Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Solaris hosts.
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rpro
Posts: 9
Joined: 18. Jul 2009, 08:47
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Post by rpro »

Hi - I'm seeing some scary bug reports for vbox under solaris for the last year or so - and I was also burned trying any version of vbox greater than version 2.6.

Is Virtualbox now usable, with multiple cores and fast file I/O (I currently get 20 MB/sec maximum under vbox 2.x)? The issues really scare me as I have to have a Windows XP VM stable for months at a time with heavy file I/O use.

Thanks for any insights/warnings.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Post by Perryg »

Is there a reason for you to upgrade? That is what you need to ask yourself.
If your current version does what you want/need then features are the only thing that has been added. Do you need them and enough to want to work with the configs to make everything work properly?
As they say it it isn't broken don't fix it.
rpro
Posts: 9
Joined: 18. Jul 2009, 08:47
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Post by rpro »

Actually, I really liked the fast file I/O of version 3.0 - however that crashed like crazy, even with only one core!

I run QuickPar (parity file generation) a lot in the VM and manage my media file server with it so more file I/O speed without constant crashing would be a godsend.
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Post by Perryg »

Then I would suggest that you upgrade to 3.2.12. The last in that version set. It worked good for me and does not have any of the usual new feature headaches.
Be sure to keep a copy of the one that you are using just in case and a good backup of the guest/s would be in order as well.
kebabbert
Volunteer
Posts: 321
Joined: 31. May 2008, 10:00
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: WinXP, RedHat, Ubuntu

Re: Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Post by kebabbert »

Make a ZFS snapshot before you upgrade VB to 3.2.12. Then you can boot in GRUB to your earlier VB version - i.e. you keep both VB versions i different GRUB entrys.

But remember, when you do a ZFS snapshot - you're home dir will not be snapshotted! Only the OS will be snapshotted! Because your virtual machines are in your home dir, this means: if you make a ZFS snapshot and boot into the new snapshot and upgrade VB to 3.2.12 - you will still run the Windows install from version 2.xx. But VB 3.2.12 will tell you to upgrade guest addons. If you do that, and then boot into your earlier GRUB with VB 2.xx - you will get problems. Because VB 2.xx will not recognize the new addons from VB 3.2.12.

In short, if you are going to boot into different GRUB entries with different VB versions - do not upgrade guest addons in your virtual machines. Let the guest addons be left at 2.xx. Otherwise you will get problems and possibly can not boot the guests in earlier VB versions.
tomwaters
Posts: 20
Joined: 26. May 2010, 00:31
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 7

Re: Most stable version of VBOX under OpenSolaris/Indiana?

Post by tomwaters »

Make a ZFS snapshot before you upgrade VB to 3.2.12. Then you can boot in GRUB to your earlier VB version - i.e. you keep both VB versions i different GRUB entrys.
I assume you mean use beadm create?
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