Month: November 2011

Jenkins on minimalistic Debian Virtualbox VM (64bit)

Update 14/Aug/2018: I no longer maintain the package mentioned and the download links below are most likely broken.

A Jenkins build server (LTS release) can now be easily installed on the minimalistic Debian VM:

  1. Download and install Virtualbox
  2. Download debian-stable-amd64-minimal.ova and import it into Virtualbox
  3. Start the “debian-stable-amd64-minimal” VM in Virtualbox
  4. If you are outside Nova Scotia, please review debian-stable-amd64-minimal.txt and adjust locale, timezone and Debian mirror based on your location
  5. Start an ssh session to localhost, port 1111 (using PuTTY, for example)
  6. Log in as user (default password is “user”)
  7. Issue “sudo install.sh jenkins” (default root password is “root”)
  8. Press enter for any questions during installation
  9. Open http://localhost:8888/ in a browser on the host OS for Jenkins web ui

You can go to “Manage Jenkins” – “Configure System” and see that JDK, Ant and Maven entries are already configured for you.

Both OpenJDK 6 and OpenJDK 7 are installed automatically for you in the VM. Please note that openjdk-6 is the Debian stable system default, while openjdk-7 is configured as the default for Jenkins build jobs.

Important: Make sure to change root and user passwords to something secure, as mentioned in debian-stable-amd64-minimal.txt.

Convert Virtualbox VDI for VMware Player

Regarding the VM that I mentioned in my previous post – this way I also got it to work in VMware Player:

  • Install and start Virtualbox (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads)
  • Go to File – Import Appliance (and import the ova file mentioned in my last post)
  • Close Virtualbox
  • Use VBoxManage on the command line to clone the VDI to VMDK, roughly as described here (but do not try to uninstall guest additions):  http://scottlinux.com/2011/06/24/convert-vdi-to-vmdk-virtualbox-to-vmware/
  • Create a new empty Linux/Debian VM in VMware Player
  • Close VMware Player
  • Edit the new vmx file so that it points to the cloned vmdk
  • Then open the VM in VMware player again. Now it should boot into Debian.

Minimalistic Debian VM (64bit)

Update 14/Aug/2018: I no longer maintain the package mentioned and the download links below are most likely broken.

I uploaded a VM image to dev.doepner.net: It is a minimalistic Debian VM that can be used as a base for lean servers. It is in OVA format, exported from Virtualbox 4.1.6. Details are in the corresponding txt file.

You can add the VM to your Virtualbox using “File” – “Import Appliance …”. VMware should also work but might require some compatibility conversion of the ova file.

Recipes for specific Nexus, Jenkins, Wiki, Bugzilla setups will follow … I will publish those as scripts/instructions relative to the minimal base image, rather than maintaining several VMs.

Lightweight Eclipse package for web development

Update 14/Aug/2018: I no longer maintain the package mentioned and the download links below are most likely broken.

I uploaded a lightweight Eclipse package (based on Helios 3.6.1) for web development (includes Maven, SVN and basic Spring integration, JEE / web tools plugins, but no Mylyn or other non-essential stuff) … This is currently only for Windows. It requires a JDK and is completely free / open source software.

See the txt file for quick installation steps.