How To Setup Kaltura CE 4.0 VMWare Image in 15 minutes

by Roni Cohen

Various forum threads (@, @, @) discussed issues with the VMWare image of Kaltura CE 4.0. The following video tutorial will guide you how to install Kaltura CE 4.0 VMWare image in 15 minutes.

In the video we deliberately re-created most of the problems users encountered while setting up the VMWare image. The fixes mentioned in this video also apply to the generic Kaltura Server installation and are not specific to the VMWare image installation (We’ll make sure that in the next release these are simplified and fixed).

Two problems that the video solves particularly are the logs and cache folder permissions and the Sphinx localhost issue.

Now set your clocks, follow the video and in 15 minutes you’ll be good to go.

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CE 4.0 VMWare Image Setup Video Tutorial

The logs and cache folder permissions problem
In order to fix the logs and cache folder permissions problem, you must first generate it; Access the server management via the KMC or the Admin Console, that will populate the logs and cache folders. Then to solve the issue, increase permissions on those folders running the following commands

chmod 777 -R /opt/kaltura/log
chmod 777 -R /opt/kaltura/app/cache

The above is a good troubleshooting tip for most issues.

The Sphinx issue 
The Sphinx issue is raised when you log in to KMC content tab and then presented with the following error message: “Internal Server Error”  before any content is visible. This happens because Sphinx (the indexing & search server Kaltura uses) is required to retrieve entries metadata. When not properly setup and run, the Media.list API call will fail. To resolve this issue, verify that sphinx is running on your server by running the following command: ps -ef | grep searchd
If searchd doesn’t come up on the grep results, to start sphinx run the following:

./opt/kaltura/bin/sphinx/searchd --config /opt/kaltura/app/configurations/sphinx/kaltura.conf


The Video Instructions in a list – Setting up Kaltura CE 4.0 VMWare image

  1. Go into Kaltura.org
  2. Register as a user or log in
  3. Press the Kaltura CE Download link
  4. Download the Kaltura CE4 VMware image
  5. Wait for the download to finish
  6. Open the VMWare image installation guide
  7. Open the Set the VMWare image guide
  8. Unzip the image using WinRar
  9. Download and install VMWare Player
  10. Open the VMWare Player
  11. Change the network, disk and processors settings
  12. Open the Kaltura CE 4.0 image
  13. Follow the step by step guide on the VMWare image installation doc
  14. Login to the image using user: root, password: kaltura
  15. Run the following commande: ifconfig – and copy the your ip address
  16. Edit c:/windows/system32/etc/hosts file and add: 192.168.174.128 local.ce (note the space between the ip and local.ce)
  17. Run the following command: php /opt/kaltura/installer/configure.php
  18. Run the following command: vim /etc/hosts (this will open the vim editor and edit the /etc/hosts file)
  19. Add the following line: 127.0.0.1 local.ce (note the space between the ip and local.ce)
  20. Hit the Esc key, then type ‘:wq’ to save and exit.
  21. Add the following line: vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
  22. Add the following line at the end of the file: include /opt/kaltura/app/configurations/apache/my_kaltura.conf
  23. Hit the Esc key, then type ‘:wq’ to save and exit.
  24. Run the following command: vim /opt/kaltura/app/alpha/config/kConfLocal.php
  25. Type /sphinx and then hit the N key to search for sphinx
  26. Instead of 127.0.0.1 change to localhost (this will solve the Sphinx issue)
  27. Hit the Esc key, then type wq to save and exit.
  28. To restart the Apache service, run the following command: service httpd restart
  29. Head your browser to the following address: http://local.ce/start
  30. Click the links to Admin Console and the KMC (the Kaltura Management Console)
  31. Close the Admin Console and KMC tabs.
  32. Note that you’ll see the errors, as logs and cache are being created
  33. Run the following command: chmod 777 -R /opt/kaltura/log
  34. Run the following command: chmod 777 -R /opt/kaltura/app/cache
  35. Head your browser to the following address: http://local.ce/start
  36. Open the Admin Console
  37. Add a new Kaltura Publisher
  38. In the Publishers list, select Manage in the actions drop-down for the new publisher account
  39. All done. Enjoy your new Kaltura Server :)

Help us make the next version better by sharing in the comments below any other problems you may have encountered.

