Accessing VMs

Several methods for accessing your Anka VMs

anka run requires Remote Login to be enabled for the user.

If the VM is in a suspended or stopped state, anka run will start it.

There are currently two methods of accessing Anka VMs:

  1. Use anka run to pass in commands from the host terminal.
  2. Use anka view to launch the Anka Viewer.

Executing commands through anka run

> sudo anka run --help
Usage: anka run [OPTIONS] VM_NAME COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Run commands inside VM environment

Options:
  -w, --workdir PATH              Working directory inside the VM
  -v, --volumes-from, --volume PATH
                                  Mount host directory (current directory by default) into VM . '--volumes-from' is
                                  deprecated form
  -n, --no-volumes-from, --no-volume
                                  Use this flag to prevent implicit mounting of current folder (see --volume option).
                                  '--no-volumes-from' is deprecated form
  -E, -e, --env                   Inherit environment variables. '-e' is deprecated form
  -f, --env-file PATH             Provide environment variables from file
  -N, --wait-network              Wait till guest network interface up
  -T, --wait-time                 Wait for guest time sync
  --help                          Show this message and exit.

Similar to docker exec, anka run allows execution of commands inside of a VM.

When running anka run with no options/flags, it will mount the current folder from the host into the VM and execute commands in this mount point. This can be disabled using the -n option.

Returns 125 on timeout

Examples

sudo anka run {template} sudo whoami
HELPERS="set -exo pipefail;"
ANKA_RUN="sudo anka run -N -n"
$ANKA_RUN {template} bash -c "$HELPERS cd /tmp && rm -f /tmp/OpenJDK* && \
  curl -L -O https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk8-binaries/releases/download/jdk8u242-b08/OpenJDK8U-jdk_x64_mac_hotspot_8u242b08.pkg && \
  [ \$(du -s /tmp/OpenJDK8U-jdk_x64_mac_hotspot_8u242b08.pkg | awk '{print \$1}') -gt 190000 ] && \
  sudo installer -pkg /tmp/OpenJDK8U-jdk_x64_mac_hotspot_8u242b08.pkg -target / && \
  [[ ! -z \$(java -version 2>&1 | grep 1.8.0_242) ]] && \
  rm -f /tmp/OpenJDK8U-jdk_x64_mac_hotspot_8u242b08.pkg"

It's also possible to specify the directory to mount inside of the VM using this syntax -v /host/folder:/mnt/path:

sudo anka run -v $PWD:/tmp/mountpoint_1 {template} pwd

Currently, only a single directory can be specified. If you need more than one folder shared between host and the VM, use the anka mount command:

sudo anka mount {template} ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning\ Profiles/ /Users/anka/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning\ Profiles/
sudo anka run {template} xcodebuild -exportOptionsPlist exportInfo.plist archive

Working with environment variables

You can pass them inside of a file like anka run -f environment.txt, where environment.txt is a text file in the form VARIABLE=VALUE, one variable per line.

To inherit the host's environment, use anka run -E command. However, existing VM variables will not be overridden by host's variables.

The anka run command doesn't source .profile or .bash_profile. You have to source the file before executing other commands:

sudo anka run ios-temp bash -c 'source ~/.bash_profile; ./iPhone/make_build -b dev -c 1 -d ./build -e Mobile -z'`

Other examples

anka run sierrav40c1 xcodebuild -sdk iphonesimulator -scheme Kickstarter-iOS build - Will mount the default directory from the host into the sierrav40c1 Vm and execute build.

anka run -w /Applications {template} ls -l - Will pipe the results of ls -l from the VM's /Applications directory.

anka run -v . {template} ls - Will mount the host current directory inside the VM, execute ls, pipe the results and unmount.

anka run -v . {template} xcodebuild ... - Will mount the current directory from the developer machine(host) to the VM and execute an xcodebuild command and pipe the results back.

anka run sudo ... - Executes commands inside the VM with sudo privileges. For instance:

anka run {template} cp -R simpledir /Users/anka - Will copy the current host directory to the VM at /Users/anka location

anka run -n sierrav40c1 xcodebuild -sdk iphonesimulator -scheme Kickstarter-iOS build - Will not mount the current host directory and execute build in the VM current directory

You can write parameters to VM configuration so they're available on execution with anka run using the anka modify command.

anka run doesn't support TTY mode, but you could easily use POSIX streams as with regular bash tool:

anka run -n VNMANE whoami > /dev/null

cat file.txt | anka run -n {template} md5

Launching the Anka Viewer with anka view

> sudo anka view --help
Usage: anka view [OPTIONS] VM_ID

  Open VM display viewer

Options:
  -d, --display INTEGER  Specify the displays to view
  -s, --screenshot       Make png screenshot
  -c, --click TEXT       Send the pointer event
  --help                 Show this message and exit.
❯ sudo anka start 10.15.4
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| uuid                  | c0847bc9-5d2d-4dbc-ba6a-240f7ff08032                              |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| name                  | 10.15.4 (base:port-forward-22:brew-git:jenkins:openjdk-1.8.0_242) |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| created               | Apr 16 16:17                                                      |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| cpu_cores             | 2                                                                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ram                   | 4G                                                                |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| display               | 1                                                                 |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| hard_drive            | 80Gi (16.6Gi on disk)                                             |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| addons_version        | 2.2.2.116                                                         |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| status                | running                                                           |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| vnc_connection_string | vnc://:admin@192.168.0.107:5900                                   |
+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

> sudo anka view 10.15.4 

You should now see the Anka Viewer window:

Anka Viewer

You can set the resolution of the Viewer using sudo anka modify 10.15.4 set display -r 1200x800