Windows Host - Linux Guest - Seamless Mode

In pre 2.0 VirtualBox seamless mode was only for Windows guests on linux hosts. Now Linux guests on Windows hosts benifit from this invaluable feature. Albeit there are not many instances where a graphical linux program is require without a Windows alternative, but if need be the feature is available.

Just boot up your guest, and hit your hotkey + l and viola, VirtualBox rips the gnome, or kde docks right off the desktop and slaps it into Windows. Frankly it can’t get much better than this, and my main hopes for the future is better linux kernel support further reducing host CPU load when the guests are idle. This will further realize the dream of virtualization, which is the deployment of multiple virtual machines on a single host system. The less host CPU load experienced results in more guest OSs being deployable.

Nagios Virtual Server Monitoring in 15 Minutes - Intro

Nagios allows you to graphically monitor your virtual servers from a single web page. No longer will you have to load each individual website or web service in order to verify consistent operation. Nagios can be downloaded directly from their website at:

http://www.nagios.com

On the Nagios homepage is a link to a 15 minute tutorial, which is relatively straight forward, and works like a charm. My next blog post will cover the same material that is included in their 15 minute tutorial. In this post I want to briefly discuss which guest operating system to use for maximum stability. I highly recommend Ubuntu JeOS for your virtual OS specifically because the kernel works flawlessly with the host operating system. To recap, I currently use Debian Etch as my host OS, and with JeOS as the guest the host CPU load is only active when the guest is actually processing data. I previously used Debian Etch also as the guest OS, and it would have a constant CPU load on the host. This was not at all desirable, and with a quick transition to JeOS the problem was swiftly resolved.

The first step to get Nagios up and running in a VirtualBox guest OS is to install a clean JeOS in a new guest OS.

Step 2 is setting up Nagios. You can follow the 15 minute tutorial on their website, which is indeed perfect, but I will also post the procedures asap.

Windows is a CPU Hog Versus Linux

Seriously I have 4 guest Linux operating system running at the same time, and the host CPU is not nearly as busy as when a single Windows OS is running. Windows literally consumes the same amount of CPU power as maybe 10 Linux operating systems running simultaneously. I use Windows XP in seamless mode to have the benefits of browser compatibility checking, and other Windows only applications; the CPU requirements of Windows is simply tremendous.

Although you can significantly reduce your Windows CPU requirements by turning off the page file system. Frankly on a machine with over 2 Gigabytes of ram, the page file system is simply not required.

Debian VirtualBox Guest OS Causes High and Constant Host CPU Load

For the longest time I was using Debian for my guest operating system, and was relatively frustrated that the host OS always had a constant CPU load of over 20%. I tried many times to compile a custom kernel to resolve this issue, and in the end I decided to switch to a new OS. At first I though Ubuntu server edition was the way to go, but when I was installing the system there was all these gnome, and other graphical components being installed. What is the purpose of openoffice files in a terminal based OS? Overall Ubuntu JeOS is the way to go! It will only install the base Ubuntu system, comparable to how Debian can be configure during the installation process. The kernel used in JeOS does not cause the host to have a constant CPU load, therefore I am overwhelmingly satisfied with its performance.

If you are experiencing high host CPU load with your guest OS, I recommend experimenting with different kernels, and possible switching to a different OS if you cannot resolve the issue. There is no reason your host CPU load should be high when the guest is not processing any data. JeOS is the way to go

PXE Network Boot VirtualBox

VirtualBox is capable of network boot, and is practically indistinguishable in configuration as compared to a real machine. To PXE boot a VirtualBox guest OS open the settings of a guest OS:

Click the advanced tab:

The advanced page looks like the following:

To enable PXE boot you have to configure the following section:

To enable PXE boot click the following check box:

Then use the up and down arrows to set the priority of the network boot feature.

You can create a guest OS that has no hard drive; there is no need for one. In such a configuration make network boot the first on the list.

Windows Completely Integrated with Linux - VirtualBox Guest OS

I as the vast majority of people grew up with Windows. I had programs that would only run on Windows; for example Napster. Napster requires Windows Media Player because of the DRM (Digital Rights Management) software embedded in the music.

Then I switched to Linux because of Stability reasons. I wanted a system that would work, without needing a restart, for months on end. I wanted a system that could run on a Pentium 2 processor, with 256 megabytes of RAM. Linux was the answer, and it ran extremely well on my first server that had a Pentium 2 processor running at 300 Megahertz. Windows XP is not capable of running on such a low power system, but Linux runs just fine!!!

My current server I also use for blogging, and miscellaneous surfing. It is technically the most powerful machine I have ever owned. While there are many more upgrade I can implement, its current configuration is relatively powerful:

• AMD Athlon 64 x2  @ 1.9 Ghz
• 3 Gigabytes of RAM
• 3 RAID1 160 Gigabyte hard drives (1 SATA, 2 PATA)
• ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard

With this system I have over 1 Gigabyte of RAM left over after Linux, my Virtual Server, and Windows have completely loaded. There is much potential for Virtual OS environments, as it makes for compartmentalization and organizational ease. Also you can have your guest OS .vdi images on your /home partition, allowing the formatting and upgrade of the root “/” partition as easy as a default Linux installation.

I have my Virtual web server running a Debian LAMP setup with 512 Megabytes of allocated RAM. If obviously is utilizing a network tap to the host system. For more information about VirtualBox guest OS host networking see:

http://www.bgevolution.com/blog/index.php/virtualbox-host-networking-script-versus-interfaces/

I have my Windows guest OS running Windows XP, with 1024 Megabytes of allocated RAM. It also utilizes a network tap, but technically this is not really necessary. I use Windows in seamless mode for certain Windows only applications (Napster), and primarily for Windows Firefox and Internet Explorer. My Debian Host OS is 64 bit, and since Macromedia Flash does not have a 64 bit compilation, the 32 bit Windows XP comes in handy rather than installing a 32 bit Debian environment and associated applications.