Remote Xdebug with VirtualBox

remote-debuggingvirtualboxxdebug

I'm trying to get remote debugging to work. The PHP is running on a VM and I'm trying to debug from NetBeans on the host machine.

I've followed the instructions here, forwarded port 9000 in the Windows 7 firewall and in the VirtualBox network settings, and set up path mappings in NetBeans. My xdebug settings look like this:

xdebug.remote_enable = On
xdebug.remote_connect_back = On
xdebug.idekey = "netbeans-xdebug"
xdebug.remote_log = /tmp/xdebug.log

When I load the URL I want to debug (using the correct idekey) it logs the following:

I: Checking remote connect back address.
I: Remote address found, connecting to 192.168.0.1:9000.
I: Connected to client. :-)
-> <init xmlns="urn:debugger_protocol_v1" 
         xmlns:xdebug="http://xdebug.org/dbgp/xdebug"
         fileuri="file:///home/dev/web/projects/project.com.vm/httpdocs/index.php" 
         language="PHP" protocol_version="1.0" 
         appid="1380" 
         idekey="netbeans-xdebug">
   <engine version="2.2.1"><![CDATA[Xdebug]]></engine><author><![CDATA[Derick Rethans]]></author><url><![CDATA[http://xdebug.org]]></url><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright (c) 2002-2012 by Derick Rethans]]></copyright></init>

-> <response xmlns="urn:debugger_protocol_v1" xmlns:xdebug="http://xdebug.org/dbgp/xdebug" status="stopping" reason="ok"></response>

However, NetBeans remains waiting for a connection. I've got it set up to stop at the first line, in addition to having a breakpoint set. The log file will include the "Connected to client" message even when NetBeans is not listening.

Any idea what I might be missing?

Thanks.

Best Answer

What worked for me was running the following from my host:

ssh -R 9000:localhost:9000 yourUserName@yourVirtualMachine

Note the use of the -R flag instead of -L. I had trouble using port forwarding to get things working, while the ssh tunnel worked perfectly. Note you could also do this by running the ssh command from within the VM and connecting to the host with the -L flag.

Since I ended up on this question while working with Vagrant, this is the command I personally used, use the password 'vagrant' when prompted:

ssh -p 2222 vagrant@127.0.0.1 -R 9000:localhost:9000

Related Solutions

Settings up xdebug on MAMP PRO

Since release of MAMP 2.01 XDebug is already included.

Solved. Here's the tutorial that helped me:

Start MAMP
Edit php.ini template file through MAMP to enable the extension. Edit the template file via File -> Edit Template -> PHP -> PHP php.ini

Edit bottom of php.ini template file so that it ends up looking like if you want profile output

[xdebug]
zend_extension="/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/xdebug.so"
xdebug.profiler_enable = 1
xdebug.profiler_output_dir = "/tmp"
; DONT REMOVE: MAMP PRO php5.3.6.ini template compatibility version: 1

If you don’t want profile output and just want xdebug running then use

[xdebug]
zend_extension="/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.3.6/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/xdebug.so"
xdebug.profiler_enable = 0
xdebug.profiler_output_dir = "/tmp"
; DONT REMOVE: MAMP PRO php5.3.6.ini template compatibility version: 1

Now when you have errors, if they are sent to standard out, you will see something like this

My php.ini file:

edited php.ini file to run xdebug on mamp mac osx

Save edited template and close edit window
Restart MAMP
Open MAMP’s WebStart page and navigate to PHPInfo tab. Check to make sure that Xdebug is running. Doing a search in the browser window for “Xdebug” makes this easy.
If you used the same settings that I have above, when you run PHP code, Xdebug will put the cachegrind.out files in your ‘/tmp’ directory. Open your ‘/temp’ directory and run one of your PHP files to make sure it is working correctly. You can open the ‘/tmp’ directory in finder by opening the terminal and running
```
open /tmp
```
Now you can use any app that understands those cachegrind.out files to view the profile data. Apps like KCacheGrind (Linux/Windows, KDE), WinCacheGrind (Windows), xdebugtoolkit, and Webgrind. I went the simple route and used webgrind. Webgrind is a simple web based application that you can run locally on MAMP and it will look for the cachegrind.out files automatically with just one click. Continue for steps on setting up with webgrind.
Download Webgrind
Setup Webgrind host on MAMP to run Webgrind
Visit webgrind url setup on your local MAMP installation. Mine was simply webgrind/
If you already have cachegrind output files you should be able to select the file in the “Auto (newest)” dropdown or leave it select at Auto and click update which will reveal the profile data
Throw a celebratory fist pump

How to resize a VirtualBox vmdk file

If you want to end having back a vmdk hard disk (maybe you are interested in using the disk in vwmare too), the complete steps are:

VBoxManage clonemedium "source.vmdk" "cloned.vdi" --format vdi
VBoxManage modifymedium "cloned.vdi" --resize 51200
VBoxManage clonemedium "cloned.vdi" "resized.vmdk" --format vmdk

The above will resize the hard disk up to 50GB (50 * 1024MB).

To complete things you need to resize the drive too! To achieve this, you might want to download gparted iso and boot from that iso to resize your drive (select the iso from within the virtualbox settings).

P.S. If your new size is too small, you'll get the same error even with your new vdi file.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Settings up xdebug on MAMP PRO

How to resize a VirtualBox vmdk file

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