Auto-Start / Stop Headless VirtualBox (VBox) VM's

[travisN000]

While trying to get a Dell 1320c (USB only) color laser printer to work on my PCLinuxOS workstation I learned a nifty trick...  How to set up a VirtualBox VM (or multiple VM's)  to run headless, start/restore automatically at boot, and save-state automatically at shutdown.  

I'm posting it in the Advanced Users Section because it requires some messing with init scripts, but I hope the following tutorial will make it accessible to even new linux users.

Step 1:
Get your VM set up to your liking...  If haven't already, use pinoc's wonderful GetVirtualBox app from our repo's to install the non-OSE edition of Virtual Box; this will allow for VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP) support and USB use.  Depending on your planned use you may also want to create a bridged network adapter for easy sharing across the network (..in my case it was needed to share a windows-only USB printer across my LAN).  I also used the virtual box GUI to set my VM to automatically make my USB printer available / connected at start up of the VM.

Step 2:
Create the init script...  this is a modification of a script borrowed from here:

As root:

Code: [Select]

touch /etc/init.d/vboxcontrol
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/vboxcontrol
kwrite /etc/init.d/vboxcontrol &

Then copy/paste/save the following code into the empty script file created/opened above (..note that you will need to change VM_USER in the script to the username that owns / created your VM's):

Code: (/etc/init.d/vboxcontrol) [Select]

#! /bin/sh
# vboxcontrol   Startup script for VirtualBox Virtual Machines
#
# chkconfig: 345 99 01
# description: Manages VirtualBox VMs
# processname: vboxcontrol
#
# pidfile: /var/run/vboxcontrol/vboxcontrol.pid
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
#
### END INIT INFO
#
# Version 20120317 by travisn000 based on:
# Version 20090301 by Kevin Swanson <kswan.info> based on:
# Version 2008051100 by Jochem Kossen <jochem.kossen@gmail.com>
# [url]http://farfewertoes.com[/url]
#
# Released in the public domain
#


# Source function library.
if [ -f /etc/init.d/functions ] ; then
. /etc/init.d/functions
elif [ -f /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions ] ; then
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
else
exit 1
fi

################################################################################
# INITIAL CONFIGURATION
VBOXDIR="/etc/virtualbox"
VM_USER="guest"
USE_NAT="no"

export PATH="${PATH:+$PATH:}/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"

if [ -f $VBOXDIR/config ]; then
. $VBOXDIR/config
fi

SU="su $VM_USER -c"
VBOXMANAGE="VBoxManage -nologo"

################################################################################
# FUNCTIONS

# Determine if USE_NAT is set to "yes"
use_nat() {
if [ "$USE_NAT" = "yes" ]; then
return `true`
else
return `false`
fi
}

log_failure_msg() {
echo $1
}

log_action_msg() {
echo $1
}

# Check for running machines every few seconds; return when all machines are
# down
wait_for_closing_machines() {
RUNNING_MACHINES=`$SU "$VBOXMANAGE list runningvms" | wc -l`
if [ $RUNNING_MACHINES != 0 ]; then
sleep 5
echo "    ..waiting for VM shut-down to complete.."
wait_for_closing_machines
fi
}

################################################################################
# RUN
case "$1" in

start)
if [ -f /etc/virtualbox/machines_enabled ]; then

cat /etc/virtualbox/machines_enabled | while read VM; do
log_action_msg "Starting VM: $VM ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE startvm "$VM" -type vrdp"
RETVAL=$?
done
touch /var/lock/subsys/vboxcontrol
fi
;;

stop)
## NOTE: this stops all running VM's. Not just the ones listed in the config
## NOTE2: used controllvm 'savestate' instead of 'acpipowerbutton' to avoid hang
##        with guest OS "..are you sure?" GUI prompts with acpipowerbutton
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE list runningvms" | cut -d\" -f2 | while read VM; do
log_action_msg "Saving state and powering off VM: $VM ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$VM" savestate"
done
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/vboxcontrol
wait_for_closing_machines

;;

start-vm)
log_action_msg "Starting VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE startvm "$2" -type vrdp"
;;

stop-vm)
log_action_msg "Stopping VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$2" acpipowerbutton"
;;

savestate-vm)
log_action_msg "Saving state and powering off VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$2" savestate"
;;

poweroff-vm)
log_action_msg "Powering off VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$2" poweroff"
;;

status)
echo "The following virtual machines are currently running:"
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE list runningvms" | while read VM; do
echo -n "$VM ("
echo -n `$SU "VBoxManage showvminfo ${VM%% *}|grep -m 1 Name:|sed -e 's/^Name:s*//g'"`
echo ')'
done
;;

*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|start-vm <VM name>|stop-vm <VM name>|savestate-vm <VM name>|poweroff-vm <VM name>}"
exit 3
esac

exit 0




Step 3:
Create/populate a "machines_enabled" config file...

