Virtualization Technology: Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.2 Is a Tempting Alternative to VMware Fare

Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.2 Is a Tempting Alternative to VMware Fare

by Cameron Sturdevant

OVF Initial Setup

The systems I exported in the Open Virtualization Format had no special enhancements turned on, such as graphics acceleration or CPU virtualization hardware extensions. Sun's xVM VirtualBox can now import and export specially configured virtual machines that include an operating system, application and virtual disk for easy deployment.

Exporting Ubuntu Virtual Appliance

After making configuration adjustments, I stepped through a short, wizard-driven process to export (and import) virtual appliances from my xVM VirtualBox installation.

Graphics Trouble

In my Ubuntu virtual machine, visual effects worked fine; in my OpenSolaris guest, the results were unsatisfactory.

Graphics OK

I reset my OpenSolaris system to a basic graphics interface, and the system worked fine.

Manual Configuration

Here you see the information I had to manually configure to get the shared folder feature mounted and working in my xVM VirtualBox installation.

Shared Folder in Place

It is very handy to have a shared folder available to guest systems. I used mine to easily store some of the screen shots used for this slideshow in a central location on my host system.

Host-Only Setup

Host-only networking is a hybrid between bridged and internal networking. Here you see the basic configuration menu that enables guests to communicate with each other. Guests can also be configured to talk with the outside world.

All Features Turned On

For most tests, I enabled all the enhanced performance and graphics acceleration capabilities in my Sun OpenSolaris guest system.

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