Virtual machines

I use virtual machines for testing and other purposes.

bhyve based virtual machines: [bvm1], bvm2 aka wiki, bvm3 aka tv, bvm4 aka trap2, bvm5 aka music3, bvm6 aka web, bvm7 aka wiki2, proxy, web2, wiki3,

These machines are hosted under FreeBSD on the physical machine vm3. This is a setup for learning more about bhyve.

KVM based virtual machines: kvm1, kvm2,

These machines are hosted under Debian on the physical machine [vm4]. This is a setup to learn more about KVM.

VirtualBox based virtual machines: [v3], [v4], [v5], [trap],

These machines are hosted under FreeBSD on the physical machine [vm] (old [vm]).

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Links

Debian wiki: DebianEdu HowTo TestInstallVirtualMachine,

Work log

2023-07-15: vm3 - created wiki3 machine, and installed FreeBSD 13.2-release on it.

2020-06-21: vm3 - converted to vm-bhyve, and renamed the virtual machines.

old name to new name mapping

old name new name purpose
bvm1 generic test machine
bvm2 wiki (old wiki)
bvm3 tv (MythTV listings)
bvm4 trap2 (loginhost)
bvm5 music3 m3 (music - Squeezebox server)
bvm6 web web server
bvm7 wiki2 new wiki

I haven't converted bvm1 yet. Listing vms

root@kg-vm3# vm list
NAME    DATASTORE  LOADER     CPU  MEMORY  VNC  AUTOSTART  STATE
music3  default    bhyveload  1    512M    -    No         Running (11953)
trap2   default    bhyveload  1    256M    -    No         Running (10299)
tv      default    bhyveload  2    1536M   -    No         Running (9278)
web     default    bhyveload  2    1280M   -    No         Running (12591)
wiki    default    bhyveload  2    1024M   -    No         Running (8672)
wiki2   default    bhyveload  2    1024M   -    No         Running (13342)

ok

2017-11-30: vm - the server was decommissioned and switched off.

2017-11-27: vm - I started moving the final vm's off the server, they are going the be recreated as bhyve vm's on vm3 instead.

2017-10-16: vm - unscheduled power outage (because of AMS installation) so I had to power up all machines again. start v3, trap, v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v3 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.
tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-trap --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-trap" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-trap" has been successfully started.
tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v5 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

verify running

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-trap" {3facfc91-2552-4905-a75d-966ea685c48b}
"FreeBSD-v3" {0998a9c4-3332-498f-b066-ec40e69cc7c4}
"FreeBSD-v5" {38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd}

ok.

2017-07-23: vm -start v5 again

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v5 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

verify that it's running

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-trap" {3facfc91-2552-4905-a75d-966ea685c48b}
"FreeBSD-v3" {0998a9c4-3332-498f-b066-ec40e69cc7c4}
"FreeBSD-v5" {38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd}

cool. Next, fix things in v5.

2017-07-23: vm - prepare to resize the "music" hard drive for the v5 machine. First verify that v5 is not running:

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-trap" {3facfc91-2552-4905-a75d-966ea685c48b}
"FreeBSD-v3" {0998a9c4-3332-498f-b066-ec40e69cc7c4}

Cool. How does the hard drive look?

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage showhdinfo 560bd6f2-749e-4869-acb7-571c1250f927
UUID:           560bd6f2-749e-4869-acb7-571c1250f927
Parent UUID:    base
State:          created
Type:           normal (base)
Location:       /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vdi
Storage format: vdi
Format variant: dynamic default
Capacity:       30000 MBytes
Size on disk:   26809 MBytes
Encryption:     disabled
In use by VMs:  FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd)

state is "created" - good (if it had been in use it would have been "locked write").

The modify command

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage modifyhd
Usage:

VBoxManage modifymedium     [disk|dvd|floppy] <uuid|filename>
                            [--type normal|writethrough|immutable|shareable|
                                    readonly|multiattach]
                            [--autoreset on|off]
                            [--property <name=[value]>]
                            [--compact]
                            [--resize <megabytes>|--resizebyte <bytes>]
                            [--move <full path to a new location>]

ok, let's resize it to 60G

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage modifyhd 560bd6f2-749e-4869-acb7-571c1250f927 --resize 60000
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

that was quick. Verify

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage showhdinfo 560bd6f2-749e-4869-acb7-571c1250f927
UUID:           560bd6f2-749e-4869-acb7-571c1250f927
Parent UUID:    base
State:          created
Type:           normal (base)
Location:       /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vdi
Storage format: vdi
Format variant: dynamic default
Capacity:       60000 MBytes
Size on disk:   26809 MBytes
Encryption:     disabled
In use by VMs:  FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd)

yep, it's 60G. The rest in v5.

