Recently had to roll out a new Zoneminder install for a client using ESXi 5.1. Instead of using Viktor Petersson’s ESXi appliance (which I’ve used in the past but is outdated and no longer developed), I created a fresh, fully updated Zoneminder virtual machine template. You can use this .OVA vm template with any flavor of VMware you wish, not just ESXi. This virtual machine is up to date as of the writing of this blog post (9/23/12). It includes Ubuntu 32-bit 12.04.1 LTS and Zoneminder 1.25.0. Additionally, it has version 9 of VMware tools preinstalled as well. You can have a fully configured Zoneminder install in minutes using my virtual appliance. In ESXi, simply load the vSphere client, go to File and select Deploy OVF Template and point it to the downloaded file. If using the .OVA with any VMware product other than vSphere/ESXi, you’ll need the OVF Tool located here. I’d recommend using at least 512MB of RAM, and at least 20GB of disk space if you plan on recording video.
Download the ZoneMinder VMware Appliance Template from Sourceforge
Template tested with the following versions/flavors of VMware: ESXi 5.1, ESXi 5.0 Update 2, Fusion 4 for Macintosh
Config details:
Admin username is zmadmin, as is the password.
MySQL Root password is zmadmin as well.
The Zoneminder web interface username and password is admin.
There is no root password set for Ubuntu.
Access Zoneminder’s web interface at http://YOURIPADDRESS/zm
The appliance, once deployed will get an IP and DNS via DHCP. You can change the IP to static by altering /etc/network/interfaces:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
Change the following lines:
# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
To (where x.x.x.x is your desired gateway and static IP):
# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address x.x.x.x
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway x.x.x.x
Add your fully qualified name to the /etc/hosts file:
sudo nano /etc/hosts
127.0.1.1 zoneminder.yourdomain.com zoneminder
x.x.x.x zoneminder.yourdomain.com zoneminder
Optional: Add your DNS servers for name resolution (the defaults are Verizon’s DNS at 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2):
sudo nano /etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/tail
Changing “nameserver” entries to whatever your internal DNS servers are. The file defaults are:
nameserver 4.2.2.1
nameserver 4.2.2.2
Presto! You have a shiny new Zoneminder install! Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Note: this VM template doesn’t include the Cambozola Java jar, which enables viewing of live streaming (montage) via Java. To install it:
cd /tmp
sudo wget http://www.charliemouse.com:8080/code/cambozola/cambozola-latest.tar.gz
tar xvfz cambozola-latest.tar.gz
sudo cp /tmp/cambozola-0.92/dist/* /usr/share/zoneminder
You may need to update the 0.92 portion of the above line if you download a newer version of Cambozola.
In the ZoneMinder web interface, under Options, Image, make sure to check the OPT_CAMBOZOLA box to enable it.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. Very much appreciated.
Thanks for saving me so much werk….
Thank you very much for this great appliance, it works really good. A working system in a few minutes. I’m more than happy with that!
Thank you. for the appliance. I could do more in return. you have saved a lot of time and effort for me. God bless you.
Thank you very much for this! It has saved me a lot of time and trouble. Cheers
Thank you so much for the VM appliance and for the topic you’ve wrote.
Thanks Mike, for a great appliance. I am using VM Player version 5 and it is doing fine.
how do you shut down the vmware process? I tried ‘shutdown -h now’ and it says you have to be root. So I did su and then it asks for password. What’s the password? Nothing you have provided works.
The default the root user is setup with a random hash during the install of Ubuntu. Having no password for root is a serious security issue of which the Ubuntu security team would NEVER allow.
See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo for more detail.
Ubuntu is also setup initially with the first user having the right to become root through SUDO by being a member of the Admin group. Subsequent users that need root privileges simply need to be added to this group.
It is advisable to NEVER change the root password from it’s default hash for many reasons. If you need persistent root access simply use sudo -i.