As the regular non-root user / vbox owner you can run the following command to get a list containing the name(s) of that users VirtualBox VM's (..or just get your VM names from the Oracle VirtualBox GUI):

Code: [Select]

vboxmanage list vms


As root, we will add the VM Name(s) to the config file that we want to auto-start at boot... the file should contain only one VM name per line and nothing else:

Code: [Select]

mkdir /etc/virtualbox
echo "My_FirstVM_Name" >> /etc/virtualbox/machines_enabled   ###NOTE: replace My_FirstVM_Name, and repeat as needed..
cat /etc/virtualbox/machines_enabled                         ###..verify the file contains one VM name per line and nothing else



Step 4:
Set init script to run automatically...  

As root: set vboxcontrol service to auto start with chkconfig & verify (second command should show "on" for init level 3,4,5):

Code: [Select]

chkconfig --add vboxcontrol
chkconfig --list vboxcontrol



Step 5:
Verify and test... Your specified VM's should auto-start in a headless configuration upon boot, save state and shut off cleanly at reboot/shut-down, and you should now be able to use your new vboxcontrol service commands to manipulate your VM's at any time as either root or the VM owner/user:

Start ALL VirtalMachines listed in the machines_enable file:

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol start
View Status of Running VirtualMachines

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol status
Stop ALL VirtualMachines currently running and save their current state

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol stop
Start a Specific VirtualMachine Only !!

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol start-vm <VM NAME>
Stop a Specific VirtualMachine Only ( send acpi powerbutton signal -- NOTE: this can often appear to hang, as the guest OS may have a GUI prompt within the VM asking the user to confirm this action; if you don't have a RDP connection to the guest visible you will not see this confirmation prompt and cannot click "OK" to allow the shut-down to continue [in KDE4 this prompt will timeout automatically after ~15 seconds, but not in Windows XP, and I don't know about other linux DE's])

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol stop-vm <VM-NAME>

Save and Stop a Specific VirtualMachine Only (..this is a more reliable way to stop a VM; it will save the VM state and shut it off without sending the guest OS acpi power signal, thus avoiding the above mentioned issues)

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol savestate-vm <VM-NAME>

Send Power Kill signal to VirtualMachine (immediate power off -- has the same effect on a virtual machine as pulling the power cable on a real computer. the state of the VM is NOT saved beforehand, and data may be lost)

Code: [Select]

service vboxcontrol poweroff-vm <VM-NAME>

[travisN000]

Almost forgot...  to view / use a running "headless" vbox VM , use rdesktop (or any other RDP client: krdc, jump for android, etc):

Code: [Select]

rdesktop -a 16 <<insert ip of VM Host -- NOT guest OS>> &

...you can even make a .desktop file / shortcut for easy access:

Code: (MyVm.desktop) [Select]

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_US]=
Comment=
Exec=rdesktop -a 16 192.168.1.2
GenericName[en_US]=RDP connection to WinXP Pro in VirtualBox
GenericName=RDP connection to WinXP Pro in VirtualBox
Icon=virtualbox-vbox
MimeType=
Name[en_US]=WinXP Pro (vbox)
Name=WinXP Pro (vbox)
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=


..if you are running multiple VM's headless, you will have to set each one up in vbox to use a different vrdpport, and then specify that port when using the rdesktop command.

 

..if you are wondering how this helped me use my USB connected Dell 1320c color laser, this printer comes in two versions.. a USB only version which is not linux compatable (the one I have), and a network-capable version that can be used from linux/mac using its ethernet port and the Fuji-Xerox Docuprint C525A driver...  turns out that if I set the printer up in an XP virtual box VM and set up printer sharing in the XP virtualbox VM, I can then use the Fuji-Xerox Docuprint C525A linux driver to connect to it as a network printer from any linux PC (The network driver has to be selected manually in the PCLinuxOS / Mandriva control center, and is found under the "FX" manufacturer listing in its GUI; after setup right click on it, select properties, and set the printer options to use "Tray 1 - 250 sheets" as the paper source).

 

[dcbdbis]

The initial post worked perfectly. Many thanks!

Just make sure your VM name does not have any spaces in it!


Again, thank you!


Dave

[gseaman]

I completely missed this post the first time. I'm glad that you, dcbdbis, posted about your success! There is so much excellent information on this forum that I can't absorb it all.

Galen