2017-03-24: vm - start vm's again, because of a restart of the host machine check running

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage list runningvms

none, so start them v5

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v5 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

trap

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-trap --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-trap" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-trap" has been successfully started.

v3

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v3 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

and check that they are still running

tingo@kg-vm$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-trap" {3facfc91-2552-4905-a75d-966ea685c48b}
"FreeBSD-v3" {0998a9c4-3332-498f-b066-ec40e69cc7c4}
"FreeBSD-v5" {38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd}

and I verified that I could ssh into each machine.

2017-02-01: vm - start vms v5

$ $ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v5 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

and I can log in via ssh once the machine has started. trap

$ $ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-trap --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-trap" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-trap" has been successfully started.

hmm, I can't connect to this one v3

$ $ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-v3 --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

and I can log in via ssh once the machine has started. ok.

$ $ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-trap" {3facfc91-2552-4905-a75d-966ea685c48b}
"FreeBSD-v3" {0998a9c4-3332-498f-b066-ec40e69cc7c4}
"FreeBSD-v5" {38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd}

all are running.

2017-02-01: vm - list machines

$ $ vboxmanage list vms
"FreeBSD-trap" {3facfc91-2552-4905-a75d-966ea685c48b}
"FreeBSD-v3" {0998a9c4-3332-498f-b066-ec40e69cc7c4}
"xubuntu-v4" {33c65af5-650b-4a6d-813c-02db3b7ab0d0}
"FreeBSD-v5" {38d3b6e3-77dd-49f4-a335-31dad6594dfd}

check if any are running

$ $ vboxmanage list runningvms

nope.

2017-02-01: v7 - stop the running virtual machines:

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"FreeBSD-trap" {36178dfc-fe58-40f8-ba9e-787a4b67c7f4}

I shut down v5, then it is just trap left

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-trap" {36178dfc-fe58-40f8-ba9e-787a4b67c7f4}

find the process

tingo@kg-v7$ ps awx | grep [V]Box
42080  -  S        41:13.57 /usr/local/lib/virtualbox/VBoxXPCOMIPCD
42082  -  S       113:47.53 /usr/local/lib/virtualbox/VBoxSVC --auto-shutdown
92687  -  S        48:07.86 /usr/local/lib/virtualbox/VBoxHeadless --comment FreeBSD-trap --startvm 36178dfc-fe58-40f8-ba9e-787a4b6

kill it

tingo@kg-v7$ sudo kill -QUIT 92687

verify

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage list runningvms

ok.

2017-02-01: vm - VirtualBox - import FreeBSD-v5

$ $ vboxmanage import ~/data/FreeBSD-v5.ova --options importtovdi
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/data/FreeBSD-v5.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    21474836480    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-v5-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   
  vmdisk2    31457280000    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-v5"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 512 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 5: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")
 8: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-v5-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5-disk1.vdi, controller=6;channel=0
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
 9: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vdi, controller=6;channel=1
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully imported the appliance.

it took a while, dues to the size of the data drive:

$ $ ll -h ~/data/vbox/FreeBSD-v5
total 35298456
drwx------  2 tingo  users  -  512B Feb  1 14:44 ./
drwxr-xr-x  7 tingo  users  -  512B Feb  1 14:29 ../
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  7.8G Feb  1 14:32 FreeBSD-v5-disk1.vdi
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -   26G Feb  1 14:44 FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vdi
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  3.0K Feb  1 14:44 FreeBSD-v5.vbox

ok.

2017-02-01: vm - VirtualBox - import xubuntu-v4

$ $ vboxmanage import ~/data/xubuntu-v4.ova --options importtovdi
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/data/xubuntu-v4.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    10737418240    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    xubuntu-v4-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "Ubuntu"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "xubuntu-v4"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 512 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Sound card (appliance expects "", can change on import)
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 4 --ignore")
 5: USB controller
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 7: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")
 8: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
 9: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
10: SATA controller, type AHCI
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
11: Hard disk image: source image=xubuntu-v4-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/xubuntu-v4/xubuntu-v4-disk1.vdi, controller=10;channel=0
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 11 --ignore")
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully imported the appliance.

ok

2017-02-01: vm - VirtualBox - import FreeBSD-v3

$ $ vboxmanage import ~/data/FreeBSD-v3.ova --options importtovdi
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/data/FreeBSD-v3.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    4294967296    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-v3-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-v3"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 256 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Sound card (appliance expects "", can change on import)
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 4 --ignore")
 5: USB controller
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 7: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")
 8: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 8 --ignore")
 9: IDE controller, type PIIX4
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 9 --ignore")
10: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-v3-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-v3/FreeBSD-v3-disk1.vdi, controller=8;channel=0
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 10 --ignore")
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully imported the appliance.

ok

2017-02-01: vm - VirtualBox - import FreeBSD-trap,

$ $ vboxmanage import ~/data/FreeBSD-trap.ova --options importtovdi
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/data/FreeBSD-trap.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    4294967296    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD_64"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-trap"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 128 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 5: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: SATA controller, type AHCI
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vdi, controller=6;channel=1
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully imported the appliance.

ok.

