46 lines
3 KiB
XML
46 lines
3 KiB
XML
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
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<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
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<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="frontends">
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<title>Alternative Front Ends</title>
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<body>
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<p><ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> has a very flexible internal design that enables you to use
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multiple interfaces to control the same virtual machines. For example, you can start a virtual machine with the
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<ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/> window and then stop it from the command line. With <ph
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conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>'s support for the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), you can even
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run virtual machines remotely on a headless server and have all the graphical output redirected over the network. </p>
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<p>The following front ends are shipped in the standard <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>
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package:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<p><b outputclass="bold">VirtualBox.</b> This is the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-mgr"/>, a
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graphical user interface that uses the Qt toolkit. This interface is described throughout this user guide.
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While this is the simplest and easiest front end to use, some of the more advanced <ph
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conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> features are not included.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p><b outputclass="bold">VBoxManage.</b> A command-line interface for automated and detailed control of every
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aspect of <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/>. See <xref href="vboxmanage.dita#vboxmanage"
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/>. </p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p><b outputclass="bold">VBoxHeadless.</b> A front end that produces no visible output on
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the host at all, but can act as a RDP server if the VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension
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(VRDE) is installed and enabled for the VM. As opposed to the other graphical interfaces,
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the headless front end requires no graphics support. This is useful, for example, if you
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want to host your virtual machines on a headless Linux server that has no X Window system
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installed. See <xref href="vboxheadless.dita">VBoxHeadless, the Remote Desktop
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Server</xref>. </p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p><b>Separate mode.</b> A front end that is based on <userinput>VBoxHeadless</userinput>,
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but does not require VRDE or an RDP viewer. See <xref href="vboxheadless-separate-mode.dita">Separate Mode</xref>.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>If the above front ends still do not satisfy your particular needs, it is possible to create yet another front
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end to the complex virtualization engine that is the core of <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"
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/>, as the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> core neatly exposes all of its features in a
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clean API. See <xref href="VirtualBoxAPI.dita"><ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> Programming
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Interfaces</xref>. </p>
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</body>
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</topic>
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