Error messages during upgrade of Virtualbox on Ubuntu

As I upgraded to version 4.1.8 of Virtualbox on my Ubuntu host system today I got some strange error messages. Although Virtualbox still seems to work fine afterwards I tried to solve these issues as these messages appeared now for a while already during every upgrade.

They looked like

* Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]
* Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.

Error! Bad conf file.
File: /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/4.1.8/source/dkms.conf does not represent
a valid dkms.conf file.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.

Error! Bad conf file.
File: /var/lib/dkms/vboxdrv/3.2.2/source/dkms.conf does not represent
a valid dkms.conf file.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.

Error! Bad conf file.
File: /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetflt/3.2.2/source/dkms.conf does not represent
a valid dkms.conf file.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘DEST_MODULE_LOCATION’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_NAME’ directive specified.
dkms.conf: Error! No ‘PACKAGE_VERSION’ directive specified.

Error! Bad conf file.
File: /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetadp/3.2.2/source/dkms.conf does not represent
a valid dkms.conf file.
[ OK ]
* Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS [ OK ]
* Starting VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]

To get rid of these messages I had to do two things:

To remove the references to the old Virtualbox version from dkms run the following commands (as described in this thread; make sure you use the version numbers from your error message!):

$ sudo rm /var/lib/dkms/vboxdrv/3.2.2/source
$ sudo ln -s /var/lib/dkms/vboxdrv/3.2.2/build /var/lib/dkms/vboxdrv/3.2.2/source
$ sudo dkms remove -m vboxdrv -v 3.2.2 –all

$ sudo rm /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetflt/3.2.2/source
$ sudo ln -s /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetflt/3.2.2/build /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetflt/3.2.2/source
$ sudo dkms remove -m vboxnetflt -v 3.2.2 –all

$ sudo rm /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetadp/3.2.2/source
$ sudo ln -s /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetadp/3.2.2/build /var/lib/dkms/vboxnetadp/3.2.2/source
$ sudo dkms remove -m vboxnetadp -v 3.2.2 –all

To get rid of the message regarding the current version of Virtualbox you want to upgrade to, you need to run these commands (as described here):

sudo mv /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost.old
sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

Although I did not test it I think it should be sufficient to just remove the existing vboxhost folder as described in the last step which should make the first step obsolete! At least now running the setup does no longer show any errors:

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
* Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]
* Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules [ OK ]
* Removing old VirtualBox pci kernel module [ OK ]
* Removing old VirtualBox netadp kernel module [ OK ]
* Removing old VirtualBox netflt kernel module [ OK ]
* Removing old VirtualBox kernel module [ OK ]
* Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS [ OK ]
* Starting VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]

 

 

JXplorer – a powerful open source LDAP browser

I just found a great replacement for the LDAP Browser from Softerra which I normally used:

JXplorer – an open source LDAP browser – http://jxplorer.org/.

JXplorer is also free and does have, among others, the following nice features:

  • It can also write to the LDAP
  • Search filters can be created with a dialog (especially useful for me as I am not an LDAP specialist ;-))
  • LDIF files can be loaded and can be browsed
  • also working with Linux, AIX etc.

A small disadvantage is that you cannot save the passwords for your LDAP servers which you have defined. However this can be solved by registering the tool (US-$ 10) and getting access to the JXWorkBench plugin. You will get some more features with that plugin as well.

IBM Connections 3.0.1.1 update to CR1

Although it is also documented in the IBM Connections wiki here it is a short summary of the commands for Linux which might be useful. Although it describes the update to IBM COnnections 3.0.1.1 CR1 it can be used for other fixes/fixpack as well:

IBM WebSphere and Lotus Buzz: IBM Connection 3.0.1.1 update to CR1

Attention:

If you are not logged in as “root” change to root access with just “su” and NOT “su -“. And also be sure that you use the syntax “.  ./setupCmdLine.sh”. If you do not precede the command with the period and space, the Java environment will not be properly set for the active shell.

