Virtualbox

Installation on Ubuntu

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/virtualbox-4-3-8-released-and-ubuntu-installation-instructions-included.html

Virtualization in the host machine

Note that even the host machine is 64-bit, if the vT is not available/enabled in the BIOS, we cannot install 64-bit OS in the guest machine.

Virtual box guest addition

Install guest addition for virtualbox on Debian See the link [1]

virtual machine software benchmark

• http://dl.maximumpc.com/Archives/MPC%202012%2007-web.pdf

Trouble Shooting

virtualbox failed to create the host-only network

Virtualbox (*.deb) was downloaded from virtualbox website. However, when I want to create a host-only network, I have to execute

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

This also solves the error "Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)".

Share folders

Suppose we want to share some folder from host to guest. Assume in Virtualbox, we use "Downloads" as the folder name in Share Folders dialog.

We can use the following method to get an access to Downloads folder for this session only.

sudo mkdir /mnt/Downloads
sudo mount -t vboxsf Downloads /media/downloads

Or we can use the following method for permanent solution.

sudo nano /etc/fstab
sudo mkdir /mnt/Downloads
# Add a new line
# Downloads /mnt/Downloads/ vboxsf defaults 0  0  
sudo mount -a

Note that the auto-mount option is supposed to work automatically. But I get a permission denied error. The reason is we have to add the current user to the group vboxsf.

sudo usermod -a -G vboxsf USERNAME
# reboot is required
# the shared folder is under /media/ with sf_ as prefix.

See http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-linux-add-user-to-group/ for more examples of using usermod command.

PS: There is a bug in virtualbox 4.3.10 which results an error

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on hostshare,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail or so

The solution is to run

sudo rm /sbin/mount.vboxsf
sudo ln -sf /usrs/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/VBoxGuestAdditions/mount.vboxsf /sbin/mount.vboxsf

Use VirtualBox

Increase the guest machine space

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/virtualbox-shrink-expand-disks.html

Different networks

See diagrams on https://blogs.oracle.com/fatbloke/entry/networking_in_virtualbox1

1. NAT
2. Bridge
3. Host Only: Host can access guest, but not the other direction. Outside cannot access guests. Good for running a test web server.
4. Internal Network: Guests can access each other but host still cannot access guests. This is good for testing when you need a separate, clean network, and you can create sophisticated internal networks with vm's that provide their own services to the internal network. (e.g. Active Directory, DHCP, etc).

Clone vs Import/Export appliance

Clone will create a new VM directory (including *.vdi) on the same machine.

Import/Export appliance (*.ova) allows to transport the appliance to a new machine. The appliance will not be touched on the new machine. Note that the storage space cannot be adjust when we import an appliance.

vmware

apt-get update
apt-get install build-essential module-assistant
m-a prepare
cd Downloads
tar xzvf /media/cdrom0/VMwareTools-9.2.0-799703.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
[Accept all default]
shutdown -r now

Emulation vs virtualization

Virtualization allows users to configure virtual machines outfitted with similar hardware and processors as the host system, whereas emulation simulates different hardware and processor configurations in software.

Emulators are what allow you to run old Commodore 64 or NES games on a PC, for example.