Now they’ve expanded their virtualisation line-up into the server space with the new Zirtu Serverless VDI, type 0 Hypervisor.  Like other comparable products this allows users to run an operating system contained in a virtual machine on any othger computer, and use the full hardware resources of the host machine.  This includes full access to the graphics card, memory and the ability to take complete control of the processor.

The virtual machine in this case would be run from a server, enabling a single virtual machine to run on many terminals in a business simultaneously.  Where Zirtu takes things to the next level though is in support for working offline.  In a recent demo they demonstrate a virtual machine that has only just loaded to a machine, continue to work with support for all the programs and files when the network connection to the server is disconnected.

Where this comes in very handy is in permitting users to continue working on their PCs when their internal or tunnelled network connection dies, or when they are on the road and away from a connection.  The next time they log into the server all the files, programs and documents in the VM are automatically synchronised with the server, with the user noticing nothing about the connection problems.

Zirtu also uses existing virtualisation technology from the company that supports the computer’s hardware in ways that allows a virtual machine created on one machine, to work on another with a completely different hardware configuration, something that would normally break any Windows installation.

The concept of having a decentralised virtual machine that can keep people working when away from a direct connection to the server is hugely compelling, especially when downtime can cost companies so much money.  The ability to maintain the VMs centrally can also present significant cost-savings to business and provide additional benefits.

Among these is a solution that would allow users to run VMs on their own personal laptops and desktop PCs, something that business normally bans citing quite valid security concerns.  This type of virtualisation technology turns any home PC into a work PC.  The fact that it works so well and so quickly, in the demo given at a recent conference it’s virtual machine was shown fully working after only loading on the host PC for a few seconds before the network connection was pulled, is driven by technology the company is being tight-lipped about, unsurprisingly.

Either way this product demonstrates perfectly the types of virtualisation and cloud services that business might employ in the coming years to slash IT management costs, and to run better and more efficient IT operations.

I do use VirtualBox and was thrilled to come across phpVirtualBox. This tool is an AJAX implementation of the familiar VirtualBox user interface, so the minute you log in you will be instantly at home. Let’s take a look at how this tool is installed and used.

First things first

You need to make sure you have the latest VirtualBox installed as well as the Extension Pack. You can run phpVirtualBox with the 3.x release of VirtualBox, but there are a lot more features available in the 4.x release. You can download both from the VirtualBox download page. You will also need to have the PHP Soap extension. This can be installed by searching for the package php-soap in your Add/Remove Software tool. Once you have that installed, you are then ready to install and configure the phpVirtualBox application.

You will also have to have a working Apache server on the target machine. If you do not have that, you can go ahead and do a full LAMP install (which will cover a lot of your basics).

Installing phpVirtualBox

First download the compressed installation file from the download page. Make sure you download the release that is correct for the version of VirtualBox you have installed. What you need to do is to move that file into your web server’s document root and then unpack it. When you unpack the file you will have a newly created directory /var/www/phpvirtualbox-XXX Where XXX is the release number. I highly recommend you rename that directory to just /var/www/phpvirtualbox.

After you have the file unpacked, you need to do a minor configuration. This minor configuration is in the /var/www/phpvirtualbox/config.php. NOTE: Depending upon your distribution, your document root will differ.

You really only need configure the following options:

• var $username
• var $password

Make sure the username and password are for the user that will actually run the virtualbox application (so this won’t be a root user).

You are now ready to fire up daemon. To run this simply issue the command vboxwebsrv. This will run the daemon that will allow you to log into your phpvitualbox machine. NOTE: If you are using VirtualBox 4.x you can start the daemon with the command /etc/init.d/vbweb-service. There is one catch with that, you still want to run the web service as the user that will run VirtualBox.

Log in

Open up a browser and point it to http://ADDRESS_TO_SERVER/phpvirtualbox. When you do this you will see the VirtualBox interface embedded into your web browser. You can then use VirtualBox from within that web browser as if it were on the local machine!