So:
sudo -i
Use password “zmadmin”
then do you shutdown -h now command.
Additionally you can safely shut down the system via vSphere as the VMware tools are installed on this vm.
sudo shutdown -h now
then type your SU password
Thank you – that’s great!
How could I get h264 working for iphone using this appliance? I can download and install the appropriate ffmpeg, but I can’t find a working http segmenter. (it’s not included with this build somehow)
No idea. I usually use uCamPro to view the camera’s directly (vs using Zoneminder) by opening several ports on the firewall and directing to the cameras. Really Zoneminder is used in most of my environments for modect/recording and central viewing via a browser.
Good luck!
Hi Mike, Thank you for this appliance has made life a lot easier. Just a couple of questions.
1. How do I change the default zmadmin password
2. When I ssh into the vm it states there are 51 updates which need to be applied. What commands do I use to make sure all updates are applied correctly?
Thanks
Bob
1. passwd zmadmin
2. sudo apt-get update
When you type the password you will get no visual response acknowledging your typing. Your password is still being accepted. Just type the password and hit Enter when you’re done. You’ll be prompted to retype the password. Do so and hit Enter again.
Google is your friend.
can you please post a QUICK START tutorial.
1. how to setup cameras
2. how to change username/password
coz i dont to know how to connect camera with vmware.
if i start ubuntu, then enter username password
then what?????
please post a quick start tutorial if you have time.
thanks
Just tried this but get an error
the ovf package requires unsupported hardware. details: line 24 unsupported hardware family “vmx-08″. I am using esxi4.1
new to this, searched vmware site, no help, any ideas
thanks
chris
You need to use ESXi 5+
Hi, i managed to run the Appliance with converting it with VMware converter..
Maybe that helps..
Cheers
Franj
What is the username and password for the virtual server please?
It’s listed above… Admin username is “zmadmin”, password is the same, “zmadmin”
rtfm….to that guy…and yes google is your friend:)
Thanks Mike Waldron for this Great VM…Keep up the great work!!!
Mike thanks for this OVF file. Is there an easy way to expand the disk? if i expand it to say 60GB before i start the VM for the first time, the sda still only shows its a 20GB drive. This is ok for a few cameras and recording but when you add 5 or 6 this will fill up fast and won’t save the data for very long before purging by zoneminder.
Thanks!
I think you can do this using the VMware converter when you deploy to OVF… by altering the destination disk size. If that doesn’t work, you can use the converter post-deployment to reconvert the existing VM and change the destination disk size there which should modify both the physical size as well as the VM disk.
Yet another way is here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/56443/how-to-increase-the-disk-space-of-an-ubuntu-vm
Thank to Mike I was able to increase the size of my disk from 20GB to 60GB. I followed this little step by step to do so and worked just fine!
http://www.rootusers.com/use-gparted-to-increase-disk-size-of-a-linux-native-partition/
woohooo
Thank you!
The disk size is 20GB, this is foll in 3 days and the server will no longer run. I have tried to resize the disk in ESXI however the Zoneminder appliance wont see it.
Is it possible to have a 100GB version or larger? Or how to change the lvm partition size.
parted resize worked for the exitended volume, but gave error file system not recognised for the lvm logical volume
If I’d know where video files are stored, I’d create a separate virtual disk, as large as needed. Then fortmat it to ext4
crate the folder for those files.
in the etc/fstab file add a line mounting the above folder int the proper place.
This disk I recommand to be insependent and persistent. If you back up the entire machine, this disk you will be secure and record wont be afected by snapshots
Managed ro resize, i had to change the BIOS boot order to have the CD before the HDD as you would normally have in a desktop. It would always boot the HDD.
OK so now resized, the Apache server is saying it cant connect to the SQL database. Think the drive running out of space has killed the database. Is there a way to recover, or should I just start again?
