Virtualbox OSE for Debian

+ Virtualbox OSE for Debian +

+ Guest utilities + + The guest utilities are provided as separate Debian packages. These + packages contain all features virtualbox-ose offers for Debian guests. + Guest utilities for operating systems not offering virtualbox-ose + packages have to be downloaded from the internet. The upstream provided + ISO images cannot be distributed with this package for licensing reasons. + The same holds for the externally provided WineD3D extensions. + +

+ Different versions + + The Open Source Edition of VirtualBox contains most but not all + features of the closed-source VirtualBox product that is + distributed under different terms and available from the + Virtualbox + homepage. Missing are: + + + + + Remote Display Protocol (RDP) Server + + + This component implements a complete RDP server on top of + the virtual hardware and allows users to connect to a + virtual machine remotely using any RDP compatible client. + + + + USB support + + VirtualBox implements a virtual USB controller and supports + passing through USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices to virtual + machines. + + + + USB over RDP + + This is a combination of the RDP server and USB support + allowing users to make USB devices available to virtual + machines running remotely. + + + + iSCSI initiator + + VirtualBox contains a builtin iSCSI initiator making it + possible to use iSCSI targets as virtual disks without the + guest requiring support for iSCSI. + + + +

+ 64-bit guests + + Starting with version 2.0.0 VirtualBox also supports 64-bit guest operating systems, + under the following conditions: + + + + + You need a 64-bit processor with hardware virtualization support + and a 64-bit host operating system. + + + + + You must run a 64-bit version of VirtualBox on that OS. This can + then run both 32-bit and 64-bit VMs; a 32-bit VirtualBox can only run 32-bit + VMs, regardless of the hardware. + + + + + You must enable hardware virtualization; software virtualization is not supported + for 64-bit VMs. + + + + + There is no specific setting to enable 64-bit support for a guest. + However, you should enable the I/O APIC for virtual machines that you intend to + use in 64-bit mode. + +

+ How to provide networking to virtual machines +

+ Mechanism + + VirtualBox can use three alternative mechanisms to provide + Ethernet networking to its virtual machines:b + +

+ NAT + + This is the easiest to use type of setup: The virtual + ethernet interface is connected to a virtual NAT router + including a DHCP server that is implemented within + the VirtualBox host software. + + + This is the default mode. It usually does not require + any extra configuration on the host. + +

+ Internal network + + In this mode, there is only connectivity within an + emulated network shared between two or more virtual + machines running in the same VirtualBox instance. + +

+ Host interface + + The virtual ethernet interface is connected to a + real device on the host filtering out its traffic. + +

+ Incompatibilities + + When upgrading from a pre 2.0.0 version to virtualbox might complaing + about a missing format attribute in the HardDisk tag of + ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml. Manually adding + 'format="vdi"' solves this. + + + A bug appeared in kernel 2.6.29 RC5 that broke virtualbox-ose. The fix + was added in 2.6.29.1. If you happen to use 2.6.29 and epxerience + problems starting your VMs please upgrade. In Debian all + linux-image-2.6.29 versions starting with Debian version 2.6.29-2 are + fine. + +

+ See also + + Additional and updated information may be found on + + + + the + + End-user documentation section of the official + VirtualBox site. + + + + + the + VirtualBox + page in the Debian Wiki. + + + + +

+ + +

Translation(s): Español

/Discussion

+ + +

VirtualBox is an x86 emulator developed by innotek (bought by Sun) comparable to VMWare. It has a version called VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE) which is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
+
+Its a relatively new program and still has some minor issues, but in general it is reliable, stable and, above all, very fast. It has been used successfully to do installation tests with Debian Installer.
+
+This page contains some how-to, tips and tricks that can be useful when setting up and using VirtualBox

Contents

Installation

Currently (2008/01/01), VirtualBox is not supported natively by DebianEtch, the 4.0 version of Debian. To install it, you can use different methods:

Using Debian/Etch's Backports repository
Using DebianTesting repository

Debian/Etch-backports

Configure Debian/Etch backports
Install these packages: virtualbox-ose virtualbox-ose-source linux-source linux-headers
Compile virtualbox kernel module (as root)

# cd /usr/src
+# tar xvjf virtualbox-ose.tar.bz2
+# cd modules/virtualbox-ose
+# make
+# make install
+# modprobe vboxdrv
+# lsmod | grep vbox
+vboxdrv                55344  0