Gotcha

If you are running VirtualBox 3.x you will need to take one other step (prior to starting up the daemon). Open up your terminal window and issue the command:

VBoxManage setproperty websrvauthlibrary null

Once that command has run, you can then start up the daemon and use VirtualBox through your webbrowser.

There are a few methods of running virtual machines on a Linux host: VirtualBox, VMWare, KVM, and QEMU are four of the most popular. Each method has it’s pros and cons. One of the cons of trying to use straight-up QEMU is that you’re going to be dealing with a command line method of creating and running a virtual machine. That’s not a bad option if you don’t mind a lot of typing at the command line. If you want to go the QEMU route, but don’t want to have to have depend upon the command line to do so, you can opt to use a GUI tool QTEMU. This tool is an easy to use graphical front end for the QEMU virtual machine tool. In this tutorial you are going to learn how to create a virtual machine using QTEMU. But why use QTEMU? QTEMU will work as a front end for either QEMU or KVM. So if you have the hardware to support KVM you can go that route and have a much more efficient virtual machine.

Installation

For the purposes of this article, I am installing and using QTEMU on a Debian system, so the installation will be done via Synaptic. To be safe you will want to search for (and select for installation) the following applications:

• virtinst
• virt-manager
• kvm
• python-libvirt
• libvirt-bin
• qemu
• qtemu
• virt-viewer
• bridge-utils

The above list will install more than you might need, but there are tools that can be taken advantage of later on. After you have selected all of these applications for installation, click Apply to install.

When all of the installation is done you will be ready to run QTEMU for the first time. If using KDE 4.x, you will find QTEMU in the System Tools sub-menu labeled Virtual Machine Manager. Fire that up and get ready to create your first virtual machine.

Creating a machine

Figure 1

From the main window (see Figure 1) you will want to click the “Create a new virtual machine…” button. You might think this would start up a wizard, but it doesn’t – sort of. Instead, when you create a new virtual machine, a single window opens up asking a couple of simple questions. The first question is what type of operating system you want to install. From the drop down you can select from Linux, Windows, ReactOS, or Other. For our example we will create a Linux virtual machine. Once you select that click the Next button to open up a new window asking for a name and a location for the new machine. The location is just the path that will store the new machine file. Fill that information out and click Next. The final window requires you to specify the size of the disk image. Enter the size for the image and click Finish. Now the real work begins.

Figure 2

As you can see, in Figure 2,  I have created an image for an OpenSuSE virtual machine. As of this point all that is done is the virtual machine file has been created. What has to happen now is to click on each of the following buttons and configure the respective sections as needed for the virtual machine.

• Memory: How much RAM to dedicate to the virtual machine.
• Hard Disk: This has already been created. You do not need to do anything here.
• CD ROM: Here you will specify where the virtual machine will find the image for installation. You can use either a CD/DVD or an ISO image file.
• Floppy Disk: Most likely not used.
• Network: Here you will want to enable networking (by checking the “Enable network” check box).
• Sound: If you need sound enabled, do so here.
• Other: Here you can enable seamless mouse, configure the number of virtual CPUs, enable local time, and add addition QEMU options.

Once you have all of that configured you just need to click the Start button to start up your virtual machine. It’s that simple.

Final thoughts

You now have yet another tool in your toolbox to enable virtual machines. QTEMU makes easy the task of creating virtual machines using QEMU or KVM. Give this a try and see if you prefer it over either Virtualbox or VMWare.

One of the really cool aspects of VirtualBox is that it can also work as a virtual machine server. With that you can run an instance of a virtual machine from a remote location. Of course you have to have the piece of software to connect to VirtualBox. On Linux one very handy tool for that is rdesktop. In this article I am going to show you how to connect to a VirtualBox machine using rdesktop.

So far I have covered VirtualDesk fairly extensively so far. The VirtualBox “cannon” includes:

Installing and configuraing VirtualBox for virtual OSes.

Installing Windows XP as a virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Install Guest Additions for a better VirtualBox experience.

A new way of thinking, thanks for virtual machines.

Install VirtualBox Guest Additions in Windows 7.

Install VirtualBox with USB support.

