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

[Ben Burnett <ben.burnett@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rob:

You might be able to do one of the following:

* Grant the slot user(s) permissions [1] to use DCOM on the execute machine;
* 'If your jobs run as specific users on machines and those users are in the Administrators group the DCOM changes are unnecessary' [1];
* Disable the VboxVmService.  It seems it interferes with the use of vboxmanage [2].

Hope that helps.

Best,
-B

[1]: https://htcondor-wiki.cs.wisc.edu/index.cgi/wiki?p=ExcelJobs
[2]: http://sourceforge.net/p/vboxvmservice/support-requests/37/

On 2012-11-22, at 7:06 PM, Rob <spamrefuse@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Dear David J. Herzfeld,
> 
> 
> Thank you for your suggestion to manipulate the VirtualBox environment variables to more sensible values.
> 
> I searched internet and found conflicting methods how to do this.
> Some people say, just set it with the 'set' command, like I did below.
> Others seem to recommend using instead: "My Computer->Properties->Advanced->Environment Variables".
> The last one writes into the registry, which I think might not work for an unprivileged Condor user .....??
> 
> 
> So just for testing, I used the following DOS batch script and submitted it to Condor:
> 
> 
> REM start of DOS batch script: virtualbox.bat
> @echo off
> set VBOX_USER_HOME=%CD%\
> echo VBOX_USER_HOME = %VBOX_USER_HOME%
> echo ALLUSERSPROFILE = %ALLUSERSPROFILE%
> echo USERPROFILE = %USERPROFILE%
> echo HOMEDRIVE = %HOMEDRIVE%
> echo HOMEPATH = %HOMEPATH%
> echo USERDOMAIN = %USERDOMAIN%
> echo USERNAME = %USERNAME%
> echo APPDATA = %APPDATA%
> "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" list ostypes
> REM end of DOS batch script
> 
> 
> # Submit Description File
> universe = vanilla
> requirements = (target.Arch == "INTEL") && (target.OpSys == "WINNT51")
> 
> load_profile = True
> executable = virtualbox.bat
> 
> when_to_transfer_output = on_exit
> 
> output = $(CLUSTER)_$(PROCESS).out
> log     = $(CLUSTER)_$(PROCESS).log
> error   = $(CLUSTER)_$(PROCESS).err
> queue
> 
> # end of Submit Description File
> 
> 
> The output file has following 8 lines:
> VBOX_USER_HOME = D:\condor\execute\dir_2560\
> ALLUSERSPROFILE = C:\Documents and Settings\All Users
> USERPROFILE = C:\Documents and Settings\condor-reuse-slot1
> HOMEDRIVE = 
> HOMEPATH = 
> USERDOMAIN = SKKU-EJNMGFFR
> USERNAME = condor-reuse-slot1
> APPDATA = 
> 
> 
> The error file has following 3 lines:
> 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.
> 
> 
> 
> Alas, still the same error.
> 
> Note that HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH, and APPDATA are all empty variables for the unprivileged Condor user.....
> Does that ring some bells?
> 
> Thanks!
> Rob.
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David J. Herzfeld <herzfeldd@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: htcondor-users@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: 
> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2012 1:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [HTCondor-users] VirtualBox: Guest user vs. Condor account!?!
> 
> Hi Rob:
> 
> On Mon, 2012-11-19 at 18:01 -0800, Rob wrote:
>> The procedure to follow should be:
>> 
>> 1. create a new virtual machine environment
>> 2. attach the virtual disk (from the Condor file transfer) to the new virtual machine
>> 3. start the virtual machine.
>> 
>> VBoxHeadless.exe cannot do steps 1 and 2, but that must be done with VBoxManage.exe.
>> This is also suggested on the VirtualBox website:
>> 
>> http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch07.html#idp13097712
>> 
>> 
>> Hence: first use VBoxManage.exe to set everything up for the new VM,
>> and then use VBoxHeadless.exe to start the VM
>> (the options with VBoxHeadless.exe are limited to already created VMs).
> 
> It's been awhile since I used VirtualBox on Windows (and certainly
> longer since I installed Condor on a Windows machine) - so take this
> advice with a grain of salt. 
> 
> Based on my experience with Pools of VirtualBoxes, I don't believe that
> you will need to allow the Condor service to interact with the desktop.
> We are able to start virtual machines in Vista/7 without a login
> session.
> 
> Note, however, that just about all VirtualBox commands require access to
> the standard settings folder (on Windows this is in %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH
> %), which is used to store the configuration of your created machines.
> If the settings folder does not exist, then it will attempt to create
> one. It may be the case that %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% is unavailable on the
> Condor account (or you are incapable of writing to that directory). 
> 
> VirtualBox allows you to explicitly define the folder you wish to use
> via the VBOX_USER_HOME environment variable. It may be worth adding
> something like set VBOX_USER_HOME=%CD% to the start of your batch file.
> 
> Cheers,
> David
> 
> 
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