VirtualBox - An Introduction.

Oracle VirtualBox session 1

I will cover these information in different sessions as I am configuring a full fledged webcenter virtualbox image. In this session I will cover the basic features of virtualbox, virtualization and virtualbox installation.

Here I would like to discuss about Oracle virtualbox, its features and how virtualbox can support us. Before get into the virtuabox introduction, we will download and install the virtualbox software into our machine.

I have downloaded VirtualBox-4.2.6-82870-Win.exe from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads website and started installing the virtual box in my machine.

Please follow the below screenshots for more clarification.

 

 Virtualbox installation is over and I am starting the virtual box.

Let us explore the features and functionality of virtual box.

Virtual box is a software for supporting cross platform virtualization. Now what is virtualization ?

Previously we were installing sotwares on the physical machine and once our work was done we used to uninstall the softwares and install another set of softwares for next work. This was a very time consuming process and multiple works cannot be done simultaneously. To avoid these issues, industry released a new term ‘virtualization’.

Using virtualization concepts, we can create a virtual images on the physical machine and that will utilize or extend the physical machine resources. And we can create images with any operating system and any set of softwares. While working with virtual box, it would be advisable to know the following terms because we always use those terms for communication.

Host Machine – It’s the physical machine.

Host operating system (Host OS) – The operating system running in the physical machine.

Guest Machine/Virtual Machine – It’s the virtual box image

Guest OS – The operating system running in the virtual box image.

Guest additions – It is special software designed for guest os to improve the performance and providing additional functionality.

Import Virtual Machine – The virtual machine or image is already developed by some at different lace and if we want to use that machine here, we need to import the virtual machine files with existing configuration or settings.

Export Virtual Machine – The virtual image we have developed for other people. While exporting, the image will keep all the settings and configurations as such.