Quick VM Tour

The simplest way to get a quick sense of what the GMS is all about might be to try loading a virtual machine where the GMS has already been installed and configured.

The pre-configured GMS is meant for demonstration purposes only. If you wish to use the system in earnest for analysis you will eventually need to identify appropriate hardware and adopt one of the installation methods described in the Install Manual.

Step 1. Install VirtualBox (>= 4.3.8)

The virtual machine was created with VirtualBox version 4.3.8. VirtualBox is open-source and freely available for the Mac, Linux, and Windows platforms. Download and install VirtualBox for your system here:
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Step 2. Download a Pre-configured GMS VirtualMachine Image

The pre-configured virtual machine image contains the GMS installation, a fully functional Ubuntu 12.04 Precise operating system, annotation databases, reference genome sequences, example data and much more. The pre-configured virtual machines are available here:
https://xfer.genome.wustl.edu/gxfer1/project/gms/vms/

The image files are large (~48 Gb) and will take some time to download. You should therefore use a download agent that will allow the download to resume if it is interrupted. For example, at a terminal you could use wget.

wget https://xfer.genome.wustl.edu/gxfer1/project/gms/vms/GMS_VM_V1.zip

Step 3. Unpack the Image

Use your favorite decompression software to unpack the virtual machine. For example, in a Mac or Linux terminal you could use unzip GMS_VM_V1.zip. On Mac or Windows you can probably simply double-click the archive file.

Step 4. Import the Image

Open VirtualBox and add the GMS virtual machine by selecting the GMS .vbox file as follows.

Within VirtualBox, use the Machine -> Add option:

Find the GMS .vbox file and open it:

Step 5. Configure system resources to be used for the virtual machine

Depending on the resources available on your system you may want to adjust resource usage. For example, you might adjust the base memory, video memory, CPUs, and network connection type. To adjust each of these and more, select the machine GMS_VM_V1 and press the Settings button at the top left of the VirtualBox interface.

General settings:

Number of processors:

Base memory:

Video memory:

Network (set to NAT by default by Bridged Adaptor may be faster):

Step 6. Start the GMS system

Select the machine GMS_VM_V1 and press the Start -> button at the top left of the VirtualBox interface. The machine will boot and you will be automatically logged in as the user genome. If you are ever prompted for a password, remember that both the username and password for the system are genome.