Virtual Machine

Objectives

 Part 1: Prepare a Personal Computer for Virtualization

 Part 2: Import a Virtual Machine into VirtualBox Inventory

Background / Scenario

Computing power and resources have increased tremendously over the

last 10 years. A benefit of having multicore processors and large amounts
of RAM is the ability to use virtualization. With virtualization, one or more
virtual computers operate inside one physical computer. Virtual computers
that run within physical computers are called virtual machines. Virtual
machines are often called guests, and physical computers are often called
hosts. Anyone with a modern computer and operating system can run
virtual machines.

A virtual machine image file has been created for you to install on your
computer. In this lab, you will download and import this image file into a
desktop virtualization application, such as VirtualBox. When opened in the
player software, this fille will permit you to run a Linux guest computer
that can be accessed directly from your host operating system.

This virutal machine will be used later in the course.

Required Resources

 Host computer with a minimum of 8 GB of RAM and 20GB of free

disk space

 High-speed internet access to download Oracle VirtualBox and the

virtual machine image file

Instructions

Part 1: Prepare a Host Computer for Virtualization

In Part 1, you will download and install desktop virtualization software, and
also download an image file that can be used to complete several of the
labs throughout the course. For this lab, the virtual machine is running a
Linux OS.

Step 1: Download and install VirtualBox.

VMware Player and Oracle VirtualBox are two virtualization programs that
you can download and install to support the image file. In this lab, you will
use VirtualBox.
a. Navigate
to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/virtualbox/download
s/index.html.

b. Choose and download the appropriate installation file for your operating
system.

c. When you have downloaded the VirtualBox installation file, run the
installer and accept the default installation settings.

Step 2: Download the Virtual Machine image file.

The image file was created in accordance with the Open Virtualization
Format (OVF). OVF is an open standard for packaging and distributing
virtual appliances. An OVF package has several files placed into one
directory. This directory is then distributed as an OVA package. This
package contains all the OVF files necessary for the deployment of the
virtual machine. The virtual machine used in this lab was exported in
accordance with the OVF standard.

a. Navigate to the Network Security Virtual Machine (VM) page on

netacad.com.

b. Download the security_workstation.ova image file and note the

location of the downloaded VM file.

Note: Your browser may ask if you wish to open the file with the
VirtualBox program. Select Save instead to follow the instructions in Part
2.

Part 2: Import the Virtual Machine into the VirtualBox Inventory

In Part 2, you will import the virtual machine image into VirtualBox and
start the virtual machine.

Step 1: Import the virtual machine file into VirtualBox.

a. Open VirtualBox. Click File > Import Appliance… to import the

virtual machine image.

b. In the Appliance to import window, specify the location of the .OVA file
and click Next.

c. The Appliance window presents the settings suggested in the OVA

archive. Review the default settings and change if necessary. Normally,
the default settings are appropriate. Click Import to continue.

d. When the import process is complete, you will see the new Virtual
Machine added to the VirtualBox inventory in the left panel. The virtual
machine is now ready to use.
Step 2: Start the virtual machine and log in.

a. Click the Security Workstation virtual machine.

b. Click the green arrow Start button at the top portion of the VirtualBox
application window. If you get the following error dialog box, click Change
Network Settings and set your Bridged Adapter. Click the dropdown list
next to the Name and choose your network adapter (this will vary for each
computer).

Note: If your network is not configured with DHCP services, click Change
Network Settings and select NAT in the Attached to dropdown box.
The network settings can also be accessed via Settings in the Oracle
VirtualBox Manager or in the virtual machine menu by selecting Devices
> Network > Network Settings. You may need to disable and enable
the network adaptor for the change to take effect.

c. Click OK. A new window will appear and the virtual machine boot
process will start.

d. When the boot process is complete, the virtual machine will ask for a
username and password. Select sec_admin in the drop-down menu.

Use the following credentials to log in to the virtual machine:

Username: sec_admin
Password: net_secPW

You will be presented with a desktop environment with a launcher bar at

the bottom, icons on the desktop, and an application menu at the top.