Before you read this particular article, you might want to go through the above series so you have a better understanding of VirtualBox.

Configuring your virtual machine

Before you even try to connect to a virtual machine (with any software) you first have to set up your virtual machine so that it will allow connections to be made. VirtualBox uses the VRDP protocol for remote connections. What you need to do is go into the settings of the virtual machine and enable this. NOTE: You have to do this on a VM by VM basis. Just because you enable VRDP on one virtual machine does not mean it will be enabled on all VMs.

Let’s work with a Windows 7 virtual machine. Windows 7 (or Vista) is a special instance because you have to actually enable remote connections within the operating system as well as within VirtualBox. With Windows XP or most instances of Linux, you will not have to do anything beyond enabling VRDP in VirtualBox.

To enable VRDP open up VirtualBox and click on the virtual machine you want to connect to. Now click the Settings button. NOTE: If the settings button is grayed out you need to start that virtual machine and then power it off. If you just save the state of the virtual machine you can not change the settings.

Figure 1

Once inside the settings window click on the Remote Desktop “tab” (see Figure 1).

In this section you will need to click the checkbox for “Enable VRDP Server”. Once that is checked you can configure the options to suit your needs (the defaults work fine for Windows 7) and then click OK when you are finished.

Now it’s time to boot up your Windows 7 virtual machine. When Windows 7 is up and running click on the Start menu and enter “Remote” (no quotes) in the Search area. You will see a few entries in the results. Of those entries click  “Allow remote access to your computer”.  When this new window opens (see Figure 2) you need to check “Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer” and then check the middle option under the Remote Desktop section.

After you have taken care of this, click OK and you are ready to connect. Time to go over to your remote Linux machine.

Installing and using rdesktop

Installing rdesktop is simple:

1. Open up a terminal window (you’ll need one open anyway).
2. Enter the command sudo apt-get install rdesktop.
3. Enter your sudo command.
4. What rdesktop install.

After rdesktop is installed, you’re ready. To connect to the remote virtual machine you will enter a command like this:

rdesktop -u USER -p PASSWORD -g RESOLUTION -a COLORDEPTH ADDRESS

Where:

• USER is the username of the HOST.
• PASSWORD is the password for the user on the HOST.
• RESOLUTION is the resolution you want to use.
• COLORDEPTH is the amount of colors use (16 or 24).
• ADDRESS is the location of the server housing the virtual machine (including the port).

So the command I use to connect is:

rdesktop -u jlwallen -p password -g 1224x1024 -a 16 192.168.1.100:3389

You will know right away if your connection worked because the virtual machine will open in a new window.

And that’s all it takes. You can use this virtual machine as if it were on your local machine.

Final thoughts

VirtualBox continues to show itself to be one of the most flexible, useful tools available. By employing a simple tool like rdesktop, you can now connect to a centralized virtual machine server with ease.

Installing and configuring VirtualBox for virtual OSes.

Installing Windows XP as a virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Install Guest Additions for a better VirtualBox experience.

A new way of thinking thanks to virtual machines.

Although the Guest Additions tool has been covered already, if you’ve tried using Windows 7 in VirtualBox you will have most likely encountered some issues. The main issue is that Guest Additions isn’t supported. That doesn’t mean it can not be installed. It can, you just have to trick Windows 7 in order to do so. In this article I will show you just how to do so.

The basic installation

The first thing you need to do is get Windows 7 installed as a virtual machine. You can follow the directions for installing Windows XP. The only difference will be selecting the version of Windows you will be installing. Even though Windows 7 is not yet officially supported, there is an entry for the latest Microsoft OS in the dropdown.

After Windows 7 is installed you might notice (depending upon your hardware) that you can not see the task bar. This is because, without the Guest Additions, VirtualBox can not handle the proper resolution for Windows 7. So, it’s obvious you will need this tool.

The trick

The trick for installing Guest Additions in Window 7 is to trick it into thinking it’s being installed in Vista. While Vista is running click on the Devices menu and select Install Guest Additions. You will go through the same steps as you would for installing the Guest Additions on Windows XP at this point. The difference is the actual installer won’t start up. This is where it gets a bit tricky.

