Re: [HTCondor-users] VirtualBox: Guest user vs. Condor account!?!

[Rob <spamrefuse@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Matt,

I'm not using the VM universe, because there is no direct support for VirtualBox. It probably has to do with the Condor pool I have set up here at the university and my personal preferences.

The entire Condor pool here consists of Windows XP PCs; these are the public PCs in the university library. The university IT department is in charge of the library PCs, whereas I am in charge of the Condor Central Manager, which is a linux PC.
 
Hence, I need a virtual machine environment that works on Windows PCs. In the past it used to be VMware, and Condor kept supporting the old VMware software (version 1.0.10), but by now that is far too old and with recent Condor updates it even does not work anymore; and I don't think it is worth spending time on fixing this. Better get Condor to work with up-to-date virtualization. Other supported virtualization environments seem be only working on Unix systems (Xen, KVM).

The key problem at present with virtualization in Condor is that there are no 'hands-on' examples that show step-by-step how to actually do it. I wonder why. Is it, because the virtualization technologies are changing as we speak, so it is impossible to settle down with a specific VM universe method in Condor?


Ever since I abandoned VMware, I never got the VM universe to work and gave up on it.....

I was told Condor can handle libvirt; but I believe libvirt is also still in a stage of development and is not as convenient (yet?) as the easy VirtualBox interface. Moreover, if libvirt works with Condor, I'd like to see an example of how to do it....

For years I have been using VirtualBox for my personal virtual guest OSes on my Linux systems. So I thought it would be neat if I could get VirtualBox to work with Condor in the Vanilla environment and run the necessary commands myself in a DOS batch script.

Regards,
Rob.



----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Renzelmann <mjr@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 'HTCondor-Users Mail List' <htcondor-users@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: 
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 9:27 PM
Subject: Re: [HTCondor-users] VirtualBox: Guest user vs. Condor account!?!

I was just wondering if you could elaborate briefly on why you prefer not to use
the vm universe?  I'm very new to Condor myself and am considering using it for
running some VMs but have not tried yet.

Regarding your question, I unfortunately have no suggestions.

Thanks and regards,
Matt

> -----Original Message-----
> From: htcondor-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:htcondor-users-
> bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rob
> Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2012 11:15 PM
> To: HTCondor-Users Mail List
> Subject: Re: [HTCondor-users] VirtualBox: Guest user vs. Condor account!?!
> 
> Thanks for explaining some more Windows context here.
> 
> However, I'm afraid that
> 
> load_profile = True
> 
> 
> only works with dedicated users, hence needs users with passwords on the
> Windows PCs.
> 
> 
> I'm disappointed that VirtualBox commands apparently require privileges, which
> normal
> Condor jobs do not have......
> 
> Or are there other options I could try.....?
> 
> Rob.
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ziliang Guo <ziliang@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: HTCondor-Users Mail List <htcondor-users@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc:
> Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 12:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [HTCondor-users] VirtualBox: Guest user vs. Condor account!?!
> 
> By default the user accounts used to run Condor jobs do not have a
> registry loaded. If VBox is dependent on something in the user's hive,
> then it'll probably fail. I would suggest adding
> 
> load_profile = True
> 
> into the submit file and see if that works.
> 
> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 6:31 PM, Rob <spamrefuse@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am trying to by-pass the VM universe, and use VirtualBox commands directly
> > on a Windows XP pool PC, with the Vanilla universe and a DOS batch script
> that
> > handles the necessary VirtualBox commands (the WIndows XP pool PC already
> > has VirtualBox installed)
> >
> > As for now, I am only testing this idea and the DOS batch script just
> creates
> > a headless virtual machine and then deletes it again.
> >
> >
> > REM Start of DOS batch script
> > REM create a VM
> >
> > "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" createvm --name condor -
> -ostype Other --register
> > REM remove the VM again
> >
> > "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" unregistervm condor --
> delete
> > REM End of DOS batch script
> >
> >
> > I walked over to the Windows XP machine and ran this DOS script as the
> "Guest" user.
> > It worked just fine, so I assumed that then also Condor was allowed to
> execute the script.
> > Here is the submit description file:
> >
> > universe = vanilla
> >
> > requirements = (target.Arch == "INTEL") && (target.OpSys == "WINDOWS")
> > # this is the same DOS batch script as above
> >
> > executable = virtualbox.bat
> > when_to_transfer_output = on_exit
> >
> > output = virtualbox.out
> > log      = virtualbox.log
> > error    = virutalbox.err
> > notification = complete
> >
> > queue
> >
> >
> > When I submit this job description, I get this in the error file:
> >
> > VBoxManage.exe: error: Failed to create the VirtualBox object!
> > VBoxManage.exe: error: Code CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE (0x80080005) - Server
> execution failed (extended info not available)
> > VBoxManage.exe: error: Most likely, the VirtualBox COM server is not running
> or failed to start.
> >
> > (the output file remains empty).
> >
> > Does the error occur because Condor runs the batch script as an unprivileged
> user?
> > If I can run the batch script as a "Guest" user, then why is it not possible
> for Condor
> > to run the commands in the batch script?
> >
> >
> > The Condor manual says:
> >
> > "Condor executes jobs on Windows using dedicated run accounts
> > that have minimal access rights and privileges, and which are recreated
> > for each new job."
> >
> > Is there a difference between Condor's "dedicated run account with minimal
> access rights"
> > and the "Guest" account?
> >
> > I am very much puzzled here!
> >
> > Thank you!
> >
> > Rob.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > HTCondor-users mailing list
> > To unsubscribe, send a message to htcondor-users-request@xxxxxxxxxxx with a
> > subject: Unsubscribe
> > You can also unsubscribe by visiting
> > https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/htcondor-users
> >
> > The archives can be found at:
> > https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/archive/htcondor-users/
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Condor Project Windows Developer
> _______________________________________________
> HTCondor-users mailing list
> To unsubscribe, send a message to htcondor-users-request@xxxxxxxxxxx with a
> subject: Unsubscribe
> You can also unsubscribe by visiting
> https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/htcondor-users
> 
> The archives can be found at:
> https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/archive/htcondor-users/
> 
> _______________________________________________
> HTCondor-users mailing list
> To unsubscribe, send a message to htcondor-users-request@xxxxxxxxxxx with a
> subject: Unsubscribe
> You can also unsubscribe by visiting
> https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/htcondor-users
> 
> The archives can be found at:
> https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/archive/htcondor-users/

_______________________________________________
HTCondor-users mailing list
To unsubscribe, send a message to htcondor-users-request@xxxxxxxxxxx with a
subject: Unsubscribe
You can also unsubscribe by visiting
https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/htcondor-users

The archives can be found at:
https://lists.cs.wisc.edu/archive/htcondor-users/