Step‑by‑Step Guide to Building a Local Linux Cluster with VirtualBox

In this article the author, Wu Kong, explains how to create a four‑node Linux cluster on a local machine using VirtualBox, enabling you to simulate distributed and high‑concurrency scenarios for future e‑commerce projects.

Creating the Virtual Machines

Install VirtualBox, add a Linux ISO image, and create four VMs. Choose Bridge networking and start each VM. During the first boot set the hostname eshop-cache01 and the password huang123.

Network Configuration

Because the VMs initially cannot reach the Internet, edit the network script to obtain a dynamic IP:

vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
DEVICE=eth0
TYPE=Ethernet
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

Restart the network and verify connectivity:

service network restart
ifconfig

Switch to a static IP (e.g., 192.168.10.86) by modifying the same file:

BOOTPROTO=static
IPADDR=192.168.10.86
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.10.1
service network start

Update /etc/hosts to map hostnames to IPs:

vi /etc/hosts
192.168.10.86 eshop-cache01

Installing Supporting Tools

Install SecureCRT (download from Baidu Cloud) for convenient SSH access, and WinSCP for file transfers.

Disable firewalls and SELinux to avoid inter‑node communication issues:

service iptables stop
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off
vi /etc/selinux/config
SELINUX=disabled

Configure YUM to use Alibaba mirrors, clean the cache, and install basic utilities:

sed -i "s|enabled=1|enabled=0|g" /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/fastestmirror.conf
mv /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo.backup
curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo https://www.xmpan.com/Centos-6-Vault-Aliyun.repo
yum clean all
yum makecache
yum install -y wget

Installing Java JDK 7

Copy the JDK RPM to /usr/local and install it:

rpm -ivh jdk-7u65-linux-i586.rpm
rm -rf jdk-7u65-linux-i586.rpm

Set environment variables:

vi ~/.bashrc
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/latest
export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
source ~/.bashrc
java -version

Installing Perl 5.16.1

Extract the source, install GCC, configure, compile and install:

tar -zxvf perl-5.16.1.tar.gz
yum install -y gcc
cd perl-5.16.1
./Configure -des -Dprefix=/usr/local/perl
make && make test && make install
rm -rf perl-5.16.1.tar.gz

Setting Up Password‑less SSH

On each node generate an RSA key pair and copy the public key to authorized_keys:

ssh-keygen -t rsa
cd /root/.ssh
cp id_rsa.pub authorized_keys

Test the login:

ssh eshop-cache01

Copy each node’s public key to the others to enable mutual password‑less access:

ssh-copy-id -i eshop-cache01
scp authorized_keys eshop-cache02:/root/.ssh
scp authorized_keys eshop-cache03:/root/.ssh
scp authorized_keys eshop-cache04:/root/.ssh

Final Cluster Verification

After configuring /etc/hosts on all machines and confirming SSH connectivity, the four nodes can communicate freely, completing the basic cluster environment.

Encountered Issue

The VMs lost external network access; switching the host’s network from wireless to wired and setting the VirtualBox network adapter to a bridged wired interface resolved the problem.