Manually Build a WinXP Scan Worker

These instructions are for manually building/configuring a Window XP scan worker host (or VM). We do not currently support building Windows XP scan workers using Vagrant/Salt, so this is the only method. This is how you would manually build a production scan worker. It is only lacking the automated startup scripts for celery.

If you are building a production scan worker, you should create a user specifically to run Phagescan and then run everything as that user. We use the user avuser by default.

Prepare your Environment

On the scan master, create scan_worker.zip by using the script:

installation/scanworker/make_scanworker_zip.sh

Transfer scan_worker.zip to the Windows XP host.

  • Note: One way to easily transfer files to the WinXP vm is to use a rudimentary webserver on the VM Host. On the VM Host, run this command in the directory containing files that need to be transferred onto the XP VM:

    $ python -m SimpleHTTPServer 7878

    Then in the XP VM, you can use the web browser to go to the IP of the VM Host on port 7878:

    http://192.168.33.10:7878/scan_worker.zip

Extract scan_worker.zip to c:\ to create c:\phagescan. We will refer to this directory as [Project_root_dir]

Install python 2.7.x, setuptools, pip and virtualenv

Follow these instructions: http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/starting/install/win/

  • Make sure you get the latest version of python in the 2.7.x series. Get the python x86 msi installer. Install for all users and accept all defaults.
  • Once you install python and update your PATH, then setuptools and pip will install. Just download the .py files and double-click them (setuptools first, then pip).
  • To install Virtualenv, use the windows command terminal to run pip.

Start a cmd terminal, create a virtual environment, and activate it:

$ virtualenv c:\psvirtualenv
$ c:\psvirtualenv\Scripts\activate

Your prompt should look like this after:

(psvirtualenv) C:\<path> >

If you need to deactivate the virtual env:

$ deactivate

If all of the above worked, close that terminal window.

Install & Setup MinGW:

  • Some requisite python packages must be compiled. We will utilize MinGW to compile these packages on Windows. Follow the Graphical User Interface Installer instructions here: http://www.mingw.org/wiki/Getting_Started

  • Select the following packages for installation:

    mingw-developer-tools, mingw32-base,  mingw32-gcc-g++, msys-base

  • Once the installation is complete, refer to the "After Installing You Should ..." section on the Getting_Started page. Follow the instructions to create the fstab file for MSYS.

  • Then move to the "Environment Settings" section and add MinGW and MSYS to your system PATH:

    Add ";C:\MinGW\bin;C:\MinGW\MSYS\1.0\bin;C:\MinGW\MSYS\1.0\local\bin;" to the system PATH.

  • Lastly, instruct Python to utilize MingW as the compiler.

    1. Open (or create) c:\psvirtualenv\Lib\disutils\distutils.cfg

    2. Write the following into that file:

      [build]
compiler=mingw32

For the remainder of this document, you should open a new cmd window and activate the virtual environment. You should be in the [Project_root_dir] directory.

Install necessary Python packages:

(psvirtualenv) $ pip install -r installation\scanworker\PACKAGES.pip

  • For testing you can also install these:

    (psvirtualenv) $ pip install -r installation\dev\PACKAGES.pip

Copy the appropriate celery config file to the Project_root_dir:

(psvirtualenv) $ copy installation\scanworker\workerceleryconfig.py workerceleryconfig.py

Edit workerceleryconfig.py as necessary. In particular, tailor BROKER_CONF to your environment.

Install chosen engines

Refer to the following files:

[Project_root_dir]/engines/[engine_name]/INSTALL
  • Only the Panda engine is currently supported on Windows XP

Start the Celery worker process

Use the following command to manually start celeryd:

(psvirtualenv) $ celeryd -l INFO -E --config=workerceleryconfig -P solo

Running celeryd at boot

You can use a scheduled task to run the batch file celeryd.winxp.bat at boot.

Get batch file from the scan master. It is in: installation/salt-masterless/salt/celery/worker/celeryd.winxp.bat.

Copy the batch file to [Project_root_dir].

Schedule a task to run this script at boot using the following steps:

  1. First, you have to change the user to have a password and login to require a password:

    Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts
Click on your user
Click on 'Create a password'
Set a password.
Make your files private.
Click Apply, then Ok.

  2. Next, create the task:

    Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
Double-click Add Scheduled Task
Click Next
Browse to find celeryd.winxp.bat
Select 'When my computer starts'
Specify the user/password to run the task.
- Start it as the user 'HOSTNAME\avuser'.
- Enter the password for user 'avuser'.
Click the box to open the Advanced Properties
Click Finish
- If you get an error about Access denied, click Ok.
 Then when the Advanced Properties window appears,
 click the Set password.. button to re-enter the password for avuser.
In the Advanced Properties, go to the Settings tab and uncheck all boxes.
Click Apply
Click Ok

It is possible to create a proper window service to start celery at boot, but we have yet to do so. It would probably involve the use of pywin32.