Or simply use module-assistant (as root)

# module-assistant auto-install virtualbox-ose
+# modprobe vboxdrv
+# lsmod | grep vbox
+vboxdrv                55344  0
+

Start VirtualBox:

In KDE, go to menu KDE > System > VirtualBox OSE

In Gnome, goto menu Gnome > Applications > System tools > VirtualBox OSE

Debian/Testing (lenny)

Testing repository contains some precompiled kernel module. So you don't need to compile it like previous method. Except that, it's the same mechanism. Be carreful, using testing repository could break your system. Note that virtualbox need to update libc6 and linux-image-2.6

Experience

Legend :

= OK
$/!\$ = Failed

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Who	Kernel	Disribution	Package Version	Status
-- SalokineTerata 2008-01-01 19:52:09	2.6.22-6~bpo40+1	Debian/Etch-backports	1.5.2-dfsg2-4~bpo40+1

Errors

32-bit userland with x64_64 kernel

It is know bug that VirtualBox does not work in such scenarios: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=456391

However VirtualBox version 2.0 promises support for this, but it is not yet packaged in Debian.

-1909 VERR VM DRIVER NOT ACCESSIBLE

attachment:error-1909-VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_ACCESSIBLE.png

Solution: Add your current user in the group vboxusers.

Under KDE:
- K > Configuration Center > System Administration > User Management
- Select your user and edit it
- Go to Groups page
- Select vboxusers group and validate
Reconnect your session
Under GNOME:
- System > Administration > Users and Groups
- Click on "Manage groups"
- Select the vboxusers group and click "Properties"
- Check your username in the list and click "Ok"
- Logout and login again
On the commandline
- log as user root either by su or sudo (su [return] - <give root password> [return] OR sudo su [return])
- Use the following command: adduser <youruser> vboxusers
- Logout and login again

You can verify if your are really member of this group with this command line:

# id MY_USER
+uid=1000(MY_USER) gid=1000(MY_USER) groupes=1000(MY_USER),8(mail),...127(vboxusers)
+

Tips & tricks

Switching consoles

The normal way to switch consoles in Linux is to use the ctrl-alt-Fx key combination. This does not work for a VirtualBox virtual machine (VM); it will switch consoles for the host system instead.

You should use <Host Key>-Fx instead, where <Host Key> is the key defined in File->Preferences->Input.

This also works for ctrl-alt-del and ctrl-alt-backspace

This is documented in the VirtualBox user manual in the section "Keyboard and mouse support in virtual machines", subsection "Typing special characters".

(An alternative method to switch between text consoles is to use alt-left and alt-right, but that does not work for graphical consoles like XOrg or DirectFB.)

Setting up bridged networking for VirtualBox (VirtualBox < 2.1.0)

By default VirtualBox uses NAT for the network interfaces of virtual machines and use an internal DHCP server to obtain an IP address. This works well but the disadvantage is that the machine will not have an IP address visible outside the VM and so you cannot connect to it from the host system or from other systems.

By attaching the VM's interface to "Host Interface" and creating a bridge on the host system, the VM can be made visible on the local network. This also allows to do fun stuff like netbooting the VM (boot from LAN using PXE). It is comparable to the "bridged networking" option in VMWare.

NB To use a wireless host device you need one that has support for Master mode (eg. it can be used as an access point, afaik only the Atheros and Prism drivers has this support)

Preparation

First install the package bridge-utils.

Next, change the network configuration of the host system so that the network interface becomes part of a bridge. Note that this requires restarting the network, so be careful when doing this on a remote system!

Change the file /etc/network/interfaces to look something like this:

# The loopback network interface
+auto lo
+iface lo inet loopback
+# An entry for eth0 is no longer needed
+#auto eth0
+#iface eth0 inet dhcp
+# Create the bridge (with the regular IP address of the host)
+auto br0
+iface br0 inet dhcp
+        bridge_ports eth0
+        bridge_fd 2.5
+

In this example the bridge gets its IP address and configuration from DHCP. For static configuration see
+/usr/share/doc/bridge-utils/README.Debian.gz

If you don't find the information for static configuration there, try:
+

# man bridge-utils-interfaces

Restart the networking of the host system using:

# /etc/init.d/networking restart

After this brctl show should show the bridge and ifconfig should show the bridge has the host's IP address.

