Virtualbox - MacOS host - Linux Ubuntu guest - Local development

virtualbox-macos_host-linux_ubuntu_guest-local_development.md

Local development setup

Set up VirtualBox with an Ubuntu virtual machine:

• Sugested: RAM:2048MB, Storage:20GB

Create and mount a /dev folder from your Mac (Host) to the Ubuntu VM (Guest).

• Set it to Auto-mount and Make Permanent. You can find instructions here.

From Ubuntu guest:

• Install the gest-additions.

$ sudo apt-get install dkms
$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso
$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-x11
$ reboot

• Permissions: Add yourself to the vboxsf group within the guest VM.

$ sudo adduser <user> vboxsf

• Setup Port Forwarding to access the guest via the host.
  • Install OpenSSH on the VM. (instructions here)
  • Shutdown the VM and do:
  • VirtualBox > Settings > Network > Adapter 1 > Advanced > Port Forwarding > Add
  • Set as:

name	Protocol	Host IP	Host Port	Guest IP	Guest Port
HTTP	TCP		8080		80
SSH	TCP		5679		22

Then you should be able to access http://localhost:8080 and ssh -p 5679 localhost from your Mac when running the server on Ubuntu. Mounted folder should be under ./media

Possible issues

unable to create symlink on Ubuntu guest

i.e. error: unable to create symlink node_modules/.bin/sshpk-conv (Read-only file system)

As per this comment/fix, symlinking in VirtualBox is disabled by default "for security reasons".

The fix:

• On Mac host, shutdown Ubuntu and quit VirtualBox:

• i.e. $ VBoxManage setextradata 'Ubuntu Server 16.04.4 LTS' VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/dev 1