Zentyal Forum, Linux Small Business Server
Zentyal Server => Installation and Upgrades => Topic started by: barilkobart on October 29, 2012, 03:08:47 pm
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Doing a pilot for a proof of concept for a non profit organization.
The install on a decent box (4 core 16GB RAM) went smoothly.
The Zentyal infrastructure is working great: DHCP/DNS/proxy/NTP/etc.
However, having trouble with Samba, and Virtualization.
Samba:
I can't get any workstations to join the domain (tried Windows 7 and XP). Message that comes back when trying to join is "unable to contact domain" after putting in a user ID with Domain Admin. I have applied the recommended registry punches.
Virtualization:
I am able to create the VMs, and have them booting the required ISOs.
The view console with VNC is small, unusable, the window when started says NO VNC.
I have installed VNCVIEW on the Zentyal server use "apt-get install vncviewer"
I have only tried this on the Zentyal server console (not from a workstation).
The VMs boot up, and load the ISOs, but the VMs do not see the disks allocated to the VMs, so I can't install.
If I can't resolve these issues, the proof on concept will fail and SBS it will be.
Thanks,
Bart
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As it stands now, I am abandoning using Zentyal because of these issues, unless I can get them solved is short order.
please dont do that, you wil never get support quicker, by saying this kind of stuff,
this forum is provider for apsolutely free, meaning that we dont get anything in return for helping you, and its really disrespectfully saying things like: if you dont help me quick im gonna...."
....
regarding your question, please give us more information about what you did, and didn't test yet...
there are several posts on this forum with the exact same question, and me answering them, have you tried that suggestion yet.. also have you tested with nslookup...
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Sorry about that, but the reality is something as simple as joining a domain doesn't work, or virutalization doesn't work, the product needs more work before I can in all honesty recommend it for clients.
I did a search in the Forum for not being able to join the domain, and nothing solved anything.
I uninstalled Samba, same problem.
I re-installed Zentyal, same problem.
NSLOOKUP of the DNS domain returned the IP address of the Zentyal server.
I can see the service records in the DNS domain.
Could it be a WINS problem?
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ah, but i do understand your frustration if things dont work...
but if you had added your information from the 2nd post, to your topic start you would have taken less from my time and my frustration...
More ontopic.
yes: wins can be an issue,
the prefered wins server can be defined from your dhcp ...
if zentyal is your dhcp server, you can find the setting under your dhcp-scope.
set wins to 'zentyal domain'
ans an alternative you could try to use the winnt 4 approach joining the domain with credentials like
domainname = \\your-netbios-name
username = \\your-netbios-name\administrator
password = #############
lets see where you get after trying this...
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An update for "Users and Groups" and "File Sharing and Domain Servies" came out today.
I did the update and now it is working as expected.
Now for some direction on my Virtualization questions.
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im sorry but i dont use virtualisation inside zentyal ... so i cant help you with that, one,
good to read that your samba issues are fixed now...
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Try this thread for an answer on that one http://forum.zentyal.org/index.php/topic,12489.0.html . KVM developers changed the way it works for awhile. It wouldn't boot on scsi drives for several revisions. It is fixed now but hasn't made it into the Zentyal codebase. The above forum link explains how to overcome it.
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@ half_life your amazing... i knew this also but just forgot about it altoghether...
+1 from me - well earned
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I am now happily creating VMs!
Now what about use VNC viewer for looking at the console of the VMs.
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NO SO FAST!
View Console on the Server Console or remotely does not let my use the keyboard.
This should NOT be so difficult!
Any ideas?
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I will have to setup a testbed to look into this. A virtual machine inside of a virtual machine doesn't sound like a good testing environment to me. Hopefully someone with more direct knowledge will pop in here.
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I DO NOT have a virtual machine within a virtual machine.
Zentyal 3.0 is running on physical box.
The four VMs I were created without using the keyboard. Now Windows setup is at the point where keyboard input is required, and I can't put any keystrokes in all of them.
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I DO NOT have a virtual machine within a virtual machine.
BUT I WOULD if I tried to test in my current configuration. That is why I would need to setup a testbed :)
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You would think that if the Zentyal folks wanted people to sign up for their monthly subscriptions, they would monitor this forum and fix things as simple as keyboard console input within a VM from the web portal. A show stopper for me.
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It looks like there is a lot of different reasons for you not to go for Zentyal but rather Microsoft.
