Logging in via SSH

Since there is one terminal with small size in the VM, it is not very convenient to use. Therefore, we recommend you to log in the VM via SSH.

Creating a Host-only Network

First, you should create a host-only network for the VM. Do the followings:

1. Shut down the VM.
2. In the VirtualBox Manager, click File in the menu bar, then select Preferences.... This will invoke a window for preference configuration.
3. Select the Network category on the left.
4. Click a plus button on the right of the window. This will add a host-only network named "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter".
5. Click the button labeled with "Edit host-only network". This will invoke a dialog.
   • In the Adapter tab, do the following settings:
     • IPv4 Address: 192.168.56.1
     • IPv4 Network Mask: 255.255.255.0
   • In the DHCP Server tab, do the following settings:
   • Check Enable Server
     • Server Address: 192.168.56.100
     • Server Mask: 255.255.255.0
     • Lower Address Bound: 192.168.56.101
     • Upper Address Bound: 192.168.56.245
6. Click OK to go back to the VirtualBox Manager, choose the VM, then click the Settings button in the tool bar. This will invoke a window for VM configuration.
7. Select the Network category on the left.
8. Select the Adapter 2 tab on the right.
9. Enable "Adapter 2", and modify the Attached to attribute of Adapter 2 to Host-only Adapter. The Name attribute should become VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter by default.

Now launch the VM. Run

sudo ifconfig eth1

You should see some information about the network interface "eth1". If you receive an error message like

eth1: error fetching interface information: Device not found

This is probably that you did not configure the host-only network correctly. Check yourself.

However, you can not see the IP address of eth1, this is because eth1 is still down. Again, you should modify the configuration file. Append the following lines at the end of the file /etc/network/interfaces:

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

After modifying the "interfaces" file, restart the network:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Run

sudo ifconfig eth1

again. You should see the IP address of eth1, such as 192.168.56.xxx. Remember this IP address, and you will use it later.

Host Configuration

Now keep the VM on and go back to the host. You should perform some configurations to access the VM via SSH. According to the type of your host operating system, you will perform different configuration.

For GNU/Linux and Mac users

You will use the build-in ssh tool, and do not need to install an extra one. Open a terminal, run

ssh username@ip_addr

where username is your VM user name, ip_addr is the IP address of eth1 mentioned above. For example:

ssh [email protected]

If you are prompted with

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

enter "yes". Then enter your VM user password. If everything is fine, you will access the VM via SSH successfully. To exit SSH, just type

exit

in terminal.

For Windows users

Windows has no build-in ssh tool, and you have to download one manually. Download the latest release version of putty.exe here. Run putty.exe, and you will see a dialog is invoked. In the input box labeled with Host Name (or IP address), enter the IP address of eth1 mentioned above. Leave other settings default, then click Open button. Enter your VM user name and password. If everything is fine, you will access the VM via SSH successfully. To exit SSH, just type

exit

in terminal.

Installing tmux

tmux is a terminal multiplexer. With it, you can create multiple terminals in a single screen. It is very convenient when you are working with a high resolution monitor (that is why we recommend you to log in via SSH). To install tmux, just issue the following command:

apt-get install tmux

Now you can run tmux, but let's do some configuration first. Go back to the home directory:

cd ~

New a file called .tmux.conf:

vim .tmux.conf

Append the following content to the file:

setw -g c0-change-trigger 100
setw -g c0-change-interval 250

bind-key c new-window -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind-key % split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind-key '"' split-window -c "#{pane_current_path}"

The first two lines of settings control the output rate of tmux. Without them, tmux may become unresponsive when lots of contents are output to the screen. The last three lines of settings make tmux "remember" the current working directory of the current pane while creating new window/pane.

If you use ls to list files, you will not see the .tmux.conf you just created. This is because a file whose name starts with a . is a hidden file in GNU/Linux. To show hidden files, use ls with -a option:

ls -a

You can scroll the content in a tmux terminal up and down. Also, using tmux with SSH, you can create multiple normal-size terminals within single screen. For how to use tmux, please search the Internet. The following picture shows a scene working with multiple terminals within single screen. Is it COOL?