[opensuse] Followup - ViBox or KVM for Win Guest
All, As a follow-up to the thread [opensuse] KVM v. Vbox (howto fix kvm artifact and provide seamless mouse integration), I thought I would drop a note on the implementation I settled on and why. After testing both Linux and Windows guests on KVM and Virtualbox, I settled on virtualbox, for no other reason than convenience. KVM is fantastic, but it currently lacks the same ease of use (even with virt-manager/virt-viewer) that vbox does out of the box. (Note: virtualbox actually uses KVM paravirtualization by default when you have hardware virtualization available, so you are not losing anything in making either choice). The graphics configuration, options for 2D/3D video acceleration (although the 3D is experimental -- it does work to provide Aeroglass decor on Win7 guests), the seamless mouse integration (capture/release) all weigh in favor of the vbox decision. The real kicker is the ease of network configuration under vbox for most normal network needs. Simple to switch between NAT/Bridged setup without having to worry about startup scripts for TAP networking or manually bridging or configuring networking with VDE2. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking KVM. It is a fantastic option, supports all versions of windows guests, and I continue to use it, but for daily driving, and ease of maintenance (rpm updates provided by Oracle or those from openSuSE, make version updates a snap). As infrequently as I need windows[1], vbox provides brainless guest access to just get done what I need done. As for the choice between openSuSE rpms or those from virtualbox.org, I prefer the virtualbox.org rpms. Traditionally if you wanted USB functionality you needed the virtualbox.org rpms and the ext-oracle extension pack, but I'm not positive that is still the case. I've never had problems with the virtualbox.org rpms and kernel updates/kernel module rebuilds are now handled by dkms, so there isn't even a need for rcvbox setup anymore. If you want to experiment and configure a guest and you want to try KVM, then just load libvirtd and create a host and you are off to the races. There are many areas where KVM excels in providing scriptable flexibility in the way guests are started and configured. If you want the shortest path to getting a guest up and running with the shallowest learning curve, it's hard to be vbox. Either choice is a solid virtualization solution, so take your pick, but for ease of general use, I lean toward vbox. Footnote 1: accounting/quickbooks and appellate briefing in word are the only need I have for windows. There is no capability to generate Table of Authorities for cases, statutes and rules and no auto citation identification in Open/LibreOffice writer (and I prefer word 2003 that allows manual field manipulation for that). I rarely do appeals. but when I'm in a crunch I don't want to have to dork with a guest config, I just want to get the work done.. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 03/21/2017 08:44 PM, David C. Rankin wrote:
As for the choice between openSuSE rpms or those from virtualbox.org, I prefer the virtualbox.org rpms. Traditionally if you wanted USB functionality you needed the virtualbox.org rpms and the ext-oracle extension pack, but I'm not positive that is still the case. I've never had problems with the virtualbox.org rpms and kernel updates/kernel module rebuilds are now handled by dkms, so there isn't even a need for rcvbox setup anymore.
I've not tried Opensuse rpms, but if it is like some of the other packages that Opensuse includes for convenience sake they will almost always be slightly out of date with the kernel, and more out of date with VirtualBox releases, unless you can find THAT GUY who is building them and latch on to his packages. Just don't ask for any help on the VB forum and mention anything about opensuse rpms, because they will send you packing. For that reason alone using the original RPMs is worth it. I've use VB with Manjaro (archlinux) and haven't had any specific problems with it. I do use Manjaro's packages, but they (Manjaro devs) use it heavily in house and keep their packages right up to date. (Vbox does not release arch packages) I use it to run a service machine (Windows Server version) in our DMZ box and I've written systemd service scripts to start it at start up time and savestate at shutdown. They work perfectly so far, and the windows server machine is so light weight idling headless in the background that you never notice it is there. You're welcome to that script if you want it. I use to use Vmware Workstation for this, but they don't support Arch either, so I switched to VirtualBox and have been quite happy with it to date. I still use Vmware for other projects on my Opensuse boxes. (VirtualBox will run a VMware virtual machine image unchanged, as well as several other virtual machine types). -- After all is said and done, more is said than done. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 03/22/2017 02:15 AM, John Andersen wrote:
I've use VB with Manjaro (archlinux) and haven't had any specific problems with it. I do use Manjaro's packages, but they (Manjaro devs) use it heavily in house and keep their packages right up to date. (Vbox does not release arch packages)
I use it to run a service machine (Windows Server version) in our DMZ box and I've written systemd service scripts to start it at start up time and savestate at shutdown. They work perfectly so far, and the windows server machine is so light weight idling headless in the background that you never notice it is there. You're welcome to that script if you want it.
I use to use Vmware Workstation for this, but they don't support Arch either, so I switched to VirtualBox and have been quite happy with it to date. I still use Vmware for other projects on my Opensuse boxes.
(VirtualBox will run a VMware virtual machine image unchanged, as well as several other virtual machine types).
I'm actually running vbox both on arch, (which I access via rdesktop) and directly on my laptop. You can use the AUR packages: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/virtualbox-bin/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/virtualbox-ext-oracle/ To stay up to the minute with upstream (currently 4.10.4 kernel and 5.1.18 with vbox). A simple tar -xzf and then a makepkg -s and your done. (OK, you do have to update Linux guest with VBoxLinuxAdditions.run, but other than that it is idiot proof) I ran vmware on a SuperMicro server that I would administer via ssh and esxcli system maintenanceMode and vim-cmd, etc..., but the lack of direct hardware access really defeated the purpose of having hot-swappable hardware. The vbox access to guest via rdesktop is great. Similarly, I set a service to launch the guests I want as headless. With both Arch and Win7 guest up, I idle between 3-5% CPU utilization. Rarely go above 8 even when Win7 is banging away with updates or a malware scan. One day I will see how many I can run at once. I've got 32G on that server with 8 cores, and another server with 64G and 16 cores (4 quad core procs). The larger server is just so damn loud with 6 38x80 8,500 rpm fans on it, I basically just use that one to play with -- it would drive me nuts listening to it all the time. The 32G box is silent -- that I can live with. I did have to laugh. I had Leap running the Virtualized Win7 and within the Win7 guest I used Remote Desktop Connect to load the virtualized Archlinux guest. So I had Linux-running-Windows-running-Linux and it worked seamlessly (KDE3->Win7->Fluxbox [which is a damn good little boxtop desktop in its own right]). That brings up another good trick with vbox. The 'seamless' mode where it basically masks your desktop background to allow your host and guest applications to run side-by-side in a full-screen environment. All in all it is been a good revisit of the current vbox setup and config and good comparison with where KVM itself is in comparison. I'll update if I find any other tips worth mentioning. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (2)
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David C. Rankin
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John Andersen