Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VirtualBox 2.1 Supports 64-Bit VM In 32-Bit Host

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the big-box-inside-a-little-box dept.

Stephen Birch writes "Following closely behind the mid-November 2.06 release of VirtualBox, Sun Microsystems has released version 2.1. This has a number of new features, but one of the most interesting is the ability to run a 64-bit VM inside a 32-bit host. Another useful feature is integrated host-based networking; no more fiddling around with network bridges. Sun is really giving VMWare a run for their money."

1 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Good products by seizurebattlerobot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have to disagree. VirtualBox has the makings of a good product, but right now is too buggy and unreliable to be used in a production environment.

    Most of the unreliability that I've encountered stems from virtual disk management. For example, if you have a virtual machine with a CD ISO mounted, what happens if you stop that machine and delete the ISO? This:

    VM cannot start because the hard disk '/home/seizurebattlerobot/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows Vista.vdi' is not accessible (Could not access hard disk image '/home/seizurebattlerobot/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows Vista.vdi' (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)).

    Result Code:
    NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
    Component:
    Console
    Interface:
    IConsole {ddc6fda1-a435-45ca-b43d-f9e88746e53e}

    The only way to get the machine into a usable state again is to manually edit the virtual machine definition, which is a lot more complex than one would immediately think. Just look at the VirtualBox bug tracker for some horror stories.

    The disk snapshot feature is also a mess and can result in data loss if you are not extremely familiar with how the underlying implementation works. The GUI dialogs that control snapshots are poorly documented and are definitely not production quality.

    It is also not possible to shrink a virtual disk that uses snapshots. Normal GUI based activity has resulted in an inconsistent snapshot tree state that has caused data loss for me numerous times.

    In short, I would recommend VirtualBox for anyone that wants a virtualization sandbox to play around in. To anyone concerned about data integrity, hates troubleshooting obscure and difficult to track down error messages, or wants to use disk snapshots at all, I would recommend waiting a few years before considering VirtualBox.