2017-02-01: vm - VirtualBox - import of FreeBSD-trap, dry run:

$ $ vboxmanage import ~/data/FreeBSD-trap.ova -n
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/data/FreeBSD-trap.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    4294967296    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD_64"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-trap"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 128 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 5: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: SATA controller, type AHCI
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, controller=6;channel=1
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")

with '--options importtovdi' added

$ $ vboxmanage import ~/data/FreeBSD-trap.ova --options importtovdi -n
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/data/FreeBSD-trap.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    4294967296    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD_64"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-trap"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 128 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 5: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: SATA controller, type AHCI
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vdi, controller=6;channel=1
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")

aha.

2017-02-01: vm - VirtualBox - check settings

$ $ vboxmanage list systemproperties
API version:                     5_1
Minimum guest RAM size:          4 Megabytes
Maximum guest RAM size:          2097152 Megabytes
Minimum video RAM size:          0 Megabytes
Maximum video RAM size:          256 Megabytes
Maximum guest monitor count:     64
Minimum guest CPU count:         1
Maximum guest CPU count:         32
Virtual disk limit (info):       2199022206976 Bytes
Maximum Serial Port count:       4
Maximum Parallel Port count:     2
Maximum Boot Position:           4
Maximum PIIX3 Network Adapter count:   8
Maximum ICH9 Network Adapter count:   36
Maximum PIIX3 IDE Controllers:   1
Maximum ICH9 IDE Controllers:    1
Maximum IDE Port count:          2
Maximum Devices per IDE Port:    2
Maximum PIIX3 SATA Controllers:  1
Maximum ICH9 SATA Controllers:   8
Maximum SATA Port count:         30
Maximum Devices per SATA Port:   1
Maximum PIIX3 SCSI Controllers:  1
Maximum ICH9 SCSI Controllers:   8
Maximum SCSI Port count:         16
Maximum Devices per SCSI Port:   1
Maximum SAS PIIX3 Controllers:   1
Maximum SAS ICH9 Controllers:    8
Maximum SAS Port count:          255
Maximum Devices per SAS Port:    1
Maximum NVMe PIIX3 Controllers:  1
Maximum NVMe ICH9 Controllers:   8
Maximum NVMe Port count:         255
Maximum Devices per NVMe Port:   1
Maximum PIIX3 Floppy Controllers:1
Maximum ICH9 Floppy Controllers: 1
Maximum Floppy Port count:       1
Maximum Devices per Floppy Port: 2
Default machine folder:          /home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs
Raw-mode Supported:              yes
Exclusive HW virtualization use: on
Default hard disk format:        VDI
VRDE auth library:               VBoxAuth
Webservice auth. library:        VBoxAuth
Remote desktop ExtPack:          VNC
Log history count:               3
Default frontend:               
Default audio driver:            OSS
Autostart database path:        
Default Guest Additions ISO:    
Logging Level:                   all

change default folder

$ $ ln -s /zs/tingo/data
$ $ vboxmanage setproperty machinefolder ~/data/vbox

verify

$ $ vboxmanage list systemproperties | grep machine
Default machine folder:          /home/tingo/data/vbox

ok.

2017-02-01: vm - latest VirtualBox is installed:

root@kg-vm# pv virt*
[Reading data from pkg(8) ... - 57 packages found - done]
virtualbox-ose-kmod-5.1.14  =  up-to-date with port
virtualbox-ose-nox11-5.1.14_2  =  up-to-date with port

ok.