Launchpad does not open on AIX or Linux operating systems

More and more Lotus products are using the Tivoli Installation Manager for installing. In order to start the launchpad.sh on AIX or Linux machines you need to have a supported browser installed. In case your installation is using Firefox version 10 or higher launchpad will not start and an error message is shown that no supported browser has been found.

To correct this error you need to edit the launchpad/browser.sh script as described in this support article.

Virtualbox: Cloning Suse Linux VMs

If you try to clone a Virtualbox VM with a newer version of Suse Linux the machine will no longer boot afterwards. You will get error messages like

Trying manual resume from
resume device dev/disk/by-id/ata-…-part1 not found (ignoring)
Waiting for device dev/disk/by-id/ata-…-part2 to appear
Could not find dev/disk/by-id/ata-…-part2
Want me to fall back to dev/disk/by-id/ata-…-part2 ? (Y/N)

The reason for that is that newer versions of Suse reference the storage device (the disks)  “by-id” instead of “by-name”. A simple solution for this problem can be found in this blog entry.

Websphere: Replacing the default IBM self-signed certificate with another certificate

Just in case I will need it the next time … This article is a good description how to

  • Adding trusted root and intermediary certificates to the Cell default trust store
  • Generating a certificate signer request
  • Installing a signed certificate
  • Configuring the servers to use the signed certificate

Although the article is written for Lotus sametime in can be used for other Websphere servers as well.

Using Sametime Web API features with SSL

If you want to use the Sametime Web API features of the Sametime Standalone or Sametime Embedded Client in Notes if you have enabled SSL for awareness / presence information you need first to do some steps on the client side in order to enable SSL for the Sametime Web API:

  1. Download the Sametime SDK (Software Development Kit)
  2. Extract the files somewhere, for example to C:\STSDK (you only need to extract the folder client/connectWeApi)
  3. Navigate to C:\STSDK\client\connectWebApi\samples\com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.webapi.ssl.feature
  4. Edit the file “ssl.txt” with a text editor
  5. Edit the last two lines so they look like this (make sure they point to the right path where you extracted the files in step #2 above):
    • com.ibm.ssl.trustStore.59669=C\:/STSDK/client/connectWebApi/samples
      /com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.webapi.ssl.feature/testtruststore.jks
    • com.ibm.ssl.keyStore.59669=C\:/STSDK/client/connectWebApi/samples
      /com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.webapi.ssl.feature/testkeystore.jks
    • Attention: You need to escape the “:” with a “\” in Windows and the line breaks above should NOT be there in your file (they are just for displaying it correctly here on the site)
    • The above is only as a demo. You can use your own key and trust store files here (and would need to apply the correct password in this file as well!)
  6. Save the file
  7. Navigate to your workspace config directory. The location is different if you are using the Sametime Standalone Client or the Embedded Client in Notes:
    • Sametime Embedded Client:  <Notes Data Directory>\workspace\.config
    • Sametime Standalone Client: %userprofile%\Application Data\Lotus\Sametime\.config
  8. Open the file “rcpinstall.properties” with a text editor
  9. Add the following two lines to the end of the file (again, make sure you modify the path to point to the location of the ssl.txt file in step 4 above):
    • -Dcom.ibm.pvc.webcontainer.port.secure=59669
    • -Dcom.ibm.pvc.webcontainer.ssl.configfile=C:/STSDK/client/connectWebApi/samples
      /com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.webapi.ssl.feature/ssl.txt
  10. Save the file
  11. Check if there is already a file “webcontainer.properties” in the “.config” directory. If yes, rename it to another name.
  12. If you are using the Sametime Embedded Client in Notes enable the Web API feature (if not already done before).
  13. Now start your Sametime Standalone Client or your Notes Client and log in to Sametime
  14. Wait about 15 seconds after you have successfully logged in.
  15. If you have used a self-signed certificate above, open your browser and go to https://localhost:59669/stwebapi/listservices and accept the self-signed certificate forever

[Thanks to Luis Benitzez]