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virtualbox [2010/01/20 08:08] – 172.26.0.166virtualbox [2011/06/03 13:02] – aorth
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-===== VirtualBox ===== +====== VirtualBox ====== 
-VirtualBox is a free/opensource Hypervisor from Sun Microsystems.  It has performance on par with VMware and is very mature.  We have two virtualization servers, [[biovbox]] and biovboxtesting.+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.
  
   * [[http://www.virtualbox.org|VirtualBox homepage]]   * [[http://www.virtualbox.org|VirtualBox homepage]]
 +  * [[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=646613|Tips to optimize Linux guests and hosts]]
  
-===== Create a VM ===== +====== Optimal settings for Linux guests ====== 
-Copy an ISO to your home directory: +Guest operating systems are not like host operating systems.  These settings are generally regarded as improving the performance of guest virtual machines.
-<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 wizard to create a VM with the following properties: +
-      - Base Memory: less than 512 MB +
-      - Network : NAT +
-      - Hard disk size: less than 30Gb+
  
-===== Networking ===== +  * Set the IO scheduler to ''noop'': 
-==== Bridged Networking ====+    * 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: 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> <code>VBoxManage setextradata MyMachine VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/RestrictAccess 0</code>
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 As of VirtualBox 3.1.2 this is still a [[http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2852|known issue]]. As of VirtualBox 3.1.2 this is still a [[http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2852|known issue]].
  
-==== Port Forwarding ====+===== 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: 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:
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 <code>$ ssh -p 2223 username@172.26.0.200</code> <code>$ ssh -p 2223 username@172.26.0.200</code>
  
-==== Updating VirtualBox ==== +====== Commonly-used commands ====== 
-To update VirtualBox to a new version you must shutdown all the running VMs.  You can do this by first looking to see which VMs are running (''ps auxw | grep VBox'') and then shutting down or saving the state of each one. +===== List your VMs ===== 
-<file>[jmagochi@biovbox ~]$ VBoxManage controlvm CentOS savestate +<code>$ VBoxManage list vms</code> 
-VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 +===== List your running VMs ===== 
-(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. +<code>$ VBoxManage list runningvms </code>
-All rights reserved. +
- +
-0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100% +
-[jmagochi@biovbox ~]$ sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv stop+
  
-$ yum install virtualbox-3.1 +====== Updating VirtualBox ====== 
-</file>+=== Stop any running VMs === 
 +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:
  
-==== Commonly-used commands ==== +<code># su - jmagochi 
-List your VMs: +$ VBoxManage controlvm nobu savestate 
-<code>VBoxManage list vms</code> +$ VBoxManage controlvm lims savestate 
-List all running VMs: +$ exit 
-<code>VBoxManage list runningvms </code>+# 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>