The vmware image is “failing out of the box” on Axis ip cameras. I’m getting an “Unable to probe network cameras, status is ’127′” on the first camera I attempted to setup. Neither mpeg or jpeg is working. Camera is ping-able from the server but not “probe-able” from the zm interface. Given the slew of these errors I found when Googling, I’m a little confused as to if I’m seeing a configuration error or a software bug… Anyone else having difficulties getting Axis network cameras to work? – Thanks!
So do I
Nope, I was never able to get Axis cams to work with any other software other than what is in it all ready, or what they sell as a third party software…I was able to ping the cam but ZoneMinder did not like it…This was over 2 years ago when I had my hands on some Axis cams…But on the other hand the Axis software works great, and I never had a problem with it…so why bother…ZoneMinder works great with cams that i can afford…Axis cams are great but way out of my price range…I found some HD knock offs from China and they work great with this ZoneMinder package….outside full pan tilt zoom..ext ext….
well was able to get a axis cam, and tried it..werks great…Just have to read the how to…and I was werking recording zooming and so on…
Manged to fiannly rezixe the LVM.
lvextend -L98G /dev/mapper/zoneminder-root
resize2fs /dev/mapper/zoneminder-root 98G
These 2 commands rezized the volume. gpated did nothing it seems
Thanks for sharing!
WOW KILLER…..
Thank you!
I’we just deploid the VM and it works.
But I can’t see in monitor the image of an axis M-1031 M camera.
i can see the image directly from the camera. but no t in the application monitor
Any idea??
Thanks in advanced
Hello you are good boy! thanks for this share!! ..and sorry for my english…
Hello,
Thank you for the VM machine it really saved me enormous time.
I am seeking some help getting my camera displayed on the monitoring software.
The cam I am trying requires user name and password that is probably why I am getting a blank screen also on the browser bottom bar I see that the server is trying all the time.
Could you please share with me a solution to my problem?
Thank you in advance
If your camera needs a username / password to login then often all you will need to do is change the Remote Host Name to :@
Example myadmin:1234@192.168.1.128
I currently can’t seem to get zoneminder to work with a Trendnet TV_IP110w camera even using the settings as described at http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Trendnet#TV-IP110_.26_TV-IP110W
I get normal video when I go directly to the camera with firefox but with zoneminder I get just a black screen. The log file has the following errors repeated over and over.
=====================================================================================================
2013-04-03 16:45:08.356420 zmdc 1324 ERR ‘zmc -m 1′ exited abnormally, exit status 255 zmdc.pl
2013-04-03 16:45:08.350164 zmc_m1 1474 ERR Failed to capture image from monitor 1 (0/1) zmc.cpp 263
2013-04-03 16:45:08.349703 zmc_m1 1474 ERR Unable to get response zm_remote_camera_http.cpp 1097
2013-04-03 16:45:08.349230 zmc_m1 1474 ERR Unrecognised content type ‘multipart/mixed’ zm_remote_camera_http.cpp 800
2013-04-03 16:45:08.099400 zmc_m1 1474 INF Starting Capture zmc.cpp 191
2013-04-03 16:45:08.014020 zmdc 1474 INF ‘zmc -m 1′ started at 13/04/03 16:45:08 zmdc.pl
2013-04-03 16:45:08.012350 zmdc 1324 INF ‘zmc -m 1′ starting at 13/04/03 16:45:08, pid = 1474 zmdc.pl
2013-04-03 16:45:08.003980 zmdc 1324 INF Starting pending process, zmc -m 1 zmdc.pl
===================================================================================================
The first error is “Unrecognised content type ‘multipart/mixed” so it is probably the key error but I can’t find any info on it.
Any suggestions much appreciated
Thank you so much for building this! The old one was so outdated. Was able to get it up and running in now time. So much better than building it from scratch in a VM. Great simple directions. Now…I just need to learn some of the million advanced options. The config either needs a usability update, or someone needs to write a good guide/book explaining what all these configuration options really do and the best ways to use them.