The process of installing the Guest Additions will have downloaded a mountable file on your system. If you click on the Windows 7 Start Menu and then click on Computer you will see that file listed along with Local Disk and Floppy Drive (even if you don’t have a floppy drive). Right click the VirtualBox Guest Additions entry (it will probably be labeled as “D”) and select Open.

In the resulting window you will see a number of files. Among these files you will see listed entries for both x86 and 64bit. These files are called:

VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64

VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86

Figure 1

Which file you use will depend upon what hardware you are using. Right click the one you want to use and select Troubleshoot Compatibility (see Figure 1). This will walk you through a Wizard that will attempt to solve the problem. Most likely it won’t, so you will have to do so manually. When the wizard has finished you will have two options: Try Recommended Settings and Troubleshoot Program. Select Troubleshoot Program and then, in the new window, select the first entry which is

Figure 2

“The program worked in earlier versions of Windows but won’t install or run now.” After you select this option click the Next button and then select Vista from the list (see Figure 2). Once you have selected that option click Next and then, in the resulting window, click the “Start the Program” button. This will actually start the process of installing the Guest Additions for Windows 7. You can now finish this install as you would any other.

Final thoughts

I am confident when Windows 7 is finally released this process won’t be necessary. But if you need to test out Windows 7 now, this is the way to go.

In my default setup of Windows XP, on my particular Ubuntu 9.04 box, the installation of Windows XP rendered a perfectly usable desktop with 32 bit colors in 800×600 resolution. This resolution, of course, is not ideal for some situations (such as Full Screen mode). In order to get a higher resolution, along with other features, you have to install Guest Additions. This is a simple process that can be done quickly and yields a much better user experience than the default. So…let’s get to the installation.

Figure 1

Before you attempt to do the installation of the guest additions you have to have your virtual machine up and running. Once that VM is running you will see three menu entries at the top of the window: Machine, Devices, and Help. You want to click on the Devices entry and then click the Install Guest Additions entry (see Figure 1).

What you will see is a warning message instructing you that the Guest Additions CD image could not be found. Fear not, this is normal. Click Yes in order to download the image and then Download to confirm. You will see a progress bar at the bottom left of your VM window.

When that download has finished you will be asked if you want to Mount the image. Click the Mount button to reveal the Sun xVM setup wizard. Click Next in the welcome screen which will take you to the license agreement window. Click the I Agree button (and read the license if you feel so inclined.)

Figure 2

What you are now doing is a fairly straightforward Windows application-like installation. The only “gotcha” during installation will be a warning that the software did not pass the Windows Logo testing. Ignore this warning and click Continue Anyway. Your screen will flicker for a second – don’t worry.

You will see this warning another time when it attempts to install software for the pointing devices.

After that warning the installation will complete and, in typical Windows fashion, you will be required to reboot your virtual machine. Do this. When the reboot completes you will find your virtual machine much easier to work with. Now:

• You no longer have to capture the mouse pointer.
• You can set your resolution to a much higher level.
• You can now copy and paste between guest and host operating systems.
• You can run Windows in seamless mode.

Seamless mode

Figure 3

Seamless mode is a very interesting trick. What this does is take the elements of Windows out of the VM window and layer them on top of your Linux desktop.

As you can see, in Figure 3, with seamless mode activated all Windows applications have their own window. So in this instance Internet Explorer appears to be running on Linux by itself. And the Windows task bar is resting nicely on top of the GNOME panel.

You toggle between seamless and non-seamless mode by pressing the Hot Key and the “L” key. The default Hot Key is the right Ctrl key.

Final thoughts

This is truly some exciting work. With the help of VirtualBox you can, effectively, have your cake and eat it too (as the saying goes.) Work with Windows applications inside of Linux without needing the help of Wine.

VirtualBox is easy to install – as easy as any other Linux application found within your distributions’ repositories. For this article we will be using Ubuntu Desktop 9.04. There will be no need to add any repository information.

