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How to make VMware jobs run

  1. Have a script in the correct run level linked to one in /etc/init.d which will do your job if it is present but allow the machine to come up for adjustments if not. (sample scripts below)

  2. Have a second disk configured in your VM which is used to place input data and extract output data

  3. Have patience as the job happens in a black box.

In order for this all to work you must have a VM which is rich enough to have "mkfs" which has the "-t vfat" option to make a windows vat32 partition.

Below is a suitable script for mounting a second disk at the right run level and deciding if a job should be run or the VM simply brought up for changes or inspection. 

  #!/bin/sh


  PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/stata


  case "$1" in
    start)
          echo "Testing VM Job Status"
          mount /dev/hdb1 /vmjob
          ls /vmjob
          if test -f "/vmjob/statajob"
          then
                  /vmjob/runstatajob.pl /vmjob statajob
                  shutdown -h now
          else
                  echo "Bring up for non-vm work"
                  sleep 20
          fi
          echo "."
          ;;
  esac


  exit 0

Here is a perl script which mounts the second disk and looks for a file holding a list of Stata jobs to run. 

  #!/usr/bin/env perl


  my $dir = $ARGV[0];
  my $file = $ARGV[1];


  chdir("/vmjob");
  my $dbinstalllog =  "stataVM.LOG";
  print "Trying to open logfile... $dbinstalllog\n";
  open(OLDOUT, ">&STDOUT");
  open(OLDERR, ">&STDERR");
  open(STDOUT, ">>$dbinstalllog") or die "Could not open $dbinstalllog: $!";
  open(STDERR, ">&STDOUT");
  select(STDERR);
   $| = 1;
  select(STDOUT);
   $| = 1;


  print "runstatajob.pl called with dir<$dir> file<$file>\n";


  system("mkdir /tmp/vmjob");
  system("cp * /tmp/vmjob");
  #chdir($dir);
  chdir("/tmp/vmjob");


  print "Lets look at disk availability\n";
  system("pwd");
  system("df -h");
  system("ls -l");
  system("which stata-se");
  print "Do the following job:\n";
  print "*****************************\n\n";
  system("cat $file");
  print "*****************************\n\n";


  # ado directory has to go in a stata "sysdir"
  # one such location is /usr/local/stata


  # extract out ado.tar.gz
  system("tar -zxvf ado.tar.gz");
  system("chmod -R 777 ado");
  system("cd ado");
  system("mkdir /usr/local/ado");
  # place in one of many sysdir directories
  # visible by typing "sysdir" at the stata prompt
  system("cp -r plus/* /usr/local/ado");
  system("cp -r personal/* /usr/local/ado");
  system("cd /tmp/vmjob");


  open(JOB,"<$file") or die "Can not open <$file>:$!\n";
  my $line = "";
  while(<JOB>) {
          chomp();
          $line = $_;
          print "Running stata on $line\n";
          system("stata-se -b $line");
          print "done\n";
          system("ls");
  }
  close(JOB);
  print "Copy results back to /vmjob\n";
  system("cp *.log /vmjob");
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