2017-01-08: v7 - import a machine

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage import
Usage:

VBoxManage import           <ovfname/ovaname>
                            [--dry-run|-n]
                            [--options keepallmacs|keepnatmacs|importtovdi]
                            [more options]
                            (run with -n to have options displayed
                             for a particular OVF)

ok, let me try that

tingo@kg-v7$ l ~/dl/*ova
/home/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-trap.ova

dry run

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage import ~/dl/FreeBSD-trap.ova -n
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-trap.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    4294967296    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD_64"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-trap"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 128 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 5: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: SATA controller, type AHCI
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, controller=6;channel=1
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")

looks reasonable. Try the real import now

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage import ~/dl/FreeBSD-trap.ova
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interpreting /home/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-trap.ova...
OK.
Disks:
  vmdisk1    4294967296    -1    http://www.vmware.com/interfaces/specifications/vmdk.html#streamOptimized    FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk    -1    -1   

Virtual system 0:
 0: Suggested OS type: "FreeBSD_64"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --ostype <type>"; use "list ostypes" to list all possible values)
 1: Suggested VM name "FreeBSD-trap"
    (change with "--vsys 0 --vmname <name>")
 2: Number of CPUs: 1
    (change with "--vsys 0 --cpus <n>")
 3: Guest memory: 128 MB
    (change with "--vsys 0 --memory <MB>")
 4: Network adapter: orig Bridged, config 3, extra slot=0;type=Bridged
 5: CD-ROM
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 5 --ignore")
 6: SATA controller, type AHCI
    (disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 6 --ignore")
 7: Hard disk image: source image=FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, target path=/home/tingo/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk, controller=6;channel=1
    (change target path with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --disk path";
    disable with "--vsys 0 --unit 7 --ignore")
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully imported the appliance.

list vms

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage list vms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"Minix3" {5dd7c045-66b7-4126-8c7c-a5adef6a1ef4}
"FreeBSD-trap" {36178dfc-fe58-40f8-ba9e-787a4b67c7f4}

running ones

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

try to start trap

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage startvm
Usage:

VBoxManage startvm          <uuid|vmname>...
                            [--type gui|sdl|headless|separate]

start it

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage startvm FreeBSD-trap --type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-trap" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-trap" has been successfully started.

check running

tingo@kg-v7$ vboxmanage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"FreeBSD-trap" {36178dfc-fe58-40f8-ba9e-787a4b67c7f4}

It is running - and I can log into it. Nice!

2017-01-08: vm - export machines. Firstly, can I export a running machine?

tingo@kg-vm$ cd ~/data/
tingo@kg-vm$ pwd
/home/tingo/data

which really is on a drive with more space

tingo@kg-vm$ ll ~/data
lrwxr-xr-x  1 tingo  users  - 15 Oct 19  2015 /home/tingo/data@ -> /zs/tingo/data/

ok. List running vms

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-trap" {d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456}

try to export one

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage export FreeBSD-trap -o FreeBSD-trap.ova
0%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_INVALID_OBJECT_STATE
VBoxManage: error: Appliance write failed
VBoxManage: error: Failed to lock source media '/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-ada0.vdi'
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_INVALID_OBJECT_STATE (0x80bb0007), component Medium, interface IMedium
VBoxManage: error: Context: "int handleExportAppliance(HandlerArg*)" at line 1052 of file VBoxManageAppliance.cpp

as expected, it didn't like that. So shut down the machine first

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}

now try an export

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage export FreeBSD-trap -o FreeBSD-trap.ova
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully exported 1 machine(s).

and the file size

tingo@kg-vm$ ll -h *ova
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  678M Jan  8 15:54 FreeBSD-trap.ova

this is supposed to be a tar archive, check it out

tingo@kg-vm$ tar tvf FreeBSD-trap.ova
-rw-------  0 someone someone 10948 Jan  8 15:52 FreeBSD-trap.ovf
-rw-------  0 someone someone 711381504 Jan  8 15:54 FreeBSD-trap-disk1.vmdk

aha. It is quite different from how it looks "on disk"

tingo@kg-vm$ ll -h vbox/FreeBSD-trap/
total 1650550
drwx------  3 tingo  users  -  512B Jan  8 15:49 ./
drwxr-xr-x  3 tingo  users  -  512B Oct 19  2015 ../
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  1.6G Jan  8 15:49 FreeBSD-trap-ada0.vdi
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  6.8k Jan  8 15:49 FreeBSD-trap.vbox
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  6.8k Oct  4 23:05 FreeBSD-trap.vbox-prev
drwx------  2 tingo  users  -  512B Oct  7 08:52 Logs/

ok. Export the other machines now:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"xubuntu-v4" {07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"FreeBSD-trap" {d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456}

FreeBSD-v3

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage export FreeBSD-v3 -o FreeBSD-v3.ova
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully exported 1 machine(s).

xubuntu-v4

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage export xubuntu-v4 -o xubuntu-v4.ova
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Successfully exported 1 machine(s).