So perhaps this is the best choice in your case ;)
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UNBELIEVABLE
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Hi, barilkobart
I do not get your point of view. As myself use MS software but also Zentyal for years i do not shout on the forum that "it must be like this and that"
Now to the point.
First DO NOT USE VNC. Try to install NX Nomachine server and clients (it's simpler to set-up).
Second. The virtual machines are working without problems. I did install VM's onto several distros so far. Debian or fedora based so I sugest that you check your VM's configuration.
Also make sure on the rights of the iso's folder. It can be as simple as checking that other's have the right to read from that folder. Maybe you placed the iso's as root ?
Give more feedback since nobody can guess what is your setup. As for comparing SBS with Zential is wrong... I have given up on SBS since is at best "working"
Switch to Enterprise level since MS is making a big difference between SBS and enterprise level products..
Last please do not ask that this free product should be made like windows since is NOT and it's provided free at the expense of the zentyal team and donations / subscriptions form users.
Please review the points above and come back with more info so we can help you.
Best regards
Bogdan
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I am an MCSE working for in IT company supporting thousands of servers running Windows and UNIX. I have been running Linux at home since the early 90s.
The pilot I am doing for a non profit organization requires Windows workstations to access a central server for their main application. The Windows app runs from a network share. The client also wants remote access via terminal services.
Zentyal would be perfect for them. The app would run from a SAMBA share, and a VM running a Windows Terminal Services for remote access. They already have a Windows Server license. Additional VMs could be spun up for other future applications (Joomla is an example that they currently use).
To answer your questions and suggestions:
I am not using VNC for remote acesss, NX Nomachine is for remote X-Windows.
I don't have problem with rights on the ISOs, the VMs are booting the ISO.
I am not comparing Zentyal to SBS.
I am not asking Zentyal to be like Windows.
Budget will a problem going to full enterprise MS solutions.
I am just looking for BASIC functionality in Zentyal.
First I could not get machines join the domain:, this was solved with an Zentyal update.
Second I could not get the VMs to see their configured hard drives: this was solved by configuring the VMs to use IDE instead of SCSI disks. If Zentyal knows about this problem, why are SCSI disks the default out of the box?
Third I cannot get keystrokes inside a VM to get the virtual OS installed. From the web portal, I should be able to fully control a VM. The window that comes up is small, non expandable. The mouse somewhat works, but gets out of sync in the window. The window also says on startup in big letters: "No VNC". I have tried installing the vncviewer package on the Zentyal server. I have tried installed VNC on my remote workstation that is accessing the Zentyal portal.
Without this basic functionality, Zentyal will have trouble attracting paying subscribers like this client I am doing this pilot for.
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Ok, now we have a clear picture of what you try to achieve.
Let's see how we can get those points working. And since you say that you are not a new user to both systems MS and *NIX i think you can span your ideas from here.
I was suggesting you to use NX so you can connect to the Zentyal server desktop and not to WebAdministration. With this in mind i think that managing VM's will be easier for you but this is for you to decide.
Not getting a keyboard lock in VM is a issue it seems. Try the above point and see if you can make use of the keyboard.
joining the machines to the domain had little to do with Zentyal, and most to do with SAMBA. if you agree. Since you have experience with UNIX, a search on the samba list should have solved the issue.
I do not know why the VM is set to be default to SCSI but this is no issue unless you absolutely want to use SCSI.
To summarize:
Install Nomachine server on the Zentyal machine and try to connect to it.
See if you can manage the VM's remote
And if you look at the issues that you have mentioned, except the VM i think that all are covered here on the forum :)
Come back with feedback and we will work in that
Best regards
Bogdan
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barilkobart (http://forum.zentyal.org/index.php?action=profile;u=87873) ...
im stil verry disapointed in both your tone and the kind of remarks you are making,
if your suposed problems are only because the software is so shitty like you seam to be insinuating and your disapoint ment is that the dev team is spending to few time on the forum 'trying to get new customers'
i can tell you that with the right editude you can get free support, or you can get support from presales people... that is by investing in software not by shouting at it...
also i have hear the 'support 100s or 1000's of servers' argument more times than i can remember. and basicaly it comes to, any msce tech should be perfectly able to dive in to the ubuntu documenentation and read (and understand) the lower level things that zentyal is doing...
so pay in, or put in some effort, both in being nice, AND in being productive.