VirtualBox 2.1 released with major new features
On 12.17.08 Sun released it’s latest version of VirtulaBox with some major new features. I’ve blogged about VirtualBox as a free, open source alternative to VMware Workstation 6.5 in the past, and latest version, VirtualBox 2.1, keeps Sun xVM in pace as a serious contender in the hosted desktop virtualization platform market. VMware has offered some significant discounts on Workstation recently, but you just can’t beat the cost of VirtualBox - absolutely free!
From Sun’s official release announcement:
“Users of xVM VirtualBox 2.1 software will benefit from significant improvements in graphics and network performance, easier configuration, hardware platform support for the latest processors and additional interoperability”
VMware Workstation still has some unique features like Ace Packaging, VM record and replay, and integrated remote debugging. However, if you just need to get a few VMs up and running for casual use or a temporary lab scenario Virtualbox provides most all of the same VMware Workstation conveniences.
Slashdot.org posted about VirtualBox 2.1 on Dec. 22, and the user comments provide a great “back and forth” about the comparison between VMware Workstation and VirtualBox features.
Probably the new feature that I find to be the most exciting in version 2.1 is the
The added ability to run 64 bit guests on 32 bit host operating systems is also interesting. Maybe running dev and test versions of hypervisors like ESX, Hyper-V, and Xen Server will be soon possible on VirtualBox?
The Changelog page on www.virtualbox.org (Sun’s release notes) lists all the latest enhancements. Go to this page for the entire list of new features and bug fixes, but here is a quick sample:
VirtualBox 2.1.0 (released 2008-12-17)
This version is a major update. The following major new features were added:
- Support for hardware virtualization (VT-x and AMD-V) on Mac OS X hosts
- Support for 64-bit guests on 32-bit host operating systems (experimental; see user manual, chapter 1.6, 64-bit guests, page 16)
- Added support for Intel Nehalem virtualization enhancements (EPT and VPID; see user manual, chapter 1.2, Software vs. hardware virtualization (VT-x and AMD-V), page 10))
- Experimental 3D acceleration via OpenGL (see user manual, chapter 4.8, Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL), page 66)
- Experimental LsiLogic and BusLogic SCSI controllers (see user manual, chapter 5.1, Hard disk controllers: IDE, SATA (AHCI), SCSI, page 70)
- Full VMDK/VHD support including snapshots (see user manual, chapter 5.2, Disk image ?les (VDI, VMDK, VHD), page 72)
- New NAT engine with signi?cantly better performance, reliability and ICMP echo (ping) support (bugs #1046, #2438, #2223, #1247)
- New Host Interface Networking implementations for Windows and Linux hosts with easier setup (replaces TUN/TAP on Linux and manual bridging on Windows)
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Tags: free, Sun, Sun xVM, virtualbox, virtualization
