CollabVM Server 2.0

CollabVM Server 2.0 was an open source server and complete rewrite of the 1.x core which was intended to be a proper replacement to the former CollabVM Server 1.x, but was discontinued after four months due to rushed development, creative burn-out and 4 years of broken promises and procrastination. It used to power CollabVM in the form of ExperimentalVM, before replacing the original 1.x software for a short amount of time. CollabVM Server 2.0 runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and BSD.

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This article documents an unsupported version of the CollabVM Server software.
If you are planning to set up the CollabVM Server, please do NOT use this version!
Current stable: 1.x (TS)
This page references older versions of CollabVM 2.0, therefore, (some parts, or the entirety of) the information is irrelevant to the current version of the software.
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CollabVM Server 2.0 has severe problems. There are many cases where the server will start memleaking and the server also has crash exploits. You are advised to use CollabVM Server 1.x! The information in this article is provided as-is and without warranty, meaning you will not receive support if you use CollabVM Server 2.0 as your node host of choice.
CollabVM Server 2.0 (Cosmic)
Developer(s) Cosmic Sans, Dartz
License GNU General Public License v3.0
Platforms Windows, Linux, MacOS, BSD
Architectures x86-64 (pre-built), x86, ARM
Release date

Release-to-manufacturing: February 17, 2020 (2.0.0.000)

End-of-life: June 2, 2020
Successor CollabVM Server 3.0
A VM running on CollabVM 2.0
A list of VMs on CollabVM 2.0

As of 2023, CollabVM Server 2.0 is considered abandoned and obsolete and has been replaced with CollabVM Server 1.x (TypeScript).

Sections

New Features

  • Account registrations / username reservations.
  • Audio support.
  • Official Windows 7/Server 2008 R2+ support (experimental support available in 1.2 as well).
  • RDP and VNC support (RDP support is for VirtualBox, other software will likely work fine).
  • Support for QEMU, VMWare, and VirtualBox. Anything with VNC/RDP support will work (even real machines).

Known issues

There were multiple problems with the CollabVM Server 2.0 software, which include, but were not limited to:

  • Direct crash exploits (except much worse and more annoying to deal with than 1.x)
  • Memory leaking, resulting in server crashes
  • Internal practices resulting in a rushed release

Automated builds

Another new feature of collab-vm-server 2.0 is that it now has automated builds, meaning that collab-vm-server 2.0 binaries will be automatically built so you don't have to compile it yourself. You can download automated builds of collab-vm-server 2.0 from the following locations:

Minimum Requirements

  • RAM:
    • Linux and Windows: At least 512 MB of free RAM on the server (Recommended: at least 2GB)
  • Processor:
    • Any mid/late-2000s processor (Recommended: Any modern CPU) or newer. AMD-V/VT-x is recommended (not required).
  • Space: At least 200 MB for collab-vm-server (5-10 GB of free space for VMs)

Operating Systems

BSD

FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD

  • Will build, but the required dependencies must be compiled or installed manually as vcpkg does not support these operating systems.

Linux

Any Linux distro running at least Linux Kernel 2.6.x will run collab-vm-server 2. So instead this page will list the minimum versions it will run on, and the minimum version you will need for support from the Developer team if you run into any problems.

Arch Linux

  • Requires at least Arch Linux 0.6 at minimum. Any modern Arch Linux install with all packages updated is recommended. An Arch Linux version from at least January 2020 is needed for full support.

CentOS

  • Requires at least CentOS 4 at minimum. CentOS 8 is recommended. CentOS 6 or newer is required for full support.

Debian

  • Requires at least Debian 3.1 at minimum. Debian 10 is recommended. Debian 8 or newer is required for full support.

Gentoo

  • Requires at least Gentoo Linux 2004.0 at minimum. Any modern Gentoo version is recommended. Gentoo 17.0 or newer is required for full support.

Ubuntu

  • Requires at least Ubuntu 4.10 at minimum. Ubuntu 18.04 is recommended. Ubuntu 16.04 or newer is required for full support.

MacOS

  • Requires at least Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks at minimum. macOS 10.15 Catalina is recommended. At least macOS 10.12 "Sierra" is required for full support.

Windows

  • Requires at least Windows XP SP2, or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 at minimum. Windows 10 Version 1909, or Windows Server 2019 build 17763 is recommended. At least Windows 7 SP1/Server 2008 R2 or newer is required for full support.
  • The pre-built binary does not run on Windows XP. It requires at least Windows Vista SP2. If you want to run CVM Server 2 on XP, you must build it yourself with the VS 2017 XP Toolchain.

See also