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This guide explains how you can run virtual machines with Sun VirtualBox 3.1.x (NOT OSE version!) on a headless blackPanther Server install.
Normally you use the VirtualBox GUI to manage your virtual machines, but a server does not have a desktop environment. Fortunately,
VirtualBox comes with a tool called VBoxHeadless that allows you to connect to the virtual machines over a remote desktop connection,
so there’s no need for the VirtualBox GUI.
I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!
1 Preliminary Note
I have tested this on a blackPanther Server (host system) with the IP address 192.168.0.100 where I’m logged in as a normal user
(user name administrator in this example) instead of as root.
If you only have a root account, but no normal user account, create one as follows (user administrator, group administrator)…
# groupadd administrator
- useradd -d /home/administrator -m -g administrator -s /bin/bash administrator
… create a password for the new user…
# passwd administrator
… and log in as that user.
2 Installing VirtualBox
To install VirtualBox 3.1.x on our blackPanther Server, we need root privileges, therefore we run
$ su
Then we install the dependencies for VirtualBox 3.1.x as follows (if not installed):
# installing wget flex gcc gcc-c++ kernel-devel kernel-headers dkms
Next we pick the right VirtualBox package from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads; pick the i386 or AMD64 package (depending on your architecture) for blackPanther OS . (you can find out your architecture by running , good choice the Mandriva or Redhat RPM packages)
… and download it as follows:
# wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.2.8/VirtualBox-3.2-3.2.8_64453_mdv2009.1-1.i586.rpm -o /tmp/VirtualBox-3.2-3.2.8_64453_mdv2009.1-1.i586.rpm
To check package
# ls -l VirtualBox*.rpm
tmp# ls -l VirtualBox*.rpm
tmp#
Afterwards, we install VirtualBox 3.x as follows:
# installing VirtualBox-3.2-3.2.8_64453_mdv2009.1-1.i586.rpm
Now we must add the user that will run VirtualBox (administrator in this example) to the vboxusers group:
# /usr/sbin/usermod -G vboxusers administrator
VirtualBox is now installed and ready to be used.
Type
# exit
to leave the root account and become a normal user (administrator) again.
3 Using VirtualBox On The Command Line
3.1 Creating A VM
To create a VM on the command line, we can use the VBoxManage command. See
$ VBoxManage --help
for a list of available switches and (highly recommended!) take a look at http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html#vboxmanage.
I will now create an blackPanther Virtual System VM with 256MB memory and a 10GB hard drive from the blackPanther Virtual System iso image (to_usage.iso example: blackPantherOS-v10.1.1-CD.iso).
The easy solutions the automated script. Download here: http://www.blackpantheros.eu/backend/scripts/create_vb_vm.sh
# cd /tmp
# wget http://www.blackpantheros.eu/backend/scripts/create_vb_vm.sh
To run the script enter following command
# sh create_vb_vm.sh /path/to/to_usage.iso
3.2 Importing An Existing VM
Let's assume you have a VM called examplevm that you want to reuse on this host.
On the old host, you should have a directory Machines/examplevm in the VirtualBox directory; Machines/examplevm should contain the examplevm.xml file.
Copy the examplevm directory (including the examplevm.xml file) to your new Machines directory (if your user name is administrator,
this is/home/administrator/.VirtualBox/Machines - the result should be /home/administrator/.VirtualBox/Machines/examplevm/examplevm.xml).
In addition to that copy the examplevm.vdi file from the old VDI directory to the new one (e.g. /home/administrator/.VirtualBox/VDI/examplevm.vdi).
Afterwards, you must register the imported VM:
$ VBoxManage registervm Machines/examplevm/examplevm.xml
3.3 Starting A VM With VBoxHeadless
Regardless of if you create a new VM or import and old one, you can start it with the command:
$ VBoxHeadless --startvm "blackPanther Virtual System"
(Replace blackPanther Virtual System with the name of your VM.)
VBoxHeadless will start the VM and a VRDP (VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol) server which allows you to see
the VM's output remotely on another machine.
To stop a VM, run
$ VBoxManage controlvm "blackPanther Virtual System " poweroff
To pause a VM, run
$ VBoxManage controlvm "blackPanther Virtual System " pause
To reset a VM, run
$ VBoxManage controlvm "blackPanther Virtual System " reset
To learn more about VBoxHeadless, take a look at
$ VBoxHeadless --help
and at http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html.
4 Connecting To A VM From A Remote Desktop
4.1 Windows XP
You can use the built-in Remote Desktop Connection utility to connect to the VM:
Type in the hostname or IP address of the host (not the guest!):
And voilà, you should be connected to the VM:
4.2 Linux
Use krdc or rdesktop to connect..