In this detailed guide, we will explore the process of converting a VirtualBox OVA file to the QCOW2 format, a necessary step for deploying virtual machines in a QEMU/KVM environment. This conversion is essential for users looking to transition from VirtualBox to a more scalable and open-source virtualization option like QEMU/KVM. We’ll cover each step of the process, from exporting your VirtualBox machine to finally deploying it on QEMU/KVM.
virtualization
Setting Up Virtual Machines with QEMU, KVM, and Virt-Manager on Debian/Ubuntu
Virtualization technology has become an indispensable tool in software development, testing, and deployment. It allows you to run multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine, each with its own isolated operating system and resources. This tutorial focuses on setting up a virtualization environment on Debian or Ubuntu Linux using QEMU, KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), and Virt-Manager.
Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions on Ubuntu 24.04
VirtualBox Guest Additions are a collection of device drivers and system applications designed to achieve closer integration between the host and guest operating systems. They help to enhance the interactive performance of guest systems, including improved video, mouse, and shared folder support. This tutorial focuses on installing Guest Additions on Ubuntu 24.04, providing detailed steps and insights into each part of the process.
Introduction to Vagrant
Vagrant is a free and open source tool developed by Hashicorp, defined as a “a tool for building and distributing development environments”. What Vagrant does is basically acting as an abstraction layer/wrapper around virtual machines providers such as Virtualbox, VMware and libvirt, allowing us to build, provision and easily replicate virtual machines environments on different operating systems, using a common syntax.
QEMU vs VirtualBox: What’s the difference?
Virtualization is a helpful technology that has exploded in popularity and accessibility in the last decade. There are many great reasons to use virtual machines, such as having a test environment separate from your host operating system. It also allows you to run multiple operating systems or Linux distros simultaneously – all inside of their own sandboxed environment, with optional network interconnectivity among your machines.
QEMU vs KVM hypervisor: What’s the difference?
Users have a lot of choices when it comes to virtualization on a Linux system. There are many use cases for virtualization, whether you want to have a test system that is isolated from your host system, test out a different Linux distribution, or even run a completely different operating system. Whatever the case may be, you will need to have a hypervisor. A hypervisor is what manages and allows you to interact with your virtual machines.
How to create snapshots of QEMU/KVM guests
KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is the virtualization solution (type 1 hypervisor) included in the Linux kernel, which, by default, is used together with QEMU, the userspace software which actually performs the guest systems emulation (type 2 hypervisor). In a previous tutorial we saw how to create and manage KVM virtual machines from the command line; in this article, instead, we will learn how to create and manage guest systems snapshots using tools like virsh and virt-manager.
Install VMware tools on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux
If you’re running Ubuntu 22.04 inside a VMware virtual machine, installing the VMware Tools software will help you get the most out of the system. VMware Tools will give the machine more capabilities, such as a shared clipboard with the host system, drag and drop file transfer, and automatic window resizing. In this tutorial, you will see how to install VMware tools on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux VMware virtual machine.
Virtualbox: install guest additions on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish
If you’re running Ubuntu 22.04 inside a VirtualBox virtual machine, installing the Guest Additions software will help you get the most out of the system. VirtualBox Guest Additions will give the machine more capabilities, such as a shared clipboard with the host system, drag and drop file transfer, time synchronization, shared folders, automatic window resizing, and more.
VirtualBox Extension Pack installation on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install VirtualBox Extension Pack on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux. This software will allow you to extend some of the functionalities of your guest operating systems and the way you can interact with them from your host Ubuntu 22.04 system.
How to install VMware Workstation on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux
The purpose of this tutorial is to install VMware Workstation PRO on Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux. Then, you can set up virtual machines with VMware Workstation Pro on a single physical machine and use them simultaneously with the actual machine.
Access and modify virtual machines disk images with libguestfs tools
In a previous article, we saw how to create kvm virtual machines from the command line; in this tutorial, instead, we learn how to access and modify virtual machines disk images, using some utilities which are part of the libguestfs package on the most commonly used Linux distributions. Those tools let us perform a variety of tasks.