FreeBSD-v5

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage export FreeBSD-v5 -o FreeBSD-v5.ova
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

Successfully exported 1 machine(s).

each export takes some minutes, but the v5 machine took much more than that, perhaps because it has much larger disks. The resulting .ova files:

tingo@kg-vm$ ls -lh *.ova
-rw-------  1 tingo  users   678M Jan  8 15:54 FreeBSD-trap.ova
-rw-------  1 tingo  users   982M Jan  8 16:30 FreeBSD-v3.ova
-rw-------  1 tingo  users    28G Jan  8 17:15 FreeBSD-v5.ova
-rw-------  1 tingo  users   954M Jan  8 16:34 xubuntu-v4.ova

ok. For fun, peek into the v5 ova:

tingo@kg-vm$ tar tvf FreeBSD-v5.ova
-rw-------  0 someone someone 12499 Jan  8 16:39 FreeBSD-v5.ovf
-rw-------  0 someone someone 3522793984 Jan  8 16:49 FreeBSD-v5-disk1.vmdk
-rw-------  0 someone someone 26925578240 Jan  8 17:15 FreeBSD-v5-disk2.vmdk

yep, as expected.

2017-01-08: v7 - what machines do we have?

tingo@kg-v7$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"Minix3" {5dd7c045-66b7-4126-8c7c-a5adef6a1ef4}

none running

tingo@kg-v7$ VBoxManage list runningvms

ok, try to start v5:

tingo@kg-v7$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

check running machines

tingo@kg-v7$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

and I can log into the machine. Good.

2017-01-08: vm - I am going to rebuild / upgrade this machine. First I need to move the active virtual machines somewhere else:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"xubuntu-v4" {07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"FreeBSD-trap" {d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456}
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"FreeBSD-trap" {d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456}

the v3 machine I can just shut down. First I shut down the v5 / m3 machine, and move it's storage files to the v7 host.

2016-10-05: an unscheduled power outage this evening required a power on of all the VirtualBox virtual machines after power was restored.

2016-09-21: vm - FreeBSD-v5 doesn't come up properly - I can't connect to it over the network. And while it is running I can't turn on VRDE:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage modifyvm FreeBSD-v5 --vrde on
VBoxManage: error: The machine 'FreeBSD-v5' is already locked for a session (or being unlocked)
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_INVALID_OBJECT_STATE (0x80bb0007), component Machine, interface IMachine, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "LockMachine(a->session, LockType_Write)" at line 425 of file VBoxManageModifyVM.cpp

correction, I can't modify it. How about controlvm?

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage controlvm FreeBSD-v5 vrde on vrdeport 5555 vrdeproperty VNCPassword=secretpw

that looks like it worked.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-v5 | grep VRDE
VRDE:            enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 5901, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
VRDE port:       5901
VRDE property: TCP/Ports  = "5901"
VRDE property: TCP/Address = <not set>
VRDE Connection:    not active

interesting.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage controlvm FreeBSD-v5 vrdeport 5555
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage controlvm FreeBSD-v5 vrdeproperty VNCPassword=test

check

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-v5 | grep VRDE
VRDE:            enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 5555, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
VRDE port:       5555
VRDE property: TCP/Ports  = "5555"
VRDE property: TCP/Address = <not set>
VRDE Connection:    not active

ok, so controlvm only changes one parameter at a time.

But when I try to connect to it:

tingo@kg-core1$ vncviewer vm::5555
Connected to RFB server, using protocol version 3.8
Performing standard VNC authentication
Password:
Authentication successful
Desktop name "VBoxVNC"
VNC server default format:
  32 bits per pixel.
  Least significant byte first in each pixel.
  True colour: max red 255 green 255 blue 255, shift red 16 green 8 blue 0
Using default colormap which is TrueColor.  Pixel format:
  32 bits per pixel.
  Least significant byte first in each pixel.
  True colour: max red 255 green 255 blue 255, shift red 16 green 8 blue 0
vncviewer: VNC server closed connection

and the vm quits.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-v5 | grep State
State:           aborted (since 2016-09-20T22:42:53.473000000)

hmm, does the logs tell anything?

tingo@kg-vm$ pwd
/usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5
tingo@kg-vm$ tail Logs/VBox.log
00:00:39.548747 PIIX3 ATA: Ctl#0: RESET, DevSel=0 AIOIf=0 CmdIf0=0xca (9994124 usec ago) CmdIf1=0xc8 (-1 usec ago)
00:00:39.873145 PIIX3 ATA: execution time for ATA command 0xca was 10 seconds
00:00:39.873152 PIIX3 ATA: Ctl#0: finished processing RESET
05:37:49.561478 VRDE: loaded version 3 of the server.
05:37:49.562418 VNC: port = 5901
05:37:49.562