To work on a website testing on localhost, what would be the best approach for installing a xampp server on a linux qube? I am looking for:
minimal template or a template clone for xampp installation? or a standalone of a minimal template perhaps? More like a vault that is accessible from another vm.
I need to access it from one untrusted qube to work on the site. Only these two vms will communicate. They should be blocked from the internet. or just access it from the same vm perhaps?
Any advice appreciated. Memory to allot? Any replacements for xampp? Security concerns under these circumstances of use?
You should be able to install xampp on either the Debian or Fedora templates using installation instructions available on the internet.
The major issue I see is that the xampp uses a custom installer and doesn’t use the distribution repositories. You have to decide to trust the xampp software and their installation software and run their installation process inside a template. You can download the custom installer using wget in a dispVM and then qvm-copy it to a template, but I expect that the installer will need you to temporarily provide the template with a net qube to complete the installation. This isn’t recommended on the Qubes website.
Installing XAMPP on Fedora
Installing XAMPP on Debian
If you install xampp in a template, you may then try to configure the Apache document root to your appVM user directory or /rw or using a symbolic link to your app. It’s just an idea. You can then access the server via the localhost port or as configured in /etc/hosts file. I actually use a LAMP stack configured in docker containers which run from source in the appVM with docker installed in the template. I tried it with both a minimal and full templates using local access only for the test app. They both worked, I just needed to install and configure more on the minimal template. If you have trouble configuring the document root in an appVM then you might consider using a standalone based on your template.
I used xampp a long time ago in Windows for testing and development. XAMPP is normally intended for Windows though it is cross-platform software. I haven’t used Windows templates or Windows standalones on Qubes. Fedora and Debian both support a LAMP stack in their distribution repositories. The most secure stack would be to install LAMPP (Linux, Apache, Mysql/MariaDB PHP, Perl) stack software directly from the Debian and Fedora distribution repositories and configure them yourself. Your existing XAMPP configuration can guide you somewhat.
Installing LAMP on Fedora
Installing LAMP on Debian
You can certainly have the appVM firewall configured to limit access to custom ip addresses on the local intranet, or simply provide no net vm for the appVM to completely isolate it from the internet. I haven’t tried to access one qube via https from another qube. It may not be possible or you may need to configure a special net vm to do that.
My application has gotten rather large and I also use other development applications in the same qube. I started with a standard full Fedora qube with 400MB initial memory and 4000MB max memory. I’ve increased it as needed in the docker containers and in the qubes I now have 1000MB initial and 10000MB max memory. I increased memory only when it seemed necessary.
Tried to install Turnkey LAMP in a qube.
Not allowing to set network config at all.
10.137.0.36, 255.255.255.255, 10.138.22.124, 10.139.1.1
When trying to set manually, it gives an error, that IP of gateway is not in range with set IP.
Anyone tried this before? On Virtual box it gets automatically configured. Is it necessary to assign a network device controller in settings?
You cant use a gateway on 10.138.0.0 network when you have set IP of
10.137.0.36 and a netmask of 255.255.255.255.
You need a netmask of 255.0.0.0 for that gateway to be reachable unless
you are setting routes.
I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.
I am trying to install a server distro package called "TurnKey LAMP’. TurnKey has several distros.
I am familiar with XAMPP on windows, and have even managed to get a working copy of LAMP stack on Virtual box as a VM with Bridged Network, so both XAMPP on Windows Host (localhost) and LAMP VM (through its IP address from the Windows host) are working and accessible.
The management GUI packaged with LAMP is excellent, and I want to setup a LAMP VM server on QOS that can be cloned and used for web testing purposes. The original Template server will be updated with the necessary user files if everything is working properly in the clone, in order to be a starting point for the next web testing. This setup is supposed to save some time with the installations and configurations if something goes wrong, and can also be moved to other QOS installations/VMs if necessary.
I just don’t want to lose time setting up servers and cms/database installations.
Your suggestion about the gateway appears like an AI response. So is your current response.
Clearly the image shows that the gateway is assigned by QOS automatically and it works. The two images are examples for your response, showing the network configuration in the LAMP vm qube and another regular qube.
I have given you the answer - you either need to adjust the netmask or
set appropriate route. The error message you quoted suggests that
changing the netmask is required in your case.
I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.
helpful clarification re: alternative text for images
Chill, @unman can’t see the images that you’ve uploaded on this forum since he’s accessing this forum in mailing list mode and the images are not sent in emails. Thet’s why he has pointed you to the accessibility guide:
Alternative Text for Images
Images should include equivalent alternative text (alt text) in the markup/code.
If alt text isn’t provided for images, the image information is inaccessible, for example, to people who cannot see and use a screen reader that reads aloud the information on a page, including the alt text for the visual image.
When equivalent alt text is provided, the information is available to people who are blind, as well as to people who turn off images (for example, in areas with expensive or low bandwidth). It’s also available to technologies that cannot see images, such as search engines.
