Virtual machines, virtualization and which programs to use?

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Hi, my friends,
I’m new to Linux and I often hear you talking here on the forum about virtualization, running distros on virtual machines, virtualization programs, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about and, as this is a friendly forum, I decided to ask you:

  • What is virtualization or virtual machines?
  • What programs do you use?
  • Apart from the programs you use, are there any that are more suitable for novice Linux users?
  • Do I have to be careful when using virtualization filters, i.e. can I cause errors in my operating system where I’m running the virtual disks?

I’d like to know what you think.

Thank you in advance for your help

Regards
Jorge

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Just look at the issues a frequent forum poster experienced when he (or “they”?) wanted the latest and greatest version of VirtualBox.

VirtualBox is a no-brainer - all the modern distros host it as a repo source - you can install it in Ubuntu and derivatives with a simple “sudo apt get virtualbox” and it should take care of all the dependancies - when you update your Linux system - tested updates for VirtualBox will be installed too.

That’s all I need - I sometimes like to test out things like recent versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux - or Oracle Linux - and just lately Windows Server 2019, and CentOS Stream 9.

There are some caveats - a lot of newbies get stuck at the type of network to use - annoyingly VirtualBox defaults to “NAT” - I always go for Bridged (9/10 that will work - especially if you have a DHCP server in your network (e.g. your WiFi router) - it’s the easiest to work with - and - should be the default.

Another gotcha that a lot of people (pointing the finger at users trying to get their head around Linux by running Kali Linux in VirtualBox in MS-Windows) as their FIRST foray into Linux O/S : is USB pass through (so they can pass through their USB WiFi dongle to the VM - they nearly always get stuck there and give up or run around in loops of ever progressing failure).

I work with enterprise grade “hypervisors” (i.e. the tech that managed virtualization) from EMC / Broadcom, Oracle, Microsoft (HyperV) and KVM (open source) in my job - I find VirtualBox the easiest solution for what I want to do (on my “home lab”").

I’ve run VMware workstation in the past - on Linux and Windows, and even MacOS (it’s called ‘Fusion’ on MacOS) - some things are easier in VMware Workstation (e.g. running MacOS as a VM) - but for my money - VirtualBox does everything I need.

I also run (paid for) UTM Pro on my Mac M1 (arm64) MacBooks - it makes the job of configuring QEMU so much easier.

BTW - QEMU is an emulator - it can emulate foreighnCPU architectures. It’s not “strictly” virtualization because it emulates - a Virtualization HyperVisor doesn’t emulate - it actually “IS” the real thing, it presents the native CPU architecture as “raw compute” so long as that is supported in hardware (enabling AMD V or x86_64 virtualization in the UEFI / BIOS).

Open source options are KVM - and there are various apps for Linux and suchlike to simplify the management - I think Gnome Boxes uses KVM as the backend…

Forgot to mention the most “mature” hypervisor platform still “extant” - T-Series Sparc (i.e. non-Intel non-AMD) - sometimes branded as Oracle VM for Sparc - but everyone just calls the VM’s “L-doms” - i.e. Logical Domains… “back in the day” it was all CLI stuff - first touched in the late “oughties” - most recently in 2022 - Solaris - if you didn’t have a “management head” it was all CLI driven - you want to “pass through” that new SSD in a PCIe slot? Step 1 - add the device to the hypervisor - then pass it through to the LDOM, too easy :smiley:

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@daniel.m.tripp
Thanks @daniel.m.tripp , I also use Oracle VirtualBox for my virtuallization needs, mostly ran from W11 host, but I will also use Ubuntu as a host. I have played with Cnome-Boxes and also with Qemu-virt-manager, but find Oracle much easier to use and setup. I have Gentoo running in VirtualBox on both of my old laptops.

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I still have my Gentoo system in VirtualBox available if I can ever get off my arse to revisit that :smiley:

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Hi Jorge,

A virtual machine runs inside a container in your Linux, and in the container it provides an environment in which another OS can run. So you can run two OS’s at once … your original one, called the host, and your second one in the container , called the guest.

The programs used are Virtualbox, Gnome Boxes, or Virt-manager. I prefer virt-manager.

Gnome Boxes is probably the most suitable for novice users, but it is more limited. Gnome-boxes can only run one VM at a time. The others can run multiple VM’s

I dont understand ‘virtualization filters’ ?
All the VM manager programs setup a virtual network inside your machine. They also setup a file that contains an image of the virtual machine’s filesystem. The VM file is just another file, it will not interfere with the rest of your filesystem. VM files can be large, you need disk space… like at least 30Gb for each VM .
You need modern hardware… at least 16Gb ram and a multicore processor. Dont try it on an old machine.

The OS in a VM does not have to be Linux… you can run Windows, BSD, or whatever.

What do I think? … VM’s are very useful. You can try things without damaging your OS. They sort of give you a throwaway Linux ( or whatever) that you can experiment with. Most of my recent investigatory posts were done with VM’s

I hope that at least answers the questions
Regards
Neville

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