VirtualBox#
 |
Documentation#
See http://www.virtualbox.org
, attached the user manual
Here is an help output of the main command VBoxManage :
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Usage:
VBoxManage [-v|--version] print version number and exit
VBoxManage [-q|--nologo] ... suppress the logo
VBoxManage list [--long|-l] vms|runningvms|ostypes|hostdvds|hostfloppies|
bridgedifs|hostonlyifs|dhcpservers|hostinfo|
hddbackends|hdds|dvds|floppies|
usbhost|usbfilters|systemproperties
VBoxManage showvminfo <uuid>|<name> [--details] [--statistics]
[--machinereadable]
VBoxManage registervm <filename>
VBoxManage unregistervm <uuid>|<name> [--delete]
VBoxManage createvm --name <name>
[--ostype <ostype>]
[--register]
[--basefolder <path> | --settingsfile <path>]
[--uuid <uuid>]
VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name>
[--name <name>]
[--ostype <ostype>]
[--memory <memorysize in MB>]
[--vram <vramsize in MB>]
[--acpi on|off]
[--ioapic on|off]
[--pae on|off]
[--hwvirtex on|off]
[--nestedpaging on|off]
[--vtxvpid on|off]
[--cpus <number>]
[--monitorcount <number>]
[--accelerate3d <on|off>]
[--bioslogofadein on|off]
[--bioslogofadeout on|off]
[--bioslogodisplaytime <msec>]
[--bioslogoimagepath <imagepath>]
[--biosbootmenu disabled|menuonly|messageandmenu]
[--biossystemtimeoffset <msec>]
[--biospxedebug on|off]
[--boot<1-4> none|floppy|dvd|disk|net>]
[--hd<a|b|d> none|<uuid>|<filename>]
[--idecontroller PIIX3|PIIX4]
[--sata on|off]
[--sataportcount <1-30>]
[--sataport<1-30> none|<uuid>|<filename>]
[--sataideemulation<1-4> <1-30>]
[--scsi on|off]
[--scsiport<1-16> none|<uuid>|<filename>]
[--scsitype LsiLogic|BusLogic]
[--dvd none|<uuid>|<filename>|host:<drive>]
[--dvdpassthrough on|off]
[--floppy disabled|empty|<uuid>|
<filename>|host:<drive>]
[--nic<1-N> none|null|nat|bridged|intnet|hostonly]
[--nictype<1-N> Am79C970A|Am79C973|
82540EM|82543GC|82545EM]
[--cableconnected<1-N> on|off]
[--nictrace<1-N> on|off]
[--nictracefile<1-N> <filename>]
[--nicspeed<1-N> <kbps>]
[--bridgeadapter<1-N> none|<devicename>]
[--hostonlyadapter<1-N> none|<devicename>]
[--intnet<1-N> <network name>]
[--natnet<1-N> <network>|default]
[--macaddress<1-N> auto|<mac>]
[--uart<1-N> off|<I/O base> <IRQ>]
[--uartmode<1-N> disconnected|
server <pipe>|
client <pipe>|
file <file>|
<devicename>]
[--gueststatisticsinterval <seconds>]
[--audio none|null|oss|alsa|pulse]
[--audiocontroller ac97|sb16]
[--clipboard disabled|hosttoguest|guesttohost|
bidirectional]
[--vrdp on|off]
[--vrdpport default|<port>]
[--vrdpaddress <host>]
[--vrdpauthtype null|external|guest]
[--vrdpmulticon on|off]
[--vrdpreusecon on|off]
[--usb on|off]
[--usbehci on|off]
[--snapshotfolder default|<path>]
VBoxManage import <ovf> [--dry-run|-n] [more options]
(run with -n to have options displayed for a particular OVF)
VBoxManage export <machines> --output|-o <ovf>
[--legacy09]
[--vsys <number of virtual system>]
[--product <product name>]
[--producturl <product url>]
[--vendor <vendor name>]
[--vendorurl <vendor url>]
[--version <version info>]
[--eula <license text>]
[--eulafile <filename>]
VBoxManage startvm <uuid>|<name>
[--type gui|sdl|vrdp|headless]
VBoxManage controlvm <uuid>|<name>
pause|resume|reset|poweroff|savestate|
acpipowerbutton|acpisleepbutton|
keyboardputscancode <hex> [<hex> ...]|
injectnmi|
setlinkstate<1-N> on|off |
usbattach <uuid>|<address> |
usbdetach <uuid>|<address> |
dvdattach none|<uuid>|<filename>|host:<drive> |
floppyattach none|<uuid>|<filename>|host:<drive> |
vrdp on|off] |
vrdpport default|<port>] |
setvideomodehint <xres> <yres> <bpp> [display]|
setcredentials <username> <password> <domain>
[--allowlocallogon <yes|no>]
VBoxManage discardstate <uuid>|<name>
VBoxManage adoptstate <uuid>|<name> <state_file>
VBoxManage snapshot <uuid>|<name>
take <name> [--description <desc>] |
discard <uuid>|<name> |
discardcurrent --state|--all |
edit <uuid>|<name>|--current
[--name <name>]
[--description <desc>] |
showvminfo <uuid>|<name>
VBoxManage openmedium disk|dvd|floppy <filename>
