VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘Sun xVM’

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 »

Download pre-built, complete Linux virtual machines for Sun xVM Virtualbox from veeDee-Eyes.com. More from the web site:

“About:
veeDee-Eyes.com was created to provide users with complete, functional Open Source Virtual Computers.
We download the distribution ISOs. Try and follow the installation instructions. We attempt to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions. VirtualBox VDIs that have the Guest Additions installed are noted on the VDI page.

Build Notes:
Unless noted in the “Build Notes” there are

• No additional packages added.
• No update performed.
• Only default options are used when ever possible

The goal is to create a CLEAN virtual computer. You get exactly what the creators of the “Operating System” designed in a STANDARD installation. From there you can make it your own.”

To use these VDI files you just need to do the following: Read the rest of this entry »

I already commented about Rick Vanover’s series of articles on Sun’s xVM VirtualBox, but I decided to make a more detailed how to tutorial on using the headless RDP features. This tutorial explains a step by step process for remotely creating virtual machine hardware, installing the VM operating system, and managing the VM using the VBoxHeadless console command. This post uses the steps from the VirtualBox User Manual found in Section 7.4 titled Remote Virtual Machines (VRDP support)

The following information is copied from the User Manual and provides a good general overview of the goal of this tutorial:

“VirtualBox therefore comes with yet another front-end that produces no visible out-put on the host at all, but instead only delivers VRDP data. With VirtualBox 1.6, this “headless server” is now aptly called VBoxHeadless. (In previous versions, it was called VBoxVRDP. For the sake of backwards compatibility, the VirtualBox installation still installs an executable with that name as well.)

To start a virtual machine with VBoxHeadless, you have two options:

• You can use VBoxManage startvm -type vrdp. The extra -type option causes the VirtualBox core to use VBoxHeadless as the front-end to the internal virtualization engine.

• The recommended way, however, is to use VBoxHeadless directly, as follows:

VBoxHeadless -startvm

This is the recommended way, because when starting the headless interface through VBoxManage, you will not be able to view or log messages that VBoxHeadless may have output on the console. Especially in case of startup errors, such output might be desirable for problem diagnosis.”

Although using the VboxHeadless command is simple, it is a series of console commands. This can be considered inconvenient to many administrators that are used to the point and click functionality of VMware’s products. In my opinion, it would nice to see VirtualBox release a web gui or a toolkit of scripts that can automate these commands. The VirtualBox user community has published some scripts for basic headless VM administration, but I could not find any scripts that actually create new VMs.

Read on for the tutorial.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Perlow of blogs.zdnet.com has written a great feature comparison post of the 2 best multi-platform, free virtualization products in my opinion – Sun xVM VirtualBox 1.6 and VMware Server 2.0 Beta 2.

Personally, I used to run VMware Server 1.x on my XP notebook until I was tempted to try VMware’s first beta of version 2.0. Although not an officially supported OS for any version of VMware Server, my use of Server on XP was for basic research and test purposes, and I chose the free version over VMware Workstation. Like most, after the switch to 2.0 beta 1 I experienced frustration with the web interface. Now, since I discovered Sun’s xVM VirtualBox 1.6 seamless feature and the ability to run virtual machines created in VMware’s .vmdk format, I have switched. I am extremely happy with VirtualBox, and I even consider it to be a closer open-source replacement for VMware Workstation with features that rival the still in beta version of Workstation 6.5. I also use VirtualBox 1.6 on both 64 bit and 32 bit Ubuntu at home.

Jason’s comparison focuses on using the products in a true virtualization host capacity, and he provides some interesting performance analysis. Read the rest of this entry »