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Process overview

Our objective to create a single Virtual Machine that runs Novell Service Desk so that we can explore the capabilities of this new solution from Novell. To do this we will

a) Create a new VM using SLES JeOS

b) Upload Sun Java and Novell Service Desk installer into the VM

c) Perform the installation and start Novell Service Desk

d) Load a browser and give it the URL for Novell Service Desk running on our VM

Lets get started

( WARNING:  This is a GUI free zone and requires command line work  ....  )

Assumptions

Downloads are stored in c:\downloads

You are running 64-bit Windows

Have VMware Workstation 6.X or above installed

The VM has network access to an existing database server which Novell Service Desk can use. This could be another VM running in the same copy of VMware Workstation

File downloads

Perform the following downloads and store in c:\downloads

1) SLE-11-SP1-JeOS-esx.x86_64-GM.iso which is SLES JeOS 11 SP1 64bit edition for VMware from here

2) Novell Service Desk from here

3) Java engine for Novell Service Desk is Sun JDK 64-bit. Get this from here at the bottom of the page

4) Download PuTTY from here which we will use for terminal access and file transfer to the linux VM

The build

a) Create a new VM in VMware workstation using SLE-11-SP1-JeOS-esx.x86_64-GM.iso as the source.

When this process is completed, login into the VM as root, password linux

b) At a command prompt, add ssh daemon to start at boot

chkconfig -add sshd

Then start the service

/etc/rc.d/sshd start

As the sshd daemon starts up it will generate rsa keys and you will see messages about this. Ignore them.

c) We will need the IP address of the VM for two reasons. One so that we can transfer files to it and the other to update the hosts file. If we do not perform the latter, tomcat will not start and therefore Novell Service Desk does not either.

In the VM window, type

ifconfig

Write down the IP address. Now to edit the hosts file.

vi /etc/hosts

Scroll down the file and put an entry for the IP address and VM hostname after the line 127.0.0.1 localhost. By default the hostname is linux

If you have not use vi before you need to press INSERT key to insert characters. When finished typing, press ESC to exit the INSERT mode. Now press : and enter wq at the prompt to write the updated host file and quit vi.

Finished with the linux VM for the moment. Now for installing PuTTY onto your windows machine. If you already have this installed, you can skip this step and go get some coffee.

In Windows explorer browse to c:\downloads and double click on putty-0.60-installer. Follow the prompts to install and accept all of the defaults.

Now to transfer Sun Java JRE and Novell Service Desk installation file to our VM. For this we are using PSCP utility included with PuTTY.

At windows command prompt

cd c:\program files (x86)\PuTTY\

First the Sun JRE.  We are copying everything to root home directory.

pscp c:\downloads\jdk-6u22-linux-x64-rpm.bin root@<VM IP address>:/root

If you see a message "Store key in  cache" type y to accept.  Then enter linux at the password prompt

Now for Novell Service Desk installer

pscp c:\downloads\Installer.jar root@<VM ip address>:/root

Enter linux at the password prompt.

Last few steps are now performed at the command prompt of the linux machine.  You can type directly in the VM machine window or use PuTTY to connect.  I'm going to type directly in the VM machine window

If you are not logged in, login as root, password linux

SLES JeOS has no Java installed and we need to have Sun 64- bit Java for Novell Service Desk. At command prompt type

cd /root

chmod +x jdk-6u22-linux-x64-rpm.bin

./jdk-6u22-linux-x64-rpm.bin

Sun Java is now installed.  Confirm this by typing:-

java -version

And you should see this message

Everything is now in place for Novell Service Desk installation. We will need to change some of the installation options which appear after the EULA has been accepted :-

Port:  Change to 80 from suggested value of 8700

Target path: Change to /usr/share/ServiceDesk

To start the install , type

java -jar Installer.jar -console

The installer does not add Novell Service Desk to the list of running daemons to automatically start at boot time nor does it start Novell Service Desk processes. Lets fix this before continuing.

Type the following at the VM command prompt:-

/usr/share/ServiceDesk/Server/bin/service.sh

Ignore all of the script and missing errors. Everything is working. Novell Service Desk is now ready to run.  On your Windows machine launch a browser with the URL

http://<VM IP address>

You should see Novell Service Desk asking for a database.  Follow the instructions here to complete the final configuration stages.

If do not see this screen and see a message from Apache Tomcat instead, go edit the host file on the linux machine and put an entry for the IP address and hostname. Save the file, restart the VM and all should work.

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.