[--type normal|immutable|writethrough] (disk only)
VBoxManage closemedium disk|dvd|floppy <uuid>|<filename>
VBoxManage showhdinfo <uuid>|<filename>
VBoxManage createhd --filename <filename>
--size <megabytes>
[--format VDI|VMDK|VHD] (default: VDI)
[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
[--type normal|writethrough] (default: normal)
[--comment <comment>]
[--remember]
VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid>|<filename>
[--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
[--autoreset on|off]
[--compact]
VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
[--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
[--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
[--remember] [--existing]
VBoxManage convertfromraw <filename> <outputfile>
[--format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin <outputfile> <bytes>
[--format VDI|VMDK|VHD]
[--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
VBoxManage addiscsidisk --server <name>|<ip>
--target <target>
[--port <port>]
[--lun <lun>]
[--encodedlun <lun>]
[--username <username>]
[--password <password>]
[--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
[--comment <comment>]
[--intnet]
VBoxManage getextradata global|<uuid>|<name>
<key>|enumerate
VBoxManage setextradata global|<uuid>|<name>
<key>
[<value>] (no value deletes key)
VBoxManage setproperty hdfolder default|<folder> |
machinefolder default|<folder> |
vrdpauthlibrary default|<library> |
websrvauthlibrary default|null|<library> |
loghistorycount <value>
VBoxManage usbfilter add <index,0-N>
--target <uuid>|<name>|global
--name <string>
--action ignore|hold (global filters only)
[--active yes|no] (yes)
[--vendorid <XXXX>] (null)
[--productid <XXXX>] (null)
[--revision <IIFF>] (null)
[--manufacturer <string>] (null)
[--product <string>] (null)
[--remote yes|no] (null, VM filters only)
[--serialnumber <string>] (null)
[--maskedinterfaces <XXXXXXXX>]
VBoxManage usbfilter modify <index,0-N>
--target <uuid>|<name>|global
[--name <string>]
[--action ignore|hold] (global filters only)
[--active yes|no]
[--vendorid <XXXX>|""]
[--productid <XXXX>|""]
[--revision <IIFF>|""]
[--manufacturer <string>|""]
[--product <string>|""]
[--remote yes|no] (null, VM filters only)
[--serialnumber <string>|""]
[--maskedinterfaces <XXXXXXXX>]
VBoxManage usbfilter remove <index,0-N>
--target <uuid>|<name>|global
VBoxManage sharedfolder add <vmname>|<uuid>
--name <name> --hostpath <hostpath>
[--transient] [--readonly]
VBoxManage sharedfolder remove <vmname>|<uuid>
--name <name> [--transient]
VBoxManage vmstatistics <vmname>|<uuid> [--reset]
[--pattern <pattern>] [--descriptions]
VBoxManage guestproperty get <vmname>|<uuid>
<property> [--verbose]
VBoxManage guestproperty set <vmname>|<uuid>
<property> [<value> [--flags <flags>]]
VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate <vmname>|<uuid>
[--patterns <patterns>]
VBoxManage guestproperty wait <vmname>|<uuid> <patterns>
[--timeout <milliseconds>] [--fail-on-timeout]
VBoxManage metrics list [*|host|<vmname> [<metric_list>]]
(comma-separated)
VBoxManage metrics setup
[--period <seconds>]
[--samples <count>]
[--list]
[*|host|<vmname> [<metric_list>]]
VBoxManage metrics query [*|host|<vmname> [<metric_list>]]
VBoxManage metrics collect
[--period <seconds>]
[--samples <count>]
[--list]
[--detach]
[*|host|<vmname> [<metric_list>]]
VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig <name>
[--dhcp |
--ip<ipv4> [--netmask<ipv4> (def: 255.255.255.0)] |
--ipv6<ipv6> [--netmasklengthv6<length> (def: 64)]]
VBoxManage dhcpserver add|modify --netname <network_name> |
--ifname <hostonly_if_name>
[--ip <ip_address>
--netmask <network_mask>
--lowerip <lower_ip>
--upperip <upper_ip>]
[--enable | --disable]
VBoxManage dhcpserver remove --netname <network_name> |
--ifname <hostonly_if_name>
Installation#
Download from http://www.virtualbox.org/, version :
metskem@gneisenau ~ $ VBoxManage --version 3.0.8r53138Also install vboxgtk, a graphical interface for VirtualBox.
