virtualbox.org

Hello,

I am going to build a new computer soon, and hoping to set up a Virtual Development Environment on it.
Could you tell me if my dreams can come true : are they possible?

I would like to :
- set up VirtualBox on a Debian squeeze host, without a GUI (no graphical user interface)
- set up virtual machines (wiith Debian, Windows XP, etc guests) to do different type of works, and test the portability of my projects to different environments

And if possible :
1. be able to switch from one VirtualBox to the other, in "one click" (or one script, it's the same). So, it would have to "freeze" the current virtual machine, and start another one. I would like to have icons on the desktop of each virtual machine, to do these "switches".
2. run from 3 to 6 VMs simultaneously, and display them on different screens (i am thinking about 3 or 4 screens). And maybe have shortcuts for changing the VM on one screen.

Is this possible with VirtualBox?

And a few more questions :

3. If yes, what should i read ?
- I guess i will need VBoxManage.
- Will i also need VBoxHeadless ?
- anything else ?

Any advice for building my computer ?
None of my programs or work require particularly big computing power, but i'm a bit worried as i might want to run up to 6 Vms simultaneously. Porobably, all my guest OS would be fairly light : Debian or Windows XP.

4. So, what do i need in terms of RAM ?
Do i need 4GB memory, 8GB, or 16GB?
Would a quad channel RAM motherboard help ?
I'm guessing that i will need at least 3GHz processor speed, or more. But i read that the RAM is more determinant for VMs.

5. And what do i need in terms of hard drive ?
I was thinking of buying SSD (Solid State Drives), instead of HDD, as they are apparently a lot faster.
And i read that i can make things a lot faster to have the guest and the hosts on different drives. So i was thinking of having one SSD for the host only, and then one for the VMs. Or maybe even one for each VM (or one for 2 VMs, if i had too many).

What do you think ?
Thank you for any little help !
pierre

Hi again

Please, help me !
I know i'm asking many questions.
If you can answer just one of them, that's great already.

And i need to choose, buy and build this computer, and install this virtual development environment pretty fast, to be able to start working again.

Thank you.

Everything you are asking is subjective. Some will give one answer and other a different one depending on their experience.

The biggest thing to remember is to make sure that the CPU and bios support hardware-v, and nested paging is advisable. Load it with as much memory (the more the better) as you can afford.

Thanks a lot Perryg
There are two parts to my message.

The hardware, which is totally subjective like you said.
Harware-v and Nested paging, thank you, i will check that. I'm guessing that quad channel and 16GB RAM should do for me.

The software and what is possible to achieve. I don't know if it is possible to do these :
1. be able to switch from one VirtualBox to the other, in "one click" (or one script, it's the same). So, it would have to "freeze" the current virtual machine, and start another one. I would like to have icons on the desktop of each virtual machine, to do these "switches".
2. run several VMs simultaneously, and display them on different screens (i am thinking about 3 or 4 screens). And maybe have shortcuts for changing the VM which is on one screen.

3. If yes, what should i read ?
- I guess i will need VBoxManage.
- Will i also need VBoxHeadless ?
- anything else ?

Thank you thank you

PS : i am going to eat, i will be back later.

1. be able to switch from one VirtualBox to the other, in "one click" (or one script, it's the same). So, it would have to "freeze" the current virtual machine, and start another one. I would like to have icons on the desktop of each virtual machine, to do these "switches".

Here again there are a lot of different ways that this can be achieved, but yes it is doable. I don't know why you would want to freeze a guest but you can pause it if you like.

2. run several VMs simultaneously, and display them on different screens (i am thinking about 3 or 4 screens). And maybe have shortcuts for changing the VM which is on one screen

And again yes it would be possible, depending on your level of expertise.

You should read the first few chapters about VBox VirtualBox online users manual

Thank you

Knowing that it's possible is a good start and gives me the energy to search further. I was hoping that there would be one and only one way to do these things, and that someone experienced could tell me. If there was one "simpler" way to do it, and if anybody knew it, please tell. I will gain lots of time if i know where to look.

I will have to read the doc i guess. It's 300 pages long. I will try and copy-paste it, and make it smaller to fit it into less pages, to print. If anybody is interested in getting it, just tell me. I could post it somewhere if someone thought that it would be a good thing.