It is also necessary for your user to own the device /dev/net/tun

Run the following command to change the owner of that device:

# chown <username> /dev/net/tun

Configuring the VirtualBox VM

There are different ways the TAP interface for the VM can be created:

statically (before VirtualBox is even started)
on demand (when a VM is being started)

See also the chapter on "Virtual networking" in the VirtualBox user manual.

Static interfaces

In this case you only need to "define" an interface for use by a particular user once. All defined interfaces are "remembered" in the file /etc/vbox/interfaces and recreated by the VirtualBox init script every time the host system is booted.

Example to create an interface for a user:

# VBoxAddIF vbox0 <username> br0
+

You can of course create multiple interfaces per users, but all interfaces should have unique names.

To configure the VM to use static bridged networking, go to the "network" page of the VM's settings and change the following fields:

Attached to: Host Interface
Interface Name: vbox0
Setup Application: <empty>
Terminate Application: <empty>

Dynamic interfaces (on demand)

The example below shows the second method. This example will allow you to use multiple VM's, but the script assumes that each interface will be named in the form "vbox*". You may need to adapt the script to match your needs. Note that the script assumes you can execute the needed commands using sudo. A snippet of a sudoers file is included below as an example.

#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+BRIDGE="br0"
+case "${1}" in
+        "up" )
+                # Get the last vbox interface that was created or "" if none
+                TAP=$(cat /proc/net/dev | grep vbox | tail -n 1 | cut -d":" -f1 | sed 's/\s*vbox\(\.*\)/\1/')
+                # If there was no previous interface then set to -1 (this is so the += works)
+                [ "${TAP}" = "" ] && TAP=-1
+                # Increment TAP
+                let "TAP+=1"
+                # prepend vbox onto the TAP no
+                TAP="vbox${TAP}"
+                # Create the new TAP device
+                sudo VBoxTunctl -b -u $(whoami) -t ${TAP}
+                # Bring up the TAP (without an ip)
+                sudo ifconfig ${TAP} up
+                # Add the TAP to the Bridge
+                sudo brctl addif ${BRIDGE} ${TAP}
+                # Echo the name of the TAP so VirtualBox knows which one to use
+                # on lenny the echo must be commented for virtuabox to work correctly
+                echo ${TAP}
+                ;;
+        "down" )
+                # VirtualBox tells us which TAP it used
+                TAP=${3}
+                # Bring the TAP down
+                sudo ifconfig ${TAP} down
+                # Remove the TAP
+                sudo VBoxTunctl -d ${TAP} > /dev/null 2>&1
+                ;;
+esac
+

Save the script, for example as ~/.VirtualBox/bridge_setup. The script can be tested by running it from the command line. If successful, brctl show should show interface vbox* (where * will be a number) added to the bridge.

Here is a snippet of a sudoers file to help (replace username and hostname with the appropriate values):

Cmnd_Alias      VIRTUALBOX = /usr/bin/VBoxTunctl, /sbin/ifconfig vbox* up, /sbin/ifconfig vbox* down, /usr/sbin/brctl addif br0 vbox*
+username     ALL=(ALL) PASSWD: ALL
+username     hostname = NOPASSWD: VIRTUALBOX
+

To configure the VM to use dynamic bridged networking, go to the "network" page of the VM's settings and change the following fields:

Attached to: Host Interface
Interface Name: <empty>
Setup Application: ~/.VirtualBox/bridge_setup up
Terminate Application: ~/.VirtualBox/bridge_setup down

When the VM is started after that, the interface should be created automatically and the VM can be used just like it was a system connected directly to your local network.

How to remotely start virtual machines using vnc

Remote:

log onto your remote box
install tightvncserver
launch it (you don't need a display), pick a password
determine which port it is using, a way to do so:
- netstat -tap | grep vnc
- Let's say it's 5901
unlog from there since the server forked in the background

Local:

install xtightvncviewer
create a ssh tunnel to your box:
- ssh -L 5901:localhost:5901 you@remote
use it: (note there are two colons)
- xtightvncviewer localhost::5901
then VBoxManage startvm $yourvm &
and start as many virtual machines as wanted.

External Links

http://www.virtualbox.org/download/UserManual.pdf Official User Manual
Alternative SystemVirtualization tools.

Wiki

Page

User