The main configuration command is VBoxManage .
Create Virtual Machine#
We want to create a virtual machine from a downloaded iso.
I first tried the smallest Linux I could find, tinycore (10 MB), and after that a CentOS live-CD, an Ubuntu 9.04 server and an Ubuntu 9.10 server CD.
- First download the server iso, for example from http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/ubuntu-releases/jaunty/ubuntu-9.04-server-i386.iso
- startup vboxgtk and register the CD image (manage VDI's)
- then create a new VM, and associate it with the ISO, see
 |
- or, better, use the cmdline: VBoxManage createvm :
metskem@gneisenau ~/vbox $ VBoxManage createvm --name ubuntu910 --register --ostype Ubuntu VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 (C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Virtual machine 'ubuntu910' is created and registered. UUID: 20b27023-e054-4a0a-9080-242dff36ca4b Settings file: '/home/metskem/.VirtualBox/Machines/ubuntu910/ubuntu910.xml'
- check your results with the VBoxManage list command :
metskem@gneisenau ~/vbox $ VBoxManage list vms
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.
"tinycore01" {de160c79-0b97-4773-a4e1-3d4b610e3cbc}
"CentOS54" {ce515eda-41c6-494a-b5b4-3bef38e624d2}
"ubuntu904" {afa59426-fd8d-4bcf-ac4d-e5f385ffd70c}
"ubuntu910" {20b27023-e054-4a0a-9080-242dff36ca4b}
- now alter several attributes of the VM with the VBoxManage modifyvm command :
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ vb modifyvm ubuntu910 --memory 255 --vram 1 --pae off --hwvirtex off --boot1 dvd --boot2 disk --hda /home/metskem/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/ubuntu910.vdi --dvd /home/metskem/Downloads/ubuntu-9.10-rc-server-i386.iso --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 wlan0 VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 (C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
- main memory is 255 MB
- graphics memory 1 MB
- pae (Physical Address Extensions) off
- no hardware virtualization
- bootorder, dvd first, disk second
- attach a vdi file that we will create later
- use bridged networking (most suitable for servers)
- use the host's wlan nic as bridgeadapter
- use the DVD (we need that to boot from the first time)
- create a VDI hd with the VBoxManage createhd command :
metskem@gneisenau ~/.VirtualBox/HardDisks $ VBoxManage createhd --filename ubuntu910.vdi --size 2000 --format VDI 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% Disk image created. UUID: 496dd7fd-2bdb-4255-819b-04ba90cb77ab metskem@gneisenau ~/.VirtualBox/HardDisks $ ls -l total 1500192 -rw------- 1 metskem metskem 1536176640 2009-10-25 13:40 hd01 -rw------- 1 metskem metskem 8704 2009-10-25 13:41 ubuntu910.vdi
Starting the VM#
- now fire up the whole thing (you can use the vboxgtk for that) but I prefer cmdline, so : VBoxManage startvm ubuntu910 (that name was given to this VM)
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ vb startvm ubuntu910 VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 (C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Waiting for the remote session to open... Remote session has been successfully opened.
This will show a popup and you can go on:
Networking#
The manual (Chapter 6) has more information on this.
