 <p>Or, to halt the guest VM:</p>
553 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo shutdown -h now</span></pre>
554 <p>Using these commands is kinder to the VM than just cycling the power from
555 the Virtualbox control panel.</p>
556 <h1>Gritty Details of the Nitty Variety<a id="#nitty-gritty" name="#nitty-gritty"></a></h1>
557 <p>This is the lowest level of plumbing for your VM. Hopefully you
558 will not need to engage with this section. The most useful doc
559 section here is the one below about the "Virtualbox guest additions",
560 which you will probably need at some future point. Oracle releases
561 updates to the guest additions fairly regularly.</p>
562 <h2>Configuring the guest VM</h2>
563 <p>The guest VM should already be set up appropriately. These steps
564 are provided for reference and updates.</p>
565 <h3>Set up Virtualbox guest additions for the VM</h3>
566 This procedure is needed if the guest provides an older or incompatible
567 version of the guest additions (which have already been installed on the
568 guest vm). It may also be necessary when a new version of the guest
569 additions becomes available.
571 <li>To install the guest additions, open the guest VM and have its window
573 <li>Choose the "Devices" menu and select "Insert Guest Additions CD
574 Image". This will mount the CD's ISO image on the VM.</li>
575 <li>On the guest VM, it may be necessary to mount the CD image that's now
577 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo mount /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom</span></pre>
578 <p>Linux will mention that the device is mounted "read-only".</p>
580 <li>Since the VM currently has no windowing system installed, one must
581 start the Guest Additions install manually:<br>
582 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">cd /media/cdrom<br>sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run</span></pre>
584 <li>The latest Virtualbox guest additions should now be installed.</li>
586 <h3>Set up network adapters on guest VM</h3>
587 <p>The network interfaces should already be configured on the guest within
588 the Virtualbox configuration. This is available by clicking on the
589 VM in the Virtualbox manager and selecting "Settings". These are the
590 configuration settings used:</p>
592 Attached to: Host-only Adapter<br>
593 Name: vboxnet0 <br>
595 Attached to: Nat Network<br>
596 Name: NatNetwork</p>
597 <p>On the guest VM itself, the network settings are specified in a file
598 called /etc/network/interfaces. Here are the current contents of
600 <pre>source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*<br><br>auto lo<br>iface lo inet loopback<br><br>auto enp0s3<br>iface enp0s3 inet static<br> address 10.28.42.20<br> netmask 255.255.255.0<br> network 10.28.42.0<br> broadcast 10.28.42.255<br> dns-domain cakelampvm.com<br> dns-search cakelampvm.com<br> dns-nameservers 127.0.0.1 8.8.8.8</pre>
601 <pre>auto enp0s8</pre>
602 <pre>iface enp0s8 inet dhcp</pre>
604 <h3>Compacting the VM Disk Image</h3>
605 <p>To minimize the size used for the disk image, there are three major
607 <p>1. While running the VM, run this command:</p>
608 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo apt clean</span></pre>
609 <p>This throws away any cached data from the apt tool, which can be
611 <p>If there are other junk files you know of that can be removed, delete
613 <p>2. Reboot the VM to the gparted ISO image (available at the <a target="_blank"
614 title="great free partition editor" href="https://gparted.org/livecd.php">gparted
615 site</a>) and run the following command:</p>
616 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo zerofree /dev/sda</span></pre>
617 <p>This sets all free space to the zero byte, enabling Virtualbox to free
618 that space in the next step.</p>
619 <p>3. Shut the vm down after zerofree is complete and run this command on
620 the host PC (this is the Linux version of the command):</p>
621 <pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">VBoxManage modifyhd --compact ~/cake_lamp_vm/cake-lamp-vm-hd.vdi</span></pre>
622 <p>Replace the <span style="font-family: monospace;">~/cake_lamp_vm</span>
623 path with the real VM storage path. This command compacts the root
624 (and only) partition of the VM.</p>
625 <p>After these steps are complete, the VM should be its minimal size.</p>
626 <h2>Notes on building the Cake Lamp VM</h2>
627 <p>This is all work that should already have been done. It is
628 mentioned here just as breadcrumbs for a future vm builder.</p>
630 <li>Downloaded and installed Virtualbox for host computer (where the vm
631 image will be built).</li>
632 <li>Downloaded ubuntu server 16.04 iso. (<a target="_blank" title="ubuntu server"
633 href="https://www.ubuntu.com/download/server">https://www.ubuntu.com/download/server</a>)</li>
634 <li>Created a new vm in Virtualbox, telling it to start from the ubuntu
636 <li>Installed LAMP stack on guest VM. Some help here: <a target="_blank"
637 title="lamplighter" href="http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-install-lamp-on-ubuntu">http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-install-lamp-on-ubuntu</a></li>
638 <li>Configured CAKE on the guest VM. Useful link: <a target="_blank"
639 title="cakebundtu" href="https://askubuntu.com/questions/628938/how-to-install-cakephp-in-ubuntu-14-04">https://askubuntu.com/questions/628938/how-to-install-cakephp-in-ubuntu-14-04</a></li>
640 <li>Configured the two network adapters as needed (one for host-only
641 network and one for nat network). Here's some info about
642 Virtualbox networking with two adapters similar to our setup: <a target="_blank"
643 href="https://askubuntu.com/questions/293816/in-virtualbox-how-do-i-set-up-host-only-virtual-machines-that-can-access-the-in">https://askubuntu.com/questions/293816/in-virtualbox-how-do-i-set-up-host-only-...</a><br>
645 <li>Installed and configured Samba service for the guest VM. The
646 main config file lives in "/etc/samba/smb.conf". Some pointers
647 here: <a target="_blank" href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/How%20to%20Create%20a%20Network%20Share%20Via%20Samba%20Via%20CLI%20%28Command-line%20interface/Linux%20Terminal%29%20-%20Uncomplicated%2C%20Simple%20and%20Brief%20Way%21">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/How%20to%20Create...</a></li>
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