On Saturday 29 May 2010 13:09:45 Joseph Apuzzo wrote:
> Yes I would still recommend VB for what it is good for:
> 1) running VM on both Linux and Windows
> 2) Windows emulation
> 3) ease of use
>
> Virtual Box is a VERY good solution and I do like it now more then VMware
> (Licensing not technical) But if your developing Linux stuff on a Linux box,
> I found that KVM is a better fit. But KVM big down side is lack of good
> documentation making the adoption harder. VB has a nice point and click
> interface making doc less necessary.
>
> Joe
After playing around with KVM some, here's a few things I've found so far
concerning it compared to VirtualBox:
- KVM requires particular CPU extensions to function (vmx or svm), so
older CPUs cannot run it
- Having to set up bridged networking in order to do non-NAT networking
with KVM isn't optimal. VirtualBox used to require this setup and
doesn't anymore. The Ubuntu documentation states that KVM cannot host
VMs over a wireless connection, because most wireless drivers don't
support bridging.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM/Networking
I've hosted VMs in VirtualBox over WiFi at least using the built-in
Intel 4965, and that works -- it just doesn't automatically switch
to the wired ethernet device after being plugged back in.
- If the KVM modules are loaded, VirtualBox v3.2 cannot start a VM.
The error message I get is:
"VirtualBox can't operate in VMX root mode. Please disable the KVM
kernel extension, recompile your kernel and reboot"
The KVM modules load by default. Unloading them allows VirtualBox to
operate, so recompiling without KVM support is not a requirement.
- Interestingly enough, VirtualBox v3 is able to have 64-bit guest OS's
when the host OS is 32-bit. KVM can only run 64-bit guests when the
host OS is 64-bit.
- VirtualBox and qemu/KVM images can be converted between one-another
http://blog.bodhizazen.net/linux/convert-virtualbox-vdi-to-kvm-qcow/
http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/howto-transform-a-qemu-image-to-
a-virtualbox-image/
- KVM seems notably faster
- The virt-manager GUI is actually pretty slick. It's kinda nice to get
graphs for CPU usage for each running VM
Joe, were you able to get non-NAT networking working without requiring
bridging and tun/tap?
-- Chris
--
Chris Knadle
[email protected]
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