VM /ETC

Archive for the ‘virtualbox’ Category

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 Read the rest of this entry »

So everybody and their mother has a virtualization product now. Too bad all the vendors could not standardize on the same key (or key combinations) that releases the mouse from a virtual machine’s (VM) console window. Until that day happens (don’t hold your breath) this post will be my listing of known host key or key combinations by vendor and product for when your mouse is stuck in a VM.

Please leave a comment on any products I have not included and I’ll update the list.

Updated 10.03.08 – corrected key combination for Mac versions and created separate rows for VMware Fusion and Parallels Workstation

One of the posts I used as a research reference was Common Virtualization Keyboard Shortcuts from x86virtualization.com. Check out this post for a complete listing all keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft and VMware products besides the one for escaping the mouse from the VM console.

A lot more will be known about the open source, bare metal installed xVM Server after Sun’s scheduled event today, but for now some quick pre release screen shots and general information is available at xvmserver.org. xVM Server promises to be a free virtualization platform alternative based on Xen and Solaris technologies that can be managed via a web interface. Judging by the growing popularity of Sun’s desktop virtualization product, xVM Virtualbox, the availability of xVM Server should be an exciting new option for administrators looking to consolidate physical data centers today.

Taken directly from the xvmserver.org site, the following is some quick information: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the week before VMworld and a lot is happening outside of VMware. I’ve already posted about Microsoft’s Virtualization Launch stealing the spot light before VMworld, and now Sun has announced it’s intentions to do the same. In fact, after allowing just enough time for the hype from the event in Bellevue, WA on Monday to fade, Sun plans on announcing it’s xVM Portfolio on Wednesday (September 10). Although not quite the party that Microsoft and VMware are throwing, Sun’s live web presentation and chat scheduled for 9 a.m. PST should be exciting as they are introducing the bigger picture for Sun xVM, and how Sun xVM Ops Center, Sun xVM Server, Sun xVM VDI, and Sun xVM VirtualBox fit together.

More information on Sun’s virtualization products is available on the xVM web page. Taken from this page, here is a brief summary of the products in the xVM Portfolio.

Personally I am very interested in the Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing this post with a smile from ear to ear. I’m happy because virtualization and Internet streaming video technologiy worked together to allow me to watch the Georgia Bulldogs season opener against Georgia Southern. I’m smiling because I watched the game inside a VirtualBox Windows XP virtual machine (VM) hosted on Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop, and I did not think it would work. Not only does it work, and I mean smooth video with minimal disruptions (I used a wireless connection too), but it worked in Seemless Mode. I’m smiling from ear to ear because the Bulldogs won 45 – 21.

The football game’s broadcast was only available via the pay per view ESPN Gameplan or on ESPN360.com. I was familiar with the Gameplan package through my cable provider but I had never used ESPN360.com to watch a game. After I learned ESPN360.com was free to use for customers with AT&T high speed (and other high speed providers) I decided to give it a try. Although the media player plug in can work with both Internet Explorer and Firefox, it still requires a Windows operating system. Since I run Ubuntu at home I decided I would give it a try with my VirtualBox XP guest.

The image in this post is a screenshot of my Ubuntu desktop and the Internet Exporer 7 window in VirtualBox Seemless mode. Read the rest of this entry »

VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation, VMware Player, Virtual PC, Virtualbox, and Parrallels all have various supported and unsupported abilities to run 3-D games and applications in guest operating systems. I’m sure there are other platforms with this ability too. Not that any of us have the time to “test enhanced graphics applications” on virtual infrastructure, but it would be convenient to have a centralized list of known working games. Although, I have not tested any of the actual games, I do use a Virtualbox XP VM to provide my sons web based gaming at family sites like Playhouse Disney and Nickolodeon. To be honest I was surprised when even these Flash and ActiveX based games worked (I’m guessing that’s what kind of games they are).

Here are some general assumptions (based on what I understand about Sun xVM Virtualbox, VMware Fusion, and VMware Workstation’s current capabilities) about using 3-D in virtual machines. Read the rest of this entry »

I was banging my head against my desk trying to make shared folders work in VirtualBox 1.64 on my WinXP notebook inside an Ubuntu 8.04 guest. I kept getting a “protocol error” failure.

Here’s the scenario I was working with:

• I created a Windows folder on my notebook to share to the guests – f:\shared2vms
• I added the folder to the shared folders properties of the Ubuntu VM and named it shared2vms
• I created a folder at /home/username/shared2vms to be the mount point of the VirtualBox shared folder in the Ubuntu guest

For a Linux guest in VirtualBox the command to use the shared folder is “mount -t vboxsf [shared folder name] [mount point]”

So, the command I was using

#sudo mount -t vboxsf shared2vms /home/user/shared2vms

After some creative Google -ing I luckily found this Virtualbox.org forum thread that solved the issue – Read the rest of this entry »