Linux - Configuration for Headless Server

Configuration for Headless Server

VCollabPro uses OpenGL to render the images in the graphics hardware (or frame buffer) and export them into image files. This, in turn, requires an X Windows server running on the system. On headless systems with no X Windows server installed, the Xvfb in-memory display server is required to run VCollabPro.

Prerequisites for Headless – SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

VCollabPro requires the following packages to be installed on a SLES headless server environment.

  1. xorg-x11-server

  2. Mesa-libGL1

  3. libGLU1

  4. Mesa-dri

  5. libglut3

  6. libXi6

  7. libXpm4

  8. libXrandr2

  9. libXrender1

  10. libfreetype6

  11. libfontconfig

Prerequisites for Headless – Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server

VCollabPro requires the following packages to be installed on a RHEL headless server environment.

  1. xorg-x11-server-Xvfb

  2. mesa-libGL

  3. mesa-libGLU

  4. mesa-dri-drivers

  5. freeglut

  6. libXi

  7. libXpm

  8. libXrandr

  9. libXrender

  10. freetype

  11. fontconfig

  12. libdrm

  13. libXft

Prerequisites for Headless – Ubuntu Server

VCollabPro requires the following packages to be installed on a Ubuntu headless server environment.

  1. xvfb

  2. libxi-dev

  3. fontconfig

  4. libxrender1

  5. x11-xserver-utils

Usage syntax for Xvfb:

>/usr/local/bin/vcollabpro –xvfb –b <py_file> [cax_file]

Xvfb Configuration

How to check if Xvfb is installed:

rpm -qa | grep Xvfb

This above command lists the Xvfb version that is installed on the machine

How to check if Xvfb is running:

ps -ef | grep Xvfb

This above command lists the process details about Xvfb that is currently running on the machine

How to configure Xvfb for the Automatic startup:

Edit the rc.local file to start the server automatically on boot, then start the server. After the package is installed, add the following line to the /etc/rc.local file to start the server on boot:

Xvfb :1234 -screen 0 1280x1024x24 -nolisten inet6 &

Either reboot the system to start the Xvfb server or manually run the following command to start the Xvfb server without rebooting the system:

Xvfb :1234 -screen 0 1280x1024x24 -nolisten inet6 &

Note

The xorg-x11-server-Xvfb version depends on the graphics driver version installed on the headless server. If VCollabPro still doesn’t work after the installation of Xvfb, you may need to try installing the latest versions of Xvfb.