VirtualBox

VirtualBox

VirtualBox

"innotek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL)."

VirtualBox user manual

VirtualBox vs Others

Installation

RedHat

Download VirtualBox RPM (I am using the RHEL5 RPM)

# Download: VirtualBox-1.5.6_28266_rhel5-1.i586.rpm

Install dependencies:

# i386
#yum install gcc kernel-devel libSDL-1.2.so.0 libasound.so.2 libqt-mt.so.3 libxslt.so.1
yum install gcc kernel-devel SDL alsa-lib qt libxslt

# x86_64
yum install gcc kernel-devel SDL.x86_64 alsa-lib.x86_64 qt.x86_64 libxslt.x86_64

Install RPM:

# i386
rpm -Uvh VirtualBox-1.5.6_28266_rhel5-1.i586.rpm

# x86_64
rpm -Uvh VirtualBox-1.6.0_30421_rhel5-1.x86_64.rpm

Ubuntu

apt-get update ; apt-get install virtualbox

Kernel Module

These installs will attempt to compile the kernel module. If you need to rerun the setup due to a failure, run:

/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

Comparison

VBox_vs_Others – Oracle VM VirtualBox - VirtualBox vs. VMware vs. Parallels - http://www.virtualbox.de/wiki/VBox_vs_Others

GUI

The VirtualBox GUI can create and control VMs

Command Line Tools

VBoxManage is our command-line interface (See chapter 7 of the user manual)

List VMs:

VBoxManage list vms

Show VM details:

vm showvminfo <name>

Start VM:

VBoxManage startvm <name>

# Start with RDP support
VBoxManage startvm <vmname> -type vrdp
VBoxHeadless -startvm <vmname>
VBoxHeadless -startvm <vmname> -p <port>
#VBoxVRDP has been renamed VBoxHeadless in v1.6

Stop VM:

VBoxManage controlvm <name> poweroff

Reset VM:

VBoxManage controlvm <name> reset

Add aliases for easy usage:

vi /etc/bashrc
alias vm=VBoxManage
alias vmlist="vm list vms | grep Name"

Creating a virtual machine on a headless server

VirtualBox User Manual 7.4.2 Step by step: creating a virtual machine on a headless server:

Set virtualbox name:

VBOXNAME="centos5"

Create Virtual Machine:

VBoxManage createvm -name "$VBOXNAME" -register

Settings for VM:

VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -memory "256MB" -acpi on -boot1 dvd -nic1 nat

Create virtual disk (10GB):

VBoxManage createvdi -filename "$VBOXNAME.vdi" -size 10000 -register
VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -hda "$VBOXNAME.vdi"

Attach ISO to VM:

VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -dvd /full/path/to/iso.iso
# VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -dvd ~/CentOS-5.1-i386-bin-1of6.iso

Start VM RDP:

VBoxVRDP -startvm "$VBOXNAME"

Connect via RDP to VM:

rdesktop -a 16 my.host.address

Unmount ISO so reboots work:

VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -dvd none

Bridge Networking

Install bridge tools:

yum install bridge-tools

Setup a bridge network:

# create bridge
brctl addbr br0

# remove address from eth0 (will disable networking)
ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0

# add interface to bridge
brctl addif br0 eth0

# reconnect network
dhclient eth0
or...
ifconfig br0 x.x.x.x netmask x.x.x.x

# create permenant virtual interface
VBoxAddIF vbox0 root br0

# delete virtual interface
VBoxDelIF vbox0

# list current virtual interfaces
ifconfig

For a permenet bridge configuration:

# Add bridge device
# /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-br0
DEVICE=br0
TYPE=Bridge
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes

# the bridge will take over eth0, so set it to the static IP of eth0
DEVICE=br0
TYPE=Bridge
BOOTPROTO=static
IPADDR=10.161.101.6
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
ONBOOT=yes

# Add eth0 to bridge
# /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
BRIDGE=br0

# Restart service
/sbin/service network restart

# Create virtualbox host interface and add to bridge
# vbox0 => "all host interfaces created in this way must be called vbox followed by a number"
# <user> => "Replace <user> with the name of the user who is supposed to be able to use the new interface."
# To see current host interfaces see ifconfig
VBoxAddIF vbox0 <user> br0

# Delete if needed...
VBoxDelIF vbox0

# Tell VM to use virtual interface under "settings"->"network"->"attached to"
# and enter "vbox0" into the "interface name" field.

# NOTE: A VIRTUAL INTERFACE CAN ONLY BE USED WITH WITH ONE VIRTUAL MACHINE

Switch VM interface to host interface mode:

VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -hostifdev1 vbox0
#VBoxManage modifyvm "$VBOXNAME" -nic1 hostif