I chose bridged networking, as this is most suitable for servers. You can choose a host adapter that acts as the bridge adapter.
On the host this looks like :
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN qlen 1000
link/ether 00:24:81:56:01:f9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wmaster0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
link/ieee802.11 00:22:fa:8f:fd:0a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP qlen 1000
link/ether 00:22:fa:8f:fd:0a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 10.0.0.164/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global wlan0
inet6 fe80::222:faff:fe8f:fd0a/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
7: vboxnet0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
link/ether 0a:00:27:00:00:00 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 10.0.2.2/8 brd 10.255.255.255 scope global vboxnet0
inet6 fe80::800:27ff:fe00:0/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ ifconfig vboxnet0
vboxnet0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 0a:00:27:00:00:00
inet addr:10.0.2.2 Bcast:10.255.255.255 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: fe80::800:27ff:fe00:0/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:292 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:19247 (19.2 KB)
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ ip r
10.0.0.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 10.0.0.164 metric 2
10.0.2.0/24 via 10.0.2.2 dev vboxnet0 scope link
10.0.2.0/24 dev vboxnet0 scope link
169.254.0.0/16 dev wlan0 scope link metric 1000
default via 10.0.0.138 dev wlan0 proto static
On the VM (guest) it looks like this :
root@ubuntu:/etc/init.d# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
link/ether 08:00:f5:1f:e9:04 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 10.0.0.172/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global eth0
inet6 fe80::a00:f5ff:fe1f:e904/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
root@ubuntu:/etc/init.d# ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 08:00:f5:1f:e9:04
inet addr:10.0.0.172 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::a00:f5ff:fe1f:e904/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:14721 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:14884 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1074906 (1.0 MB) TX bytes:14917902 (14.9 MB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xd020
root@ubuntu:/etc/init.d# ip r
10.0.0.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 10.0.0.172
default via 10.0.0.138 dev eth0 metric 100
Snapshots#
TODO..............
Management of VM's#
Statistics from the GUI:
Setup statistics collection#
Use the VBoxManage metrics setup command :
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ VBoxManage metrics setup --period 10 --samples 600 ubuntu910 CPU/Load,RAM/Usage VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 (C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
You can display the current collection settings with the VBoxManage metrics list _ command
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ vb metrics list ubuntu910 VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 (C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Object Metric Unit Minimum Maximum Period Count Description ---------- -------------------- ---- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------- ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User % 0 100000 10 600 Percentage of processor time spent in user mode by VM process. ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User:avg % 0 100000 10 1 ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User:min % 0 100000 10 1 ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User:max % 0 100000 10 1 ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel % 0 100000 10 600 Percentage of processor time spent in kernel mode by VM process. ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel:avg % 0 100000 10 1 ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel:min % 0 100000 10 1 ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel:max % 0 100000 10 1 ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used kB 0 2147483647 10 600 Size of resident portion of VM process in memory. ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used:avg kB 0 2147483647 10 1 ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used:min kB 0 2147483647 10 1 ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used:max kB 0 2147483647 10 1
Displaying statistics #
Use the VBoxManage metrics query command to display usage stats :
metskem@gneisenau ~/bin $ vb metrics query ubuntu910 VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.8 (C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Object Metric Values ---------- -------------------- -------------------------------------------- ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User 0.22%, 0.09%, 0.15%, 0.30%, 0.20%, 0.15%, 0.36%, 0.09%, 0.30%, 0.15%, 0.15%, 0.40%, 0.25%, 0.35%, 0.20%, 0.22%, 0.40% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User:avg 0.23% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User:min 0.09% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/User:max 0.40% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel 0.18%, 0.09%, 0.15%, 0.35%, 0.30%, 0.25%, 0.27%, 0.09%, 0.20%, 0.20%, 0.10%, 0.20%, 0.15%, 0.20%, 0.30%, 0.18%, 0.25% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel:avg 0.20% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel:min 0.09% ubuntu910 CPU/Load/Kernel:max 0.35% ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB, 136452 kB ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used:avg 136452 kB ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used:min 136452 kB ubuntu910 RAM/Usage/Used:max 136452 kB
Nice and Handy to know#
- Use 'Right Ctrl' (the host key) key to capture the mouse/keyboard again
- show VM info with VBoxManage showvminfo <vmname>