Once you install VirtualBox you will have a local copy. Just click help or press f1 in the main manager.

Oh and you can also download the manual in pdf format from http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualb ... Manual.pdf

Thank you

I'm made my own "shorter" (i'm cutting some parts i won't need) and "compact" (in terms of page format and font) version for printing. It's 126 pages long, but i didn't put chapters 12 nor 15, and cut the parts about non-Linux hosts. There is also less white space on the sides, and the fonts are smaller.

pamjou wrote:Hello,

I am going to build a new computer soon, and hoping to set up a Virtual Development Environment on it.
Could you tell me if my dreams can come true : are they possible?

Yes, everything you mention here is possible. I do something similar in my everyday work.

pamjou wrote:I would like to :
- set up VirtualBox on a Debian squeeze host, without a GUI (no graphical user interface)

That can be done, but I am scratching my head wondering why you would want to run VB without the GUI...

pamjou wrote: - set up virtual machines (wiith Debian, Windows XP, etc guests) to do different type of works, and test the portability of my projects to different environments

I have 6 virtual machines running on the server as I type this. My kids usually have another 3 to 5 running all of the time. They are all usually combinations of Windows and Linux.

pamjou wrote:And if possible :
1. be able to switch from one VirtualBox to the other, in "one click" (or one script, it's the same). So, it would have to "freeze" the current virtual machine, and start another one. I would like to have icons on the desktop of each virtual machine, to do these "switches".

It used to be called "virtual desktops" I think, but now the GNOME name is "workplace switcher." This is your best friend, especially when running multi head fullscreen virtual machines. Set up many workspaces (I have configured eight workspaces) and set key bindings for moving around them (I have Alt+Ctrl up/down/left/right for navigating).

pamjou wrote: 2. run from 3 to 6 VMs simultaneously, and display them on different screens (i am thinking about 3 or 4 screens). And maybe have shortcuts for changing the VM on one screen.

See above. I am typing this on a triple head workstation. Several of the running VMs are double or triple head.

pamjou wrote:Is this possible with VirtualBox?

And a few more questions :

3. If yes, what should i read ?
- I guess i will need VBoxManage.
- Will i also need VBoxHeadless ?
- anything else ?

As noted above, this is very possible. Read everything you can find. Experiment and make lots of mistakes, then experiment more.

pamjou wrote:Any advice for building my computer ?
None of my programs or work require particularly big computing power, but i'm a bit worried as i might want to run up to 6 Vms simultaneously. Porobably, all my guest OS would be fairly light : Debian or Windows XP.

4. So, what do i need in terms of RAM ?
Do i need 4GB memory, 8GB, or 16GB?
Would a quad channel RAM motherboard help ?
I'm guessing that i will need at least 3GHz processor speed, or more. But i read that the RAM is more determinant for VMs.

Get RAM, RAM and more RAM. The server I use has 32GB and we are about to add another 16GB. We give each guest 2GB of RAM so that the memory management within the guest is minimized. We also give each guest 2 CPU cores. Much of the CPU usage in a Win/Lin guest can be minimized with more RAM. Much of the disk bandwidth and iops demands can be minimized with more host RAM. Get as much RAM as possible. The host we use also has 4x dual-core Opterons. As with the RAM, we are looking at upgrading this as well to quad-core chips. Get lots of CPU cores. At the very minimum, get a machine where you can easily upgrade the RAM and CPU, then upgrade to the point that works for you.

pamjou wrote:5. And what do i need in terms of hard drive ?
I was thinking of buying SSD (Solid State Drives), instead of HDD, as they are apparently a lot faster.
And i read that i can make things a lot faster to have the guest and the hosts on different drives. So i was thinking of having one SSD for the host only, and then one for the VMs. Or maybe even one for each VM (or one for 2 VMs, if i had too many).

What do you think ?
Thank you for any little help !
pierre

We use fibre arrays, but the guest storage is on a single ZFS vdev spread across multiple 10K 300GB fibre drives. They aren't very fast, but in my experience, the bulk of the I/O takes place at VM startup and shutdown. Once they are running, the disk usage is fairly light. Your mileage may vary.

As Perryg mentioned, there really is no need to freeze or pause a guest. Just let it run.

Let us know what you decide and how well it is working for you.