Note: Notice the keyboard and mouse focus. When you click inside the
virtual machine window, your mouse and keyboard will operate the guest
operating system. Your host operating system will no longer detect
keystrokes or mouse movements. Move your mouse outside of the
VirtualBox window to control your host operating system. If you are unable
to move the mouse out of the VirtualBox window, press the right
CTRL key to return keyboard and mouse focus to the host operating
system.

Step 3: Familiarize yourself with the Virtual Machine.

The virtual machine that you just installed will be used to complete
several of the labs in this course. Familiarize yourself with the icons in the
list below:

The launcher bar icons are (from left to right):

 Show the desktop

 Terminal emulator

 File manager application

 Web browser application (Firefox)

 File search tool

 Current user’s home directory

a. Open the Terminal Emulator application. Type ip address at the

prompt to determine the IP address of your virtual machine.

[sec_admin@Workstation ~]$ ip address

What are the IP addresses assigned to your virtual machine?

Answer will vary. The loopback interface is assigned 127.0.0.1/8,
and the Ethernet interface is assigned an IP address in the
10.0.2.0/24 network.

b. Locate and launch the web browser application.

Can you navigate to your favorite search engine?

Yes

Step 4: Run scripts.

In this step, you will run two scripts that were created for this course. A
script is a plain text file that contains a set of commands that execute
when the script filename is entered at the terminal prompt.

a. Open a terminal using the Terminal Emulator application.

b. Navigate to the scripts folder.

[sec_admin@Workstation ~]$ cd lab.support.files/scripts/

[sec_admin@Workstation scripts]$

c. You can list the files in the folder by entering ls at the promp.t

[sec_admin@Workstation scripts]$ ls

configure_as_dhcp.sh configure_as_static.sh net_configuration_files

d. To run a script that changes the IP address to a static IP address of

192.168.1.11, enter ./configure_as_static.sh. Enter net_secPW as the
password when prompted.

[sec_admin@Workstation scripts]$ ./configure_as_static.sh

[sudo] password for sec_admin:

Configuring the NIC as:

IP: 192.168.1.11/24

GW: 192.168.1.1

IP Configuration successful.

e. Verify the static IP address by typing ip address at the terminal

prompt.

[sec_admin@Workstation scripts]$ ip address

<output omitted>

2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc

fq_codel state UP group

default qlen 1000

link/ether 08:00:27:8a:4b:dd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

inet 192.168.192.183/24 brd 192.168.192.255 scope global dynamic

eth0

valid_lft 1774sec preferred_lft 1774sec

 inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe8a:4bdd/64 scope link

valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

f. To return to using DHCP to get an IP address,

enter ./configure_as_dhpc.sh at the prompt.

[sec_admin@Workstation scripts]$ ./configure_as_dhcp.sh

[sudo] password for sec_admin:

Configuring the NIC to request IP info via DHCP...

Requesting IP information...

IP Configuration successful.

Step 5: Shut down the VM.

When you are done with the VM, you can save the state of the VM for
future use or shut down the VM.

Closing the VM using GUI:

From the VirtualBox File menu, choose Close…

Click the Save the machine state radio button and click OK. The next
time you start the virtual machine, you will be able to resume working in
the operating system in its current state.

The other two options are:

Send the shutdown signal: simulates pressing the power button on a

physical computer and selecting shut down

Power off the machine: simulates pulling the plug on a physical

computer or holding down the power button until the computer turns off

Closing the VM using CLI:

To shut down the VM using the command line, you can use the menu
options inside the VM or enter sudo shutdown -h now command in a
terminal window and provide the password net_secPW when prompted.

Rebooting the VM:

If you want to reboot the VM, you can use the menu options inside the VM
or enter sudo reboot command in a terminal and provide the
password net_secPW when prompted.

Note: You can use the web browser in this virtual machine to research
security issues. By using the virtual machine, you may prevent malware
from being installed on your host computer.

Reflection

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a virtual machine?

With a virtual machine, you can test new applications or
operating systems without affecting your host machine. You are
also able to save the current machine state when you close the
virtual machine. If you have any issues, you have the option to
revert the virtual machine to a previously saved state. On the
other hand, a virtual machine requires hardware resources from
the host machine, such as hard drive space, RAM, and processing
power.