Installing VirtualBox

As already stated, you will find VirtualBox within the repository of the Ubuntu distribution. So to install VirtualBox open up the Add/Remove Applications utility (found in the Applications menu), do a search for “virtualbox” (no quotes), select the correct results, and click the Apply to install the software.

After Virtualbox is installed there is one thing you must take care of. Without adding your user to the vboxusers group you will never be able to run VirtualBox as a standard user.

Adding the user to the group

Figure 1

This is actually quite easy. Go to the System menu and click on the Administration submenu. From that submenu select the Users and Groups entry. In the window that opens (see Figure 1) you will click the Manage Groups button. But before you click that button select a user and then click the Unlock button. This will give you administrative rights for this tool (you will have to enter your user password).

When this new window opens scroll all the way down until you see the vboxusers group. Select that group and then click

Figure 2

Properties. In this new window (see Figure 2) select the user you want to add to the group and then select OK.

You can now close out the Groups and the Users tools. You are ready to start using Virtualbox.

Starting VirtualBox

You will find the VirtualBox listing in the Accessories submenu of the Applications menu. Click on that and VirtualBox will start.

Before you can actually start installing a virtual machine you have to take care of some administrative tasks. Never fear, though, this is all handled by a very easy to use Wizard that will walk you through every step of the way. The only instance you might get tripped up is Virtual Hard

Figure 3

Disk step. Before VirtualBox can install an OS it has to have a virtual hard drive. This will happen around step 4 of the wizard (see Figure 3). In order to create a new virtual hard drive you have to click the New button. This will then take you into a completely different wizard. Again, this wizard is very simple and walks you through step by step.

Once you have created a virtual hard drive you will be taken back to the same screen as you were in for step 4. The only difference is your virtual hard drive will now be listed. You can now click Next to move on. The final screen will give you all of the information you have configured and you can then click Finish.

You are now ready to create a virtual machine. In my next article we will discuss the process of of creating a virtual machine.

Final thoughts

VirtualBox is an outstanding tool with almost limitless possibility for any administrator, developer, or computer user. It’s simplicity is only outshined by its possibilities.

Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2007 is one of the applications that can be used to run virtual systems on a single computer system. It has been optimized for Microsoft operating systems but can also be used to install and run operating systems from other developers. Setting up a virtual machine is actually a very straightforward easy process.

Virtual PC 2007 provides the option to create a virtual machine or to add an existing virtual machine from an vmc file which is good for distributing virtual machines to multiple computer systems.

Each virtual machine will be stored in an vmc file on the computer’s hard drive from where it can be accessed at anytime using Virtual Pc 2007. Most Microsoft operating systems can be selected from a list which would automatically adjust the computer memory, virtual disk size and sound capabilities. Selecting Other is a custom option to define those parameters individually.

New operating systems can be installed from CD, DVD or an iso image located on the computer’s hard drive or network drive. To boot the virtual machine from CD one would select CD from the top menu of the virtual console and pick the CD / DVD drive that contains the boot image. ISO images can be mounted and booted from as well.

The virtual machine will then start the installation of the operating system which might take some time. One important key combination is [CTRL ALT DEL] to get out of the virtual machine’s window and be able to access the normal operating system.

Each virtual operating system that gets created will be available as long as the vmc file on the hard drive remains. A user could use Windows XP as his standard operating system and use virtual machines for Linux, Windows Vista and Windows 95 on the same system without difficulties.

I would advise to begin by downloading the excellent user manual which should answer most questions about installing and configuring guest systems using Virtualbox. It takes some time to read through the 108 pages of the manual but it is well worth it to understand the functionality.

Just download the 10 megabyte file from the VirtualBox website or as a torrent and install the software. Installation is really easy in Windows (just a double-click) but a little bit more complicated in Linux. Check the user manual for a detailed instruction for Linux.

I do not want to explain a detailed instruction to setup a new guest system because the user manual explains everything in such great detail that it does not feel necessary at all. You basically create a new virtual machine and assign a name, ram and hard drive space to it and select a source for the installation of the guest system. The source can be from hard drive or cd for instance, just make sure you have the source at hand.