Time Wednesday, December 7th, 2011, 1:20 pm   |   CategoryBest Practises, Developers, Technology  |  RssRSS feed |  CommentRespond  |  TrackbackTrackback

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16 Responses to “How To Setup Kaltura CE 4.0 VMWare Image in 15 minutes”

    
  1. Kevin Severud
    December 9, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    Still no luck. The admin console errors with an HTTP 500 Internal Server Error following login.

    Reply
  2. ne
    December 14, 2011 at 11:17 am

    im just trying out kaltura video comment

    Reply
  3. Sven Wontroba
    December 19, 2011 at 11:32 am

    May be it helps some others.

    Step 21 was for me:
    Add the following line: vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

    Reply
  4. Marc Johnson
    January 12, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    It doesn’t look like filters or playlists are working correctly after following all of the directions. Everything else seems to be working correctly. Am I the only one experiencing that issue?

    Also, instructions are great, thanks! The only issue some might have is that there is no “:” in front of wq on steps 20 and 27. those not familiar with VIM might run into a snag there.

    Reply
    • Roni Cohen
      February 2, 2012 at 9:40 am

      Hi Marc,
      sounds like you have Sphinx problems please check that it is configured properly.
      i would check that the following 2 commands are running (use ps -ef | grep search):
      /usr/bin/php populateFromLog.php /opt/kaltura/app/plugins/sphinx_search/scripts/configs/server-sphinx.php
      /opt/kaltura/bin/sphinx/searchd –config /opt/kaltura/app/configurations/sphinx/kaltura.conf

      Also please check the logs for any error, so we can further investigate.

      Reply
  5. John Dooley
    February 2, 2012 at 7:50 am

    I got it working as far as publishers and admin users logging in, but I can not upload any content, with i/o errors and l tried 2mb movie to 2gb movies. Is this VMWARE CE broke?

    Reply
  6. Sean Seeley
    February 17, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    I seem to still get the “application error” on the admin console even though I followed the instructions exactly. Can anyone help?

    Reply
  7. Ian
    February 22, 2012 at 10:13 pm

    Everything worked well except for the registration email was never sent, can’t seem to figure out why its not sending.

    Reply
  8. gzmask
    February 27, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    fixed that for ya:
    /opt/kaltura/bin/sphinx/searchd –config opt/kaltura/app/configurations/sphinx/kaltura.conf

    Reply
  9. Brian Holmes
    April 9, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    Fought me every step of the way. 3-weeks + and it’s still not up and running.

    First problem was the Sphinx thing… and just about every problem along they way. A specific FLASH player needs to be installed for the KMC to work? Really?

    Countless hours searching forums, txt file edits, etc… Every small success resulted in the next step failing and another internet scavenger hunt to find the solution. I’m so deep into fixes, patches, scripts. config-file edits and mods that I have no idea what is actually fixing problems. Was it the LAST thing I tried or a combination of a few or ALL the things I tried.

    I’m current stuck with video files that stay at a “converting” status for an eternity, diags show “Internal Server Error”. Pictures upload without error, but don’t display, the viewer is just a black box. I can’t add additional publishers (Add button is grayed out), I can’t add players (options are all grayed out), my embed links only show “Shockwave” I thought this was supposed to be HTML 5?

    I need to take a break… I’m still puzzled as to why the VMDK file does ANYTHING other then work? I mean it was working when the VMDK was created right? I get changing the IP and host name, but why all the other insanity. Update this, modify that, permissions are wrong, config files are wrong, update. clean up the database, it’s insanity.

    Well, back to the scavenger hunt for the solution to my next list of problems.

    Reply

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