Running a virtual machine in VirtualBox without a GUI

Sometimes it becomes necessary to run a virtual machine on a host without X. I will talk about how to do this, having access to the host system only via ssh + rdp (Remote Desktop Protocol). the process I will describe for OC Ubuntu 9.10 as a host.

Let's start by installing VirtualBox.

First you need to install the dkms package (Dynamic Kernel Module Support Framework):

sudo apt-get install dkms

The VirtualBox website offers 2 options: register the source of packages ( deb download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic non-free) in /etc/apt/sources.listeither download and install the deb package. When I registered the source and made sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.1a bunch of packages from dependencies (including some for the GUI interface) I pulled. Therefore, it is better to download the deb package. Download, install:

sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-3.1_3.1.0-55467_Ubuntu_karmic_i386.deb

it may also require dependencies (some libraries for parsing xml, in which configs are stored, but they are much smaller than in the first case). If the installation did not complete due to dependencies, you can simply do it

sudo apt-get -f install

while installing the dependencies and VirtualBox

approx. VirtualBox delivered. Let's start creating guest machines.

create the machine itself:

VBoxManage createvm --name ubuntu --ostype Ubuntu --register
(name is the name of the machine, ostype is the type of system. A complete list of all types can be found by the command VBoxManage list ostypes) we

configure

VBoxManage modifyvm ubuntu --memory 512 --floppy disabled --audio none --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 eth0 --vram 4 --accelerate3d off --boot1 disk --acpi on --cableconnected1 on --usb off --vrdp on --vrdpport 3390

everything from a larger view . You can also specify NAT ( --nic1 nat) as the network type . also enable rdp

create an hdd disk for a virtual machine:

VBoxManage createhd --filename /home/user/vbox/ubuntu.vdi --size 20000 --register

add an IDE controller to our machine

VBoxManage storagectl ubuntu --name "IDE Controller" --add ide

; we hook on to the IDE0 previously created hdd

VBoxManage storageattach ubuntu --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium /home/user/vbox/ubuntu.vdi

on IDE1 we hook the installation image,

VBoxManage storageattach ubuntu --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 1 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium /home/user/vbox/iso/ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso

tell the machine to boot from the disk,

VBoxManage modifyvm ubuntu --boot1 dvd

start the machine

nohup VBoxHeadless --startvm ubuntu &

in order to install the base system, use the rdp client (I have KDE, KRDC is included in the standard package). connect to the host machine on the port that was specified in the settings ( --vrdpport 3390), put the system in, do it sudo apt-get install openssh-server. now you can get to the

virtual machine

VBoxManage controlvm ubuntu acpipowerbutton
via ssh we stop the virtual machine via acpi

or

VBoxManage controlvm ubuntu poweroff

we talk more hard it loads with hdd

VBoxManage modifyvm ubuntu --boot1 disk

you can also unhook the installation disk

VBoxManage storageattach ubuntu --storagectl "IDE Controller" --port 1 --device 0 --medium none

and run

nohup VBoxHeadless --startvm ubuntu &

some more useful commands again :

VBoxManage list runningvms
view all running machines

VBoxManage showvminfo ubuntu
view information about the virtual machine

Thus, on one machine with a minimally installed system, you can raise several virtual ones for various purposes and experiments