If you want to launch Selenium on a Linux server, you need to have Java support installed.
If your Java version is lower than 1.6, most probably you will get the following error while trying to launch Selenium:
[root@ns1 selenium]# java -jar /usr/local/bin/selenium-server-standalone-2.41.0.jar -role hub
May 27, 2014 2:06:12 p.m. org.openqa.grid.selenium.GridLauncher main
INFO: Launching a selenium grid server
Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: method java.net.NetworkInterface.isLoopback with signature ()Z was not found.
at org.openqa.selenium.net.NetworkInterface.<init>(NetworkInterface.java:42)
at org.openqa.selenium.net.DefaultNetworkInterfaceProvider.createInterface(DefaultNetworkInterfaceProvider.java:75)
at org.openqa.selenium.net.DefaultNetworkInterfaceProvider.<init>(DefaultNetworkInterfaceProvider.java:51)
at org.openqa.selenium.net.NetworkUtils.<init>(NetworkUtils.java:38)
at org.openqa.grid.web.Hub.<init>(Hub.java:87)
at org.openqa.grid.selenium.GridLauncher.main(GridLauncher.java:101)
In order to run is without errors, you need java-1.6.0, that is available with yum. In order to install it, you have to run the following command:
yum install java-1.6.0*
This will install OpenJDK stuff, needed to upgrade your Java. You will have to download about 400Mb of data. For me it was
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Package Arch Version Repository Size
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Installing:
java-1.6.0-openjdk x86_64 1:1.6.0.0-5.1.13.3.el6_5 updates 41 M
java-1.6.0-openjdk-demo x86_64 1:1.6.0.0-5.1.13.3.el6_5 updates 1.9 M
java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel x86_64 1:1.6.0.0-5.1.13.3.el6_5 updates 15 M
java-1.6.0-openjdk-javadoc x86_64 1:1.6.0.0-5.1.13.3.el6_5 updates 15 M
java-1.6.0-openjdk-src x86_64 1:1.6.0.0-5.1.13.3.el6_5 updates 39 M
Installing for dependencies:
flac x86_64 1.2.1-6.1.el6 base 243 k
giflib x86_64 4.1.6-3.1.el6 base 37 k
jline noarch 0.9.94-0.8.el6 base 86 k
libasyncns x86_64 0.8-1.1.el6 base 24 k
libogg x86_64 2:1.1.4-2.1.el6 base 21 k
libsndfile x86_64 1.0.20-5.el6 base 233 k
libvorbis x86_64 1:1.2.3-4.el6_2.1 base 168 k
pulseaudio-libs x86_64 0.9.21-14.el6_3 base 462 k
rhino noarch 1.7-0.7.r2.2.el6 base 778 k
tzdata-java noarch 2014b-3.24.el6 updates 148 kTransaction Summary
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Install 15 Package(s)
After you install these packages, you can run your Selenium. The output should look like:
[root@ns1 selenium]# java -jar /usr/local/bin/selenium-server-standalone-2.41.0.jar
May 27, 2014 2:21:52 PM org.openqa.grid.selenium.GridLauncher main
INFO: Launching a standalone server
14:21:53.219 INFO – Java: Sun Microsystems Inc. 23.25-b01
14:21:53.220 INFO – OS: Linux 2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64 amd64
14:21:53.401 INFO – v2.41.0, with Core v2.41.0. Built from revision 3192d8a
14:21:53.738 INFO – Default driver org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver registration is skipped: registration capabilities Capabilities [{platform=WINDOWS, ensureCleanSession=true, browserName=internet explorer, version=}] does not match with current platform: LINUX
14:21:54.264 INFO – RemoteWebDriver instances should connect to: http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub
14:21:54.265 INFO – Version Jetty/5.1.x
14:21:54.266 INFO – Started HttpContext[/selenium-server/driver,/selenium-server/driver]
14:21:54.267 INFO – Started HttpContext[/selenium-server,/selenium-server]
14:21:54.267 INFO – Started HttpContext[/,/]
14:21:54.311 INFO – Started org.openqa.jetty.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler@380a81fd
14:21:54.312 INFO – Started HttpContext[/wd,/wd]
14:21:54.314 INFO – Started SocketListener on 0.0.0.0:4444
14:21:54.314 INFO – Started org.openqa.jetty.jetty.Server@1cde0cc2
Have fun!