From the Desk of the Everyday Admin

VMware Automation Part 2

2008-03-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Eureka! I found it. So now I can automate the vmware-config.pl part of the installation. It turns out that VMware Server keeps a database of sorts in /etc/vmware/locations. This is created during the vmware-install.pl run. If you append "answer EULA_AGREED yes" (without the quotes) to the locations file, it will not present you with the EULA. Here is the complete code. Again, please comment.

#!/usr/bin/python
########################################################################
#vmwareInstall.py                                                          
#                                                                        
#This will automatically complete the vmware-install.pl for a VMware
#    Server 1.0.4.  After that runs, the script hand over the 
#    vmware-config.pl to you.  At some point, I'll rework this to 
#    complete the other half of it as well
#                                                                       
#Author: Mike Dunphy <mdunphy AT spu DOT edu>                           
#                                                                       
# License:                                                               
#   This Script is hereby placed in the public domain.  Anyone        
#   is encouraged to use or modify it, and distribute modified or      
#   unmodified copies.                                                   
#                                                                       
# Disclaimer:                                                           
#   Mike Dunphy takes no responsibility for and will not support your  
#   use of this script.                                                        
########################################################################
import os
import pexpect
import sys

user = 'your username goes here'
EULA = "answer EULA_AGREED yes"
URL = raw_input("Please enter URL for VMware download: ")
os.system('wget -P /home/%s/ %s' % (user,URL)
os.system('tar zxf VMware-server*')

os.chdir('/home/%s/vmware-server-distrib' % user)
p = pexpect.spawn('/home/%s/vmware-server-distrib/vmware-install.pl' % user)
p.expect('/bin]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/etc]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/init.d]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/sbin]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/vmware]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('yes]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/man]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/vmware]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('yes]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('yes]')
p.sendline('yes')
p.close(force=True)

os.system('echo %s >> /etc/vmware/locations' % EULA)
p2 = pexpect.spawn('/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl')
p2.expect('/icons]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('/applications]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('/pixmaps]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('/include]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('no]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('no]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('902]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('Machines]')
p2.sendline('/VMs')
p2.expect('yes]')
p2.sendline()
p2.expect('cancel:')
p2.sendline('Enter your serial')
sys.exit(0)

VMware Automation

2008-03-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've been looking around the net to find a way to automate a VMware Server install on Linux. In the documentation there is a way to automate the install for Windows, but not Linux. In our environment, we run a minimal Ubuntu 7.10 install for our hosts. Below is my hackish attempt to automate it. This works for our environment but I make no claims it will work for yours. The first script installs the packages and sets a couple variables that are important to us. The second script handles the vmware-install.pl portion automatically, but hands the vmware-config.pl over to the user. I welcome any comments as I know that there is a better way to do this.

#!/bin/bash
########################################################################
#hostprep.sh                                                           
#                                                                       
#Prep base Ubuntu 7.10 install for VMware Server Use                  
#                                                                      
#Author: Mike Dunphy <mdunphy AT spu DOT edu>                          
#                                                                      
# License:                                                              
#   This Script is hereby placed in the public domain.  Anyone       
#   is encouraged to use or modify it, and distribute modified or     
#   unmodified copies.                                                  
#                                                                      
# Disclaimer:                                                          
#   Mike Dunphy takes no responsibility for and will not support your 
#   use of this script.                                                       
########################################################################



#Fix /bin/dash symlink
ln -s -f /bin/bash /bin/sh
echo "Setting http_proxy environment variable"
#We use a proxy server
echo "http_proxy=ourproxyserver" > /etc/bash.bashrc
export http_proxy=ourproxyserver:8888
#Set sources list to the latest known full list of repositories
echo "Setting up apt sources list"
echo "3";sleep 1;echo "2";sleep 1;echo "1";sleep 1
cp -vpr /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.orig
echo "
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security multiverse
" > /etc/apt/sources.list
echo "running update"
echo "3";sleep 1;echo "2";sleep 1;echo "1";sleep 1
#update and upgrade the system
apt-get update
echo "running upgrade"
echo "3";sleep 1;echo "2";sleep 1;echo "1";sleep 1
apt-get -y -q dist-upgrade
echo "running installs"
echo "3";sleep 1;echo "2";sleep 1;echo "1";sleep 1
#put ia32-libs into list if it's a 64-bit system
apt-get -y -q install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r` icewm xserver-xfree86 x-window-system-core xdm ssh python-pexpect
apt-get -y -q install xinetd open-iscsi
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y -q install postfix mailx
postconf -e "relayhost=smtp.spu.edu" #Change back to alertmail.spu.edu
echo "Setting mail stuff and sending test"
echo "3";sleep 1;echo "2";sleep 1;echo "1";sleep 1
echo "mailing account" > /home/<username>/.forward
chown <username:username> /home/<username>/.forward
chmod 644 /home/<username>/.forward
echo "Test message from $HOSTNAME" |mailx -s "$HOSTNAME test message" srommen
apt-get -y -q install ntp
cp /etc/ntp.conf /etc/ntp.conf.orig
sed -e 's/server ntp.ubuntu.com/server spu.local/g' /etc/ntp.conf > /etc/ntp.holder && mv /etc/ntp.holder /etc/ntp.conf
sed -e 's/#statsdir/statsdir/g' /etc/ntp.conf > /etc/ntp.holder && mv /etc/ntp.holder /etc/ntp.conf
/etc/init.d/ntp restart
echo "Script has finsihed prepping system, please reboot by typing sudo reboot"

#!/usr/bin/python
########################################################################
#vmwareInstall.py                                                         
#                                                                       
#This will automatically complete the vmware-install.pl for a VMware
#    Server 1.0.4.  After that runs, the script hand over the
#    vmware-config.pl to you.  At some point, I'll rework this to
#    complete the other half of it as well
#                                                                      
#Author: Mike Dunphy <mdunphy AT spu DOT edu>                          
#                                                                      
# License:                                                              
#   This Script is hereby placed in the public domain.  Anyone       
#   is encouraged to use or modify it, and distribute modified or     
#   unmodified copies.                                                  
#                                                                      
# Disclaimer:                                                          
#   Mike Dunphy takes no responsibility for and will not support your 
#   use of this script.                                                       
########################################################################
import os
import pexpect
import sys
user = 'your username goes here'
URL = raw_input("Please enter URL for VMware download: ")
os.system('wget -P /home/%s/ %s' % (user,URL)
os.system('tar zxf VMware-server*')

os.chdir('/home/%s/vmware-server-distrib' % user)
p = pexpect.spawn('/home/%s/vmware-server-distrib/vmware-install.pl' % user)
p.expect('/bin]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/etc]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/init.d]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/sbin]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/vmware]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('yes]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/man]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('/vmware]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('yes]')
p.sendline()
p.expect('yes]')
p.sendline('yes')
p.interact()

Beginning the Journey

2008-03-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

My name is Mike and I'm a Sys Admin for a local university in Western Washington. I decided to start this blog to chronicle the everyday issues and problems I face during the work day. I am a self taught system administrator primarily responsible for supporting the email environment for the university. I am a troubleshooter at heart so while my method's may not be traditional in approach, my goal is always to get to the base issues of a problem and get them solved.

My hope is that the issues I face will resonate with you and that I can hopefully find some resolutions that might help you with your work/hobby. Please feel free to comment and point out things that you don't agree with or might do better. I'm not a coder so many of my programming methods may make you scratch your head. I thank you for reading and enjoy.

Thus begins the journey...