Virtualbox OSE for Debian
-------------------------

   Table of Contents

   1. Guest utilities
   2. Different versions
   3. 64-bit guests
   4. How to provide networking to virtual machines

        4.1. Mechanism

   5. Incompatibilities
   6. See also

1. Guest utilities

   The guest utilities are provided as separate Debian packages. These
   packages contain all features virtualbox-ose offers for Debian guests.
   Guest utilities for operating systems not offering virtualbox-ose
   packages have to be downloaded from the internet. The upstream provided
   ISO images cannot be distributed with this package for licensing
   reasons. The same holds for the externally provided WineD3D extensions.

2. Different versions

   The Open Source Edition of VirtualBox contains most but not all
   features of the closed-source VirtualBox product that is distributed
   under different terms and available from the [1]Virtualbox homepage.
   Missing are:
     * Remote Display Protocol (RDP) Server
       This component implements a complete RDP server on top of the
       virtual hardware and allows users to connect to a virtual machine
       remotely using any RDP compatible client.
     * USB support
       VirtualBox implements a virtual USB controller and supports passing
       through USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices to virtual machines.
     * USB over RDP
       This is a combination of the RDP server and USB support allowing
       users to make USB devices available to virtual machines running
       remotely.
     * iSCSI initiator
       VirtualBox contains a builtin iSCSI initiator making it possible to
       use iSCSI targets as virtual disks without the guest requiring
       support for iSCSI.

     1. http://virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

3. 64-bit guests

   Starting with version 2.0.0 VirtualBox also supports 64-bit guest
   operating systems, under the following conditions:
     * You need a 64-bit processor with hardware virtualization support
       and a 64-bit host operating system.
     * You must run a 64-bit version of VirtualBox on that OS. This can
       then run both 32-bit and 64-bit VMs; a 32-bit VirtualBox can only
       run 32-bit VMs, regardless of the hardware.
     * You must enable hardware virtualization; software virtualization is
       not supported for 64-bit VMs.

   There is no specific setting to enable 64-bit support for a guest.
   However, you should enable the I/O APIC for virtual machines that you
   intend to use in 64-bit mode.

4. How to provide networking to virtual machines

4.1. Mechanism

   VirtualBox can use three alternative mechanisms to provide Ethernet
   networking to its virtual machines:b

4.1.1. NAT

   This is the easiest to use type of setup: The virtual ethernet
   interface is connected to a virtual NAT router including a DHCP server
   that is implemented within the VirtualBox host software.

   This is the default mode. It usually does not require any extra
   configuration on the host.

4.1.2. Internal network

   In this mode, there is only connectivity within an emulated network
   shared between two or more virtual machines running in the same
   VirtualBox instance.

4.1.3. Host interface

   The virtual ethernet interface is connected to a real device on the
   host filtering out its traffic.

5. Incompatibilities

   When upgrading from a pre 2.0.0 version to virtualbox might complaing
   about a missing format attribute in the HardDisk tag of
   ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml. Manually adding 'format="vdi"' solves
   this.

   A bug appeared in kernel 2.6.29 RC5 that broke virtualbox-ose. The fix
   was added in 2.6.29.1. If you happen to use 2.6.29 and epxerience
   problems starting your VMs please upgrade. In Debian all
   linux-image-2.6.29 versions starting with Debian version 2.6.29-2 are
   fine.

6. See also

   Additional and updated information may be found on
     * the [2]End-user documentation section of the official VirtualBox
       site.
     * the [3]VirtualBox page in the Debian Wiki.

     2. http://virtualbox.org/wiki/End-user_documentation
     3. http://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox

