Notes and bug reports for the VirtualBox service on briccs-1

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VirtualBox GUI over SSH

There is a know issue with the latest version of VirtualBox GUI when accessing it via a SHH connection.

• ​GUI is very slow when running it via an ssh tunnel

This bug makes it almost impossible to use the full VirtualBox GUI via a remote connection. It takes several minutes to display a simple pop-up dialogue box.

ssh -X root@briccs-1.rcs.le.ac.uk

    briccs-1:~ # VirtualBox

The bug only affects the main VirtualBox GUI, so the simpler per-vm GUI is still usable.

ssh -X root@briccs-1.rcs.le.ac.uk

    briccs-1:~ # VBoxManage startvm briccs-7

The per-vm GUI allows you to mount and unmount discs in the virtual DVD ROM drive, which enables you to boot from an ISO image and re-install the OS on a VM.

To start a VM with no GUI and leave it running when you logout from the SSH connection, use the headless option.

ssh root@briccs-1.rcs.le.ac.uk

    briccs-1:~ # VBoxManage startvm briccs-7 --type headless

To ensure the VMs keep good time, and for other reasons of good practice, install the Guest Additions

>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# yum install gcc
>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# yum install kernel-devel
>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# reboot
>>
>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# mkdir /media/cdrom
>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# mount /dev/hdb /media/cdrom
>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# cd /media/cdrom/
>> [root@briccs-5 ~]# sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off