Appliance 4.1.1 for Virtual machines

blankev wrote on Thursday, September 13, 2012:

I have been struggling with both options: Virtual Box and VM Ware player. I could not get Appliance OpenEmr 4.1.1 to run in Virtual Box, although the manual from Brady Miller seems to be updated and so clear. What might go wrong? I start the VB with the 3.0.1 file as suggested but get an error message halve way loading the file.

I want to use one of both virtual machines but can’t to get it run in autoload mode. Need this option since my colleague does not know what would happen if he first have to start the VMWare Player and if that runs start the Virtual machine 4.1.1 and than start the browser to get access to OpenEMR.

I NEED: Open the Browser and login OpenEMR, and I would like to accomplish this with a virtual machin option.

(Tried with  vmrun.exe and some other options, but could not get the wanted results)

1 Like

bradymiller wrote on Thursday, September 13, 2012:

Hi,

I’ve actually never tried the Virtual Box player. These instructions were contributed by Andrew Dyer. He also contributed the very cool intro screen and backup script, so I am guessing his instructions set is good.

To get the Vmware Player appliance to start automatically on start up, try this work around in post 3 of following thread:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1560151

-brady
OpenEMR

blankev wrote on Thursday, September 13, 2012:

Yes this works, and if you put the *.vmx file shortcut in the startup menu, it does what it is supposed to do. Starting at  startup. If I could open it as a Service it would even startup before all other shortcut make their appearance on the desktop, but could not figure out yet how to accomplish. I saw some samples, but that did not yet work as I want them to work. Used srvany.exe and intsrv.exe?  (Free MS additions for Windows 7) but failed. Just could not figure the path of the different files to start as a service……… is my impression. So I will continue to trial and error with Virtual machine player, or have to get contact with Andrew Dyer, since Virtual Box seems to have some advantages for importing, exporting files an easier to get into and out of the virtual machine. Could even try to make a virtual machine, if a day had some more hours to keep going. After 10 hours of start and restart I feel tired……… her the weekend has only two days and that is also something the family knows ;-))

blankev wrote on Thursday, September 13, 2012:

Do you have any idea if these instructions should be place in the OpenEMR-Appliance WIKI pages and if the answer is yes, where about can I put the instructions?

bradymiller wrote on Friday, September 14, 2012:

Hi Pimm,

The main issue with this method is the security of the computer you are running it on. Because this work around essentially opens up the desktop on startup without a password. For mainstream use, may be best to use an Appliance engine that actually supports this without the work around (pretty sure Free Virtual Box does and have heard good things about Windows Parallels, although this cost money).

-brady
OpenEMR

bradymiller wrote on Friday, September 14, 2012:

Continuting above,
That being said, suggets placing a wiki page going over this issue (along with pointers to the vmware player work around) on a page in this section of the wiki:
http://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/OpenEMR_Wiki_Home_Page#Virtual_Appliances
-brady

blankev wrote on Friday, September 14, 2012:

Your suggestion inn this if I understand the statement of Security is: Keep your Virtual machine’s startup in the startup menu  and not in the Service state? Or gives this the same security issue?

To my simple mind withe use of the virtual machine there are three channels open. Webministration, Openemr and Mail. All three are protected by password and can communicate through SSH and/or HTTPS.

Please advise if I am wrong.

Or is there a need to protect more, like the local computer closed of from the outer world by read/write protection etc……

blankev wrote on Friday, September 14, 2012:

In the install instruction of OpenEMR appliance there are some things mentioned to check in php Settings. Are there any instructions in the OpenEMR Aplliance pages on how to change php settings?

markleeds wrote on Friday, September 14, 2012:

I am using it with Parallels on Mac, which is also great for running all versions of Windows from XP to 8.  I am using the latest release of Parallels, Version 8.  It recognized that the appliance was VMWare and immediately offered to do a conversion, which took a few seconds.  Then, it ran with no problems.  I thought it wasn’t working until I realized I needed to connect with HTTPS.  Parallels 7, the previous version, I think did not do the conversion automatically.

