VM /ETC

« The Magic of Citrix XenDesktop is Ardence (Provisioning Server)

Picking a Hotel for VMworld 2008 »

The Many Features of Sun’s xVM VirtualBox Explained

July 2nd, 2008 |

Author: Rich Brambley

I have already posted about Sun xVM VirtualBox as a great open source alternative to VMware Workstation. ZDNet also wrote a comparison article of VirtualBox and and VMware Server that I reported on here at VM /ETC. I’ve been using VirtualBox as a free virtualization solution (replace VMware Server 1.5) on my notebook since Sun’s version 1.6 was released. So, when Rick Vanover began his series of posts on the SearchServerVirtualization Blog about VirtualBox I was more than interested. This post is a summary of (and links to) Rick’s posts with some of my personal experiences and opinions thrown in.

Networking Features

In my opinion, one of the biggest adjustments between VMware’s products and VirtualBox is having to

manually configure bridged networking. After initial install, VirtualBox does not have the ability to put a VM on the same network as the host. NAT is the default networking of VirtualBox, and bridged connections require some manual configuration. This is the one feature where VMware Server and Workstation still have a huge advantage because of the simple point and click networking configuration available with those products. Rick provides details on configuring bridged networking in VirtualBox.

Dissecting bridged-network functionality on Sun xVM VirtualBox for Windows

“Another key difference is that in order for a VM to use the bridged network is the addition of a bridging interface. Adding an interface is fairly straight forward with the use of the VBoxManage command. The following command would add a bridging interface named “VM-Bridge”:

VBoxManage createhostif "VM-Bridge"

Once this command is completed, the VM-Bridge interface is now present in the network connections inventory of the Windows control panel. Then a VM can be configured to use bridged networking with the newly created interface..”

Running VMDK files

VirtualBox can run VMs created by VMware Workstation or Server. I have successfully started a handful of VMs I was previously running on VMware Server. However, I was unaware that there are changes made to these VMs (besides adding guest additions) that do not allow you to run the same VMs back on VMware’s platform again. Rick points this out in his post about importing VMDK files.

Importing VMDK disk files into Sun xVM VirtualBox

“There are a few important notes on the use of VMDK files within VirtualBox. First is that the snapshot functionality is not yet supported for VMDK files within VirtualBox. Second, if you intend to boot from the VMDK file, the VM may need boot device modifications. And lastly, the VMDK is modified when used by VirtualBox, so if you go back to using it with a VMware product, depending on what you have done to it – it may not be accessible. For non-boot drives, this should be a transparent exchange.”

Snapshots

I’ve never had the need for snapshots, but Rick points out that multiple snapshots are possible in VirtualBox.

Getting to know Sun xVM VirtualBox snapshots

“VirtualBox gives the option to build from the snapshots, so there can be multiple point-in-time restores for a single VM. Snapshots in VirtualBox are kept in the .VirtualBox\Machines\VMName\Snapshots location by default, and are a collection of .VDI and .SAV files.”

VRDP Server for Remote VM Management

To use VirtualBox as a true virtualization server you ncan run it without the GUI and launch VMs in a “headless” mode. Like VMware Server, you can install VirtualBox on a Linux server, for example, without the KDE or Gnome desktop. Once VMs are running there is a built in RDP server, or the VRDP feature, that allows remote connections to the VMs from RDP clients like Windows Remote Desktop or mRemote. Rick has a post that provides the details about using VRDP.

Using VRDP to view VirtualBox virtual machines remotely

“Once VRDP is configured, the virtual machine will accept connections the next time it starts. The tricky part is the port and IP address configuration. On default configurations, 3389 would be used for the VRDP session on the host. If your host is a Windows system and is running Remote Desktop, another port should be specified. VRDP can also remotely start the virtual machine with VboxHeadless headless command.”

Easy to Install and feature rich

Finally, Rick’s first post of the series covers all of VirtualBox’s features that are similar to VMware’s features.

Sun xVM VirtualBox has easy install, small footprint

“All of the basic functionality of a virtualization product is present in VirtualBox. This includes .ISO mapping, snapshot technology, a hardware inventory manager and network placement technologies. One difference from the VMware products is a full editor for the MAC address, meaning you can specify a full MAC address for the virtual machine. This presents a lot of functionality, but a little dangerous for the masses if you ask me.”

To see all these posts and others in their entirety on the SearchServerVirtualizaion.com blog go to Rick Vanover — Server Virtualization Blog. He has included helpful screen shots in most of his posts.