virtualbox.org

My name is Steve and I work for a small company that uses Oracle Virtual Box to host an ImageMagick photo formatting program. This program is on a virtual machine in the Oracle Virtual Box. As with most companies, we have a separate primary domain controller. However, the Oracle Virtual Box exists on a separate print server. The print server is not a DC and cannot act as a domain controller unless dcpromo is run and it becomes a paired dc with the primary. Can Oracle Virtual Box with the ImageMagick program VM act as a domain controller, should the primary domain controller go down? In other words, can Oracle Virtual Box act as a domain controller should it detect there is no domain controller present?

I desperately need assistance on this, but I do not believe it can nor any VM's inside the Oracle VB become a domain controller on its own should the primary or sole DC go down. If we were running VMWare ESXi server with domain controllers installed on it, that would be different. However, Oracle Virtual Box is only a program and cannot substitute itself as a domain controller, can it?

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you

Steve
steve@vineyardvines.com
stevehk@snet.net
2039840365

You can use VB to provide a secondary DC as fallback. You have to see how stable it runs first, so if you already have a server in VB that runs without issues and is qualified to run as secondary domain controller, you should be fine. Just as long as the VM isn't hosted on the Host providing DC tasks, as that beats the purpose of a fallback (primary goes down, so will the VMs it hosts).

Thank you for replying to my inquiry in this matter. Basically, the print server that the Oracle VB is loaded on is only a member server on the domain. I know you can setup a domain controller inside the Oracle VM. However, there are none and the only VM is this Magic photo software. It does not have anything in it to allow for server/domain controller functionality. However, if a live separate domain controller box goes down on the network, the print server would not be able to communicate with other workstations, because DNS is down. So if either machine is or isn't pingable, can the Oracle Virtual Box just randomly assume control and become the primary domain controller without having any other virtual machines holding server operating systems installed? Can the Oracle Virtual Box without any virtual machines having server operating systems, block the primary dc from reloading or rebooting? Can Oracle VB take down a separate mail server box on its own without any configuration? I have examined the Oracle VB's settings and there is nothing in it that could interfere or block the separate primary domain controller from booting up? Am I correct? Can Virtual Box block the rebooting of the primary DC or any other server? Can it stop these servers from coming up?

Steve

With all those questions, I wonder if you actually understand what VirtualBox is and provides. It's just a piece of software like your browser or office application. It cannot do fallback things for servers on the network, that's the job of an OS running specialized software to detect such changes. VB just isn't that.

I have worked and configured servers on VMWare Workstation 7.1.3, ESX and ESXi servers. I understand Oracle Virtual Box but unfortunately I work with people who do not understand what virtual machines are and how they work in programs like Parallels, Oracle VB, Vmware Workstation, etc...

Bottom line, and please tell me if I am wrong here, but you have told me exactly what I seemed to have known all along. Oracle VB cannot on its own interfere with other servers like a domain controller. As you said, it does not possess that functionality.

I appreciate your help and guidance with this issue.

Regards,

Steve

So what is your exact question now? That you can install a VM in VB that can do such tasks? Then the answer is yes! That's possible.

If someone is claiming that running VirtualBox is somehow disrupting or "stealing" a DC role then no, that's not possible, and is not at all how Windows DCs work. All backup DCs are online all the time and constantly replicating -- there's no cluster-style failover involved.

It's possible than an IP address conflict or other mis-configured networking could interfere with a DC, but that could just as easily happen on a physical server as a VM.

You can of course make a virtual machine into a DC, but your question isn't very clear as to exactly what you're asking or why.

I'm not very clear about what's getting asked either, but if one installs an operating system in a Virtualbox virtual machine thaat can be a domain controller, then, yes, Virtualbox can host a DC.

I'm running SBS2003, which includes a DC, in Virtualbox, along with Exchange, on a XP host, 10 domain clients. Works just fine!