Thank you Brady for keeping up the appliance.  Also, the regular release installs really well now.  I like all of the auto sensing stuff where it knows where it is.  I am running multiple versions side by side in the same xampp/htdocs directory with different databases with no problem at all.  I use different browsers to be safe.

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, September 15, 2012:

Hi,
The OpenEMR appliance should have the correct php settings by default. The installation instructions shouldn’t rec. this (let me know where that is so can fix). Just so you know, though, the php.ini file in appliance is at /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini .
-brady
OpenEMR

blankev wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

I did put some instructions on the suggested Appliance-WIKI-page, but somehow entered the WHAT TO DO in the Developer Appliance page (4). But I think it should be in  the Ready to use Appliance page. Please advice/correct.

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

Hi Pimm,
Thanks for doing this. Suggest making a OpenEMR Virtual Appliance Help (or Tips) page and placing it there instead of the developer appliance page (then in the next release will incorporate these help/tips into the official appliance manual).
thanks,
-brady
OpenEMR

blankev wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

Brady, I made some changes, but could not find one of the included shortcut advises on another page….

Made a Help and Tips file in Appliances. Also included some Ubuntu advises. Please check if I made  the Ubuntu commands correct and feel free to make this information more clear for users.

Please feel free to give some advise on what else to include in Help and Tips.

With this effort , at least I found my way again on how to make the text of the Wiki pages readable for dummies like me. It is easy if you know how, but hard to find without reading manuals.

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

Hi,
Looks good. Just made some minor changes and changed the page name (to make it obvious it’s for the OpenEMR Appliance).
thanks,
-brady
OpenEMR

blankev wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

Brady,

I need some support!!!!! In Applliance VMPlayer machine I work with Linux Ubuntu and approach OpenEMR with Firefox latest version. There are new patches for OpenEMR 4.1.1 , but the advice for Linux versions of updates in OpenEMR are not clear enough for me to get the latest Patch included in my Virtual Machine and copy=>paste from Windows7 seems not to be possible.

It all seems so clear while reading, but it is confusing for me as victim from the  Windows indoctrination.

Please advice.

If you manage to explain how I can accomplish, I promise to make a note for the Wiki Appliance page, Help and Tips.

Tnx in advance, Pimm

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

Hi Pimm,

Try:
1) First ensure you have ‘unzip’ installed
sudo apt-get install unzip

2)Then download and install the patch
cd /var/www/openemr
sudo wget http://www.open-emr.org/patch/4-1-1-Patch-4.zip
sudo unzip 4-1-1-Patch-4.zip

3)Then run patch script: http://your_server_name_or_ip/openemr/sql_patch.php

DONE.

-brady
OpenEMR

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, September 22, 2012:

Note the above instructions are on the command line. Let me know if you need to know how to get to the command line.
-brady

blankev wrote on Sunday, September 23, 2012:

Brady,

please check the Wiki page info Help and Tips on correct info. It was so easy as soon as I knew how to accomplish things.

***  directory, sudo, wget only to know the correct use of all in correct order ****

TNX, Pimm

blankev wrote on Wednesday, September 26, 2012:

Brady,

the VMPlayer 5 for use with Linux - Ubuntu under Windows 7 was a flawless install.

**Problem: **I want to use the same virtual machine on two other different computers running Windows XP, but the installation of VMPlayer gives me on both computers that the CPU of both different computers do not accept and installation of VMPlayer is not possible. In Forums and on the Internet I can’t find the solution. Also installation of an older version, VMPlayer 4 was possible on one computer, but did not run the latest VMPlayer version of OpenEMR 4.1.1.

Please advise,

Tnx in advance, Pimm

bradymiller wrote on Thursday, September 27, 2012:

Hi Pimm,
Think the newer VmWare versions are more stringent on their requirements (64 bit etc.). The current appliance should work on very low VMPlayer versions; did VMPlayer 4 give an error?
-brady
OpenEMR