Great!
its up and running
how to set clock right? will need to change for Europe London and i havent find it…
Use this command:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
Then:
tzselect
PIck your area and local time zone.
i have done it with sucess but when i refresh the time is the same
any other ideia?
tanks for the help
Give a man a loaf of bread and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Can you put instruction of how to build up the server Ground up, like step 1: Install ubuntu server(LAMP Version) , step 2 … of the indivisual packages you’ve installed and how resolved the dependencies.
Thanks
S
Hey S
Check here dude – http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Documentation
What he said. I’m no genius (albeit I do IT for a living) and it does not take a ton of work to get Zoneminder running. Download the Ubuntu LTS ISO and then download Zoneminder from the repository… all of this is out there on the Interwebs. The whole purpose of my VM is to AVOID having to do all this work.
jA…
First of all, thanks SO much for building this appliance…. it’s been a GREAT way to get started with zoneminder and really does work so well!!!
It’s gotten me pushing so much farther than I thought I would… right now I’m working on integrating your appliance into a pretty fully automated house, Universal Devices ISY-994i for lighting, proximity and appliance control, XBMC with HTTP triggers setup to the ISY and EventGhost to control lighting, sound levels, whole house music, motion detectors, door sensors, thermostats, etc…. it can turn on and of lights, change colors of accent lighting, pretty much predict/guess what room of the house people are in as well as where they might be going when they walk around…….
and THAT, brings me back to you.
Since the ISY has great Insteon motion detectors, can read lights switches, tell when doors are open, etc…. it really want to use IT to control where my cameras are looking at what’s recording… and in this version of your appliance, I can’t seem to get the “zmtrigger.pl” function working. Any chance you’ve worked with it yourself, or maybe can help me track down what might be wrong in the appliance?
Hey Steve, I only know the basics of ZM (and really just use it in it’s most basic form) so I would probably defer you to the Zoneminder forums @ http://www.zoneminder.com/forums.
Good luck and glad you are enjoying the VM.
Just posted a few messages there and my new cams are on the way. Thank’s again for getting us all off to a good start… this looks like it’s going to be exactly what I’m looking for!
When I try to import this into workstation 7.1 it returns an error “The OVF descriptor file could not be parsed”.
I have installed the new VMWare OVFtool and still have this problem (I assume that workstation uses the tool and there are no links etc for me to use manually).
What else can I try?
How about trying the VMware standalone converter (which I use frequently with ESXi).
1) Download VMware convertor standalone
2) Click convert machine button and select the OVA/OVF
3) Select “Virtual Appliance” – “File System if you have downloaded your OVA / OVF or URL”
Creates a VMX and VMDK, now open your workstation / vCenter GUI and open the VMX
Hi there, I download this to my Mac (latest OS, latest updates) and my VMWare Fusion 4.1.4 says it cannot open it. What can I be doing wrong?
You need to use the VMware ovftool to convert it first. https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=OVF-TOOL-3-0-1
Thanks for the quick reply – I’ll have a look
Still no go. I have never used this before so this is what I did, and it still won’t open the ovf
/Applications/VMware\ OVF\ Tool/ovftool Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ova Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ovf
p.s. the tool seemed to do something – went through percentages and looked like it knew what it was doing
Oh, here is what it said :
OHRI-156396:VMs amckay$ /Applications/VMware\ OVF\ Tool/ovftool Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ova Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ovf
Opening OVA source: Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ova
Opening OVF target: Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ovf
Writing OVF package: Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.1-LTS.ovf
Transfer Completed
The manifest validates
Warning:
– No manifest entry found for: ‘Zoneminder-1.25.0-Ubuntu-12.04.vmdk’.
Completed successfully
OHRI-156396:VMs amckay$
Still no joy so I just installed ubuntu and am configuring the software myself.
Any idea whether it should recognize the built in cameras on my Mac, or how to do that? I am using just /dev/video but I don’t really know what that connects to, and it does not seem to be working.