So far, I've been using KVM to create virtual machines on my Linux boxes.
KVM is sort of tricky to set up but works well once you get through the
initial hurdles. I decided to give Oracle's VirtualBox a shot and was
pleasantly surprised. It's simple, it installs without much fuss, it
works well and it's free. There is also a Windows version. I
wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.



--
http://mgogala.byethost5.com

Mladen Gogala wrote:
I use VirtualBox for my vmachines with great success, also with Oracle
for learning. I would virtualize my multiple core desktop completely but
I don't have enough know-how. virtualbox is great for configuration
testing -- restoring well-working snapshot is fast. it's VRD feature
works great with local lan and global network. really nice piece of
software.

cheers,
geos

On Nov 3, 6:12*pm, Mladen Gogala <gogala.mla... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
This year I switched from VMWare to Oracle VirtualBox for running
virtual Linux servers with Oracle on my desktop (first Windows XP, now
Windows 7), and I also like it a lot. I had some annoying issues with
VirtualBox 4.1.x so I'm still running version 4.0.12 which is pretty
stable.

Matthias

matthias.hoys (AT) gmail (DOT) com says...
I too have switched from using VMWare to VirtualBox, mainly because of
the ease of use in building new virtual machines - VMWare Player is
free, but you need the pay-for VMWare Workstation or Server to create
images from scratch.

The pleasing additional benefit is that (apart from a sometimes more
complex arrangement for sharing host <-> guest filesystems) it appears
to be a superior product in terms of performance and functionality.

I'm running 4.1.2 on a Win7-64bit host and having no problems so far,
creating and running guests including WinXP, Ubuntu 11.10 and - most
importantly - Oracle "Unbreakable <cough>" Linux (RHEL5 clone).

I'd would also like to run up OSX Lion too, and I know this is possible
but only using pirate hacks, a pox on Apple's lawyers' houses.

GM

On 11/03/2011 11:43 PM, Geoff Muldoon wrote:
VMWare Server is free - and it can create images from scratch. The
major drawback which drove me from VMWare Server to Virtual Box is the
limitation that you can only have a single snapshot.

I am not so sure about performance.

Kind regards

robert

GM:

# I'd would also like to run up OSX Lion too, and I know this is
possible but only using pirate hacks, a pox on Apple's lawyers'
houses.

Get yourself a nice macbook pro with 16 gb of ram and stick virtual
box on it!

Run whatever else you want under os x including another virtual copy
of os x.

On Nov 3, 7:20*pm, Robert Klemme <shortcut... (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote:
On my dual core desktop (Intel Core 2) I generally see 30-40% CPU
utilization from Virtual Box running a mostly idle VM. Do others see
similar? Is this expected?

--Steven

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:48:14 -0700, stevencrowder wrote:


Not really. This is the result on the host OS, with freshly booted OEL
6.1, sitting idle:


[mgogala@medo ~]$ sar -u 3 20
Linux 2.6.35.14-100.fc14.i686.PAE (medo) 11/04/2011 _i686_
(2 CPU)

08:05:59 PM CPU %user %nice %system %iowait %steal
%idle
08:06:02 PM all 3.51 0.00 5.18 0.00 0.00
91.30
08:06:05 PM all 2.16 0.00 2.66 1.00 0.00
94.18
08:06:08 PM all 3.22 0.00 5.64 0.00 0.00
91.14
08:06:11 PM all 4.35 0.00 7.41 0.64 0.00
87.60
08:06:14 PM all 4.13 0.00 7.11 0.00 0.00
88.76
08:06:17 PM all 3.68 0.00 6.40 0.80 0.00
89.12
08:06:20 PM all 4.13 0.00 7.27 0.00 0.00
88.60
08:06:23 PM all 4.03 0.00 5.04 0.84 0.00
90.08
08:06:26 PM all 2.17 0.00 2.50 0.00 0.00
95.33
08:06:29 PM all 2.16 0.00 1.99 0.83 0.00
95.02
08:06:32 PM all 3.47 0.00 6.12 0.00 0.00
90.41
08:06:35 PM all 4.62 0.00 7.92 0.50 0.00
86.96
08:06:38 PM all 3.87 0.00 7.10 0.00 0.00
89.03
08:06:41 PM all 4.40 0.00 7.65 0.81 0.00
87.13
08:06:44 PM all 4.13 0.00 7.10 0.00 0.00
88.78
08:06:47 PM all 2.35 0.00 2.18 0.84 0.00
94.62
08:06:50 PM all 2.15 0.00 2.32 0.00 0.00
95.53
08:06:53 PM all 4.15 0.00 6.22 0.64 0.00
89.00
08:06:56 PM all 4.19 0.00 8.05 0.00 0.00
87.76
08:06:59 PM all 4.43 0.00 7.21 0.82 0.00
87.54
Average: all 3.57 0.00 5.67 0.39 0.00
90.37
[mgogala@medo ~]$

On average, I have more than 90% of idle CPU time. It depends on your
platform and hardware. Windows is known to do stuff behind the scenes and
if you have an older CPU, it can be quite expensive.

--
http://mgogala.byethost5.com