Applies to versions: 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2

Virtual Machines

TimeIPS offers virtual machine images for environments where this is preferred to a physical server.  A number of tips and resources for running TimeIPS in a virtual environment are available.  Please contact TimeIPS technical support for additional information.

Successful Installations

Customers have reported sucecssful VM installations in the following host environments

• VMWare
• MS Hyper V
• VirtualBox
• QEMU - KVM
• Parrallels

If you have chosen to use VMWARE as your virtual host enviroment then please note that you will want to use our VMDK file image.  If you received an IMG file you can convert it using the following steps or you can contact support for the VMDK image. 

Converting IMG and VMDK Files

Customers who run TimeIPS using our standard virtual machine setup use VMDK or IMG files. Customers using VMWare require a VMDK file. Files can be converted between the two formats using qemu-tools which comes installed on many linux distributions like openSUSE.

To convert an IMG file to VMDK format issue the following command:

qemu-img convert timeips.img -O vmdk timeips.vmdk

VMDK files can be converted back to a raw IMG file with this command:

qemu-img convert timeips.vmdk -O raw timeips.img

If you use VMWARE and have VMDK File

The installation may differ depending on the version of VMWARE you have. The TimeIPS guest can use networking based on DHCP or Static IP. If you need TimeIPS to have a static IP you will want to use the menu after TimeIPS starts to set the IP and other network settings. You will need to copy the VMDK file to your data store. Then do a custom install. You will want to choose use existing disk and then point it at the VMDK file that is in your data store.

Once installed you will be prompted for a user name and password.  Ignore this. Find the IP that your VM Host assigned via DHCP to the new TimeIPS guest and use a web browser to browse to the IP adress. This will bring you to the set up page. 

Note: If you are using ESXi / VSphere special care must be taken with the .vmdk file.

When starting, be sure to select "Virtual Machine Version: 8" when prompted to select the virtual machine version.

If possible, also use the tool provided with ESXi as shown below to convert the vmdk file:

Enable SSH on the VMWare server, then use a tool like PUTTY to get to a console.  Navigate to the directory where the image is stored. Then use the folllowing:

vmkfstools -i timeips.vmdk -d thin new_timeips.vmdk

If this is not done, VMWare may have a problem where it thinks the host system disk is out of space and it then corrupts the vmdk file.  If this happens, re-download the timeips.vmdk, do the conversion using the tool provided and restart.  After startup, load the most recent backup to resume operation.

If you use Hyper V

You will first want to convert your VMDK file into a VHD file. 

The VMDK file can be converted to a VHD file for use with Hyper V.  There are a number of free tools available to do this conversion, or TimeIPS can do the conversion for you.  To do it yourself, for example, use the qemu-img command that is part of the qemu virtualization program.  Search the Internet for instructions on how to download and install qemu on your operating system.  After installing, open a command prompt. Change directory to the folder your TimeIPS image is located.  Use the command: qemu-img convert -f VMDK -O VPC timeips.vmdk timeips.vpc.  Then rename the timeips.vpc to timeips.vhd.

Copy the timeips.vhd file to the folder you store your virtual machine images. In hyper V you will create a new machine. During this process you will want to choose connect virtual hard disk and point it at your timeips.vhd file. Choose install OS later. Before starting your new Machine you will want to set it up to use a legacy network adaptor. On the machine settings, choose add new hardware and then choose legacy network adaptor. Set the new adaptor to the correct network to use. Now launch your new virtual machine.  

Clean Shutdown of the VM Image

Normally, once the TimeIPS VM image is up and running, it will not need to be restarted or shutdown.  If the VM host requires down time (for upgrade, migration or service) the TimeIPS image should be shutdown cleanly if possible.  There are several ways to do this:

• The easiest way to do this is by logging into the TimeIPS web interface and requesting a shutdown from within the system menu.
• The next option is to select the shut-down option using the on-screen text-mode menu that appears after the image has booted.
• The last option, is useful when an automated shutdown is needed (for example if the VM host is running on battery backup and the battery is running low). A special URL can be used to request a clean shutdown.  For example, the following command (put it all all on one line) will send a special signal to the TimeIPS VM image requesting an immediate clean shutdown.
  
  wget --timeout=5 -q -O /dev/null "http://<ip of your vm>/quickset_ip.php?stopMachineVM=1”
  
  The shutdown should be complete within 60 seconds unless the VM host is extremely busy.