virtualbox.org

Using version 4.3.10, I did the following:

Exported a generic Ubuntu 12.04 Server built on a Ubuntu 12.04 host to a .ova appliance.
(bridged adapter)

Imported the appliance on a Windows7 PC running Vbox 4.3.10
Tried to start the VM, and it failed to initialize the network.

I then built the very same Ubuntu 12.04 Server on the Windows7 PC, and exported it to a .ova appliance.

Imported the Windows originated appliance into the Ubuntu PC.
Tried to start the VM, and it failed to initialize the network.

Went back to the Windows PC, modified the network parameters on the Ubuntu originated appliance to match those on the identical Ubuntu 12.04 Server originated on that same Windows7 PC.
Tried to start the VM, and it failed to initialize the network.

Went back to the Ubuntu PC, modified the network parameters on the Windows originated appliance to match those on the identical Ubuntu 12.04 Server originated on that same Ubuntu PC.
Tried to start the VM, and it failed to initialize the network.

I have a WindowsXP appliance which was built on a Ubuntu 10.04 host using a WindowsXP distribution media, which I am able to import into all three platforms: Mac, Windows7 & Ubuntu, and it works fine in all three.

As for the Ubuntu 12.04 Server, I have tried several suggested work-arounds involving direct modifications of the VM XML file, but none have worked. A diff between the two versions of the Ubuntu 12.04 Server appliance showed only one apparently relevant difference, the name of the Bridged Adapter was "NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller" on the Windows Originated appliance, and "eth0" on the Ubuntu originated appliance. However, as indicated by the tests, changing those to match the local default did not work in either case.

Any suggestions as to how to avoid having to create multiple platform-specific versions of each appliance would be very much appreciated.

Bridged is tied to the specific hardware that you ... bridge through. Chances are that unless you're moving the VM to identical hardware, it won't work. Why don't you try with NAT?

socratis wrote:Bridged is tied to the specific hardware that you ... bridge through. Chances are that unless you're moving the VM to identical hardware, it won't work. Why don't you try with NAT?

Thanks for the suggestion.

Clearly, this version of Vbox has the virtual drivers necessary to operate on the respective platforms. If you can build a given Linux guest on a host, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to import an appliance for that same guest on another instance of that same host. This appears to be an oversight by the developers in their import/export appliance code. I suspect this could be corrected in the VM configuration file, just don't know what needs to be changed.

(Re: NAT, it's not an option for our application.)

what might work out for you is instead of creating .ovf appliances, just copy the entire folder of the vm you want to use to whatever machine you want to add it to and then just choose add machine in VirtualBox.

The whole point of providing appliances is to make it easy for non-technical users to install a guest machine. The point of this post is to draw the developers attention to the fact that there are some loose ends that need to be handled by the import/export functions.

grove wrote:The whole point of providing appliances is to make it easy for non-technical users to install a guest machine. The point of this post is to draw the developers attention to the fact that there are some loose ends that need to be handled by the import/export functions.

Perhaps you can explain the technical challenge between clicking on a menu in VirtualBox and choosing "Import Appliance" versus "Add Machine". As far as the "loose ends", there will be adjustments that have to be made to a VM no matter what you do when you try to set up one VM to share on multiple platforms or even on the same platform. Just a simple example is one client's PC may not have enough RAM or vRAM to run the guest as it is set up. They may or may not have hardware virtualization enabled so they can run a 64bit guest. There are plenty of other examples.

loukingjr wrote:Perhaps you can explain the technical challenge between clicking on a menu in VirtualBox and choosing "Import Appliance" versus "Add Machine". As far as the "loose ends", there will be adjustments that have to be made to a VM no matter what you do when you try to set up one VM to share on multiple platforms or even on the same platform. Just a simple example is one client's PC may not have enough RAM or vRAM to run the guest as it is set up. They may or may not have hardware virtualization enabled so they can run a 64bit guest. There are plenty of other examples.

Gee, I never thought of those things. I guess we should just reserve virtual computing for us nerds, eh?
(Thanks for the technical analysis. I'm betting we can make it easy enough for 'ordinary people' to install, one way or another.

grove wrote:

loukingjr wrote:Perhaps you can explain the technical challenge between clicking on a menu in VirtualBox and choosing "Import Appliance" versus "Add Machine". As far as the "loose ends", there will be adjustments that have to be made to a VM no matter what you do when you try to set up one VM to share on multiple platforms or even on the same platform. Just a simple example is one client's PC may not have enough RAM or vRAM to run the guest as it is set up. They may or may not have hardware virtualization enabled so they can run a 64bit guest. There are plenty of other examples.

Gee, I never thought of those things. I guess we should just reserve virtual computing for us nerds, eh?
(Thanks for the technical analysis. I'm betting we can make it easy enough for 'ordinary people' to install, one way or another.

good luck.