NexusDB

We've had lots of questions lately regarding running NexusDB on a Linux machine. It seems that more and more companies and organisations want to run their servers on Linux instead of a Windows OS. We got to a point where we thought it to be useful to create our own very simple mini distro of Linux called Nexux :)

Nexux is based on a Puppy Linux puplet called G_Pup 1.2 which is a barebones SMB enabled image. Nexux is Slackware compatible and adds SeaMonkey 1.1.8 for easy downloading and of course Wine 1.1.12 to the image. It also has the NexusDB V3 Server and a test database installed.

Nexux comes as an ISO download which is only 84 megabytes in size. You can then write it to CD/DVD or run the image directly from VMware or similar. Nexux can run as LiveCD (read-only!) or can be be very quickly and very easily installed to USB drives or hard drives.

The best thing about Nexux is that you can remaster the ISO to include your own settings and/or database for easy and quick installation. Nexux takes full advantage of the possibilities that Puppy Linux offers and by using the built in mechanism to remaster the ISO you can create CD/DVD of a full Nexux LiveCD/Installer including eg your own server and your own databases with preset aliases.

How to run Nexux in a VMWare VM

Running Nexux in VMWare 6.5 is really really simple. Here are the steps:

1. Download Nexux ISO
2. Create a new VM
3. Select Typical (recommended)
4. Install from "Installer Disc Image" and point it to the downloaded ISO
5. Select Linux / Other Linux 2.6.x Kernel as Guest system
6. Give it a name/location of your choice
7. Add a disk, 1 gig is plenty
8. Review your settings and Finish/Create the VM
9. Make sure the settings of your network are "Bridged" or the NAT is setup correctly.
10. Nexux should boot now
11. Set the mouse, keyboard and X-Window settings
12. Click the Connect icon, then Internet by network or wireless LAN, then ETH0 and set it according to your network (that should be set to 192.168.1.133 by default)
13. Click the NX Server icon once started
14. Fire up EM on your host machine and add a new server NexusDB@192.168.1.133 and connect. (or of course to the network address you setip in the step above).
15. That's it.
16. When you shut down Nexux you have the possibility to save the settings to a file.

How to boot Nexux from CD

Booting Nexux is even simpler. Here are the steps:

1. Download Nexux ISO
2. Burn the ISO to CD
3. Reboot your machine, make sure that it is trying to boot from CD
4. Nexux should boot now
5. Set the mouse, keyboard and X-Window settings
6. Click the Connect icon, then Internet by network or wireless LAN, then ETH0 and set it according to your network (that should be set to 192.168.1.133 by default)
7. Click the NX Server icon once started
8. Fire up EM on your host machine and add a new server NexusDB@192.168.1.133 and connect. (or of course to the network address you setip in the step above.
9. That's it.
10. When you shut down Nexux you have the possibility to save the settings to a file.

How to install Nexux to a hard drive or USB stick?

Once Nexux is running in e.g. your VM or from CD, it's very easy to install it to a hard drive or a USB stick.

1. Boot into Nexux (follow steps above)
2. Open Menu/Setup/Puppy Universal Installer
3. Follow the on screen instructions
4. That's all

How to update NexusDB server on Linux?

We've added a convenient "Wine Windows Root" folder on the desktop, which links to the wine internal "c:" drive. We've also installed the Seamonkey browser (Menu/Internet) to allow for easy downloading of new binaries. We've also already added zip support to the file manager so handling a download zip archive will be very easy. To update the nxserver.exe download a new binary and then copy it to drive_c\program files\nexusdb subfolder in "Wine Windows Root".

How to configure NexusDB server?

Just fire up a web browser (either in the linux system or from a reachable networkd machine) and point it to 192.168.1.133:10088 (or the IP you gave your ETH0 interface). This will bring up the NexusDB web administration which you can use to configure all the settings of the NexusDB Server.

How to create my own Nexux derivative?

In a nutshell the following steps are necessary (We will create an additional blog entry for step by step details in the near future):

1. Install Nexux, best to hard drive with the settings of a USB IDE drive (sic!)
2. Configure everything as you want it including server, databases etc
3. Open the Menu/Setup/Remaster Puppy LiveCD
4. Follow the instructions. Especially make sure that the step that creates the /tmp/root/ directory includes the /root/.wine folder

We hope that this will make the live easier for people who are trying to get NexusDB Server running on a Linux system.