ILRI Research Computing

User Tools

Site Tools

You are here: start » virtualbox
virtualbox

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revision		Previous revision
Next revisionBoth sides next revision
virtualbox [2009/11/24 09:41] – 172.26.0.166virtualbox [2011/06/03 13:02] – aorth
Line 1: Line 1:
-===== VirtualBox tips/tricks ===== +====== VirtualBox ====== 
-==== Commonly-used commands ==== +VirtualBox is a free, open-source hypervisor from Oracle.  It has performance on par with VMware and is very mature.  We have two virtualization servers which run VirtualBox on top of CentOS, [[biovbox]] and biovboxtest.
-To change between "not attached", NAT,Bridged,internal network and host olny adapter:  +
-<code>VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name> [--nic<1-N> none|null|nat|bridged|intnet|hostonly]</code> +
-Set the boot order: +
-<code>VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name> [--boot<1-4> none|floppy|dvd|disk|net>]</code> +
-Add a shared folder: +
-<code>VBoxManage sharedfolder add <vmname>|<uuid> --name <name> --hostpath <hostpath> [--transient] [--readonly] </code> +
-Acpi Vm: +
-<code>VBoxManage controlvm  <uuid>|<name>pause|resume|reset|poweroff|savestate|acpipowerbutton|acpisleepbutton| </code> +
-Change rdp address: +
-<code>VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name> [--vrdpaddress <host>]</code> +
-Change the Authentication type:  +
-<code>VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name> [--vrdpauthtype null|external|guest]</code> +
-**Note**: option "external" will limit access to individual users, The user will be required to use rdesktop-vrdp with username and password: +
-<code>rdesktop-vrdp -u <username> -p - <host ip address>:<vrdp port></code> +
-Change rdp port: +
-<code>VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name> [--vrdpport <port>]</code> +
-List all VMs in the server: +
-<code>VBoxManage list vms</code> +
-List all running VMs: +
-<code>VBoxManage list runningvms </code> +
-List guest properties: +
-<code> VBoxManage list -l  vms </code> +
-Note: All the guest parameters(configuration) are in <guestname>.xml+
  
-===== Create a VM ===== +  * [[http://www.virtualbox.org|VirtualBox homepage]] 
-Copy an ISO to your home directory: +  * [[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=646613|Tips to optimize Linux guests and hosts]]
-<code>$scp <dist>.iso <username>@172.26.0.205:~/</code> +
-  * SSH to VM server: 172.26.0.205 +
-<code>$ ssh <username>@172.26.0.205</code> +
-  * start the virtualbox application +
-<code>$ VirtualBox</code> +
-  * Follow the wizzard to create a VM with the following properties: +
-      - Base Memory: less than 512 MB +
-      - Network : NAT +
-      - Harddisk size: less than 30Gb +
-==== Port Forwarding ====+
  
-If your guest OS is using NAT for networking you will need to enable port forwarding.  There is no GUI for this in VirtualBox, but you can use ''VBoxManage setextradata'' to make the required changes.  If you want to SSH to your VM, for example:+====== Optimal settings for Linux guests ====== 
 +Guest operating systems are not like host operating systems.  These settings are generally regarded as improving the performance of guest virtual machines. 
 + 
 +  * Set the IO scheduler to ''noop'': 
 +    * Edit the grub command line to set the default IO scheduler, usually in ///etc/default/grub//: ''elevator=noop'' 
 +  * Install guest additions (VirtualBox or VMware) 
 +  * Run a virtual machine-specific kernel: 
 +    * Ubuntu: linux-image-virtual 
 +  * Mount filesystems with ''noatime'' in ///etc/fstab// 
 + 
 +====== Networking ====== 
 +===== Bridged Networking ===== 
 +If your guest is using bridged networking you MUST use this command to allow other users to use the host's physical network card.  Make sure your virtual machine is shut down and then run this command: 
 +<code>VBoxManage setextradata MyMachine VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/RestrictAccess 0</code> 
 +Each and every VM using bridged networking must use this command.  If you are seeing errors like ''VERR_PERMISSION_DENIED'' regarding the network interface, this is the cause! 
 + 
 +As of VirtualBox 3.1.2 this is still a [[http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2852|known issue]]. 
 + 
 +===== Port Forwarding ===== 
 + 
 +If your guest OS is using NAT for networking and you want to access services like Apache or SSH, you will need to enable port forwarding.  There is no GUI for this in VirtualBox, but you can use ''VBoxManage setextradata'' to make the required changes.  If you want to SSH to your VM, for example:
 <code>$ VBoxManage setextradata Ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/HostPort" 2223 <code>$ VBoxManage setextradata Ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/HostPort" 2223
 $ VBoxManage setextradata Ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort" 22 $ VBoxManage setextradata Ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort" 22
-$ VBoxManage setextradata Ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/Protocol" TCP+$ VBoxManage setextradata Ubuntu "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/Protocol" TCP</code>
 Then you can log in to the VM from your own computer using the port you've forwarded above: Then you can log in to the VM from your own computer using the port you've forwarded above:
-<code>$ ssh -p 2223 username@172.26.0.205</code> +<code>$ ssh -p 2223 username@172.26.0.200</code>
- +
-=== Upgrading VirtualBox === +
- +
-<file>[jmagochi@biovbox ~]$ VBoxManage controlvm CentOS savestate +
-VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 +
-(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. +
-All rights reserved.+
  
-0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100% +====== Commonly-used commands ====== 
-[jmagochi@biovbox ~]$ sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv stop+===== List your VMs ===== 
 +<code>$ VBoxManage list vms</code> 
 +===== List your running VMs ===== 
 +<code>$ VBoxManage list runningvms </code>
  
-$ wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.0.12/VirtualBox-3.0.12_54655_rhel5-1.i386.rpm +====== Updating VirtualBox ====== 
-$ rpm -UVh VirtualBox-3.0.12_54655_rhel5-1.i386.rpm +=== Stop any running VMs === 
-</file>+Either shut down or "save state" for any running VMs.  First, find any users who have "headless" VMs: 
 +<code># ps aux | grep -i VBoxHeadless 
 +jmagochi  4939  3.9  3.5 759372 72268 ?        Sl   Oct05 402:13 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxHeadless -s nobu 
 +jmagochi  4991 12.5  3.2 621588 67632 ?        Sl   Oct05 1281:41 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxHeadless -s lims 
 +aorth    18431  9.7  1.7 998940 36160 ?        Sl   Oct11 129:54 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxHeadless -s b0237553-9653-4461-bd0e-d4d316c16d4f -v off</code> 
 +As the user who owns the VM, save the VM's state:
  
 +<code># su - jmagochi
 +$ VBoxManage controlvm nobu savestate
 +$ VBoxManage controlvm lims savestate
 +$ exit
 +# su - aorth
 +$ VBoxManage controlvm b0237553-9653-4461-bd0e-d4d316c16d4f savestate
 +$ exit</code>
 +=== Update VirtualBox ===
 +<code># yum update VirtualBox-3.2</code>
 +=== Resume VMs ===
 +<code># su - jmagochi
 +$ VBoxHeadless -s nobu &
 +$ VBoxHeadless -s lims &
 +$ exit
 +# su - aorth
 +$ VBoxHeadless -s b0237553-9653-4461-bd0e-d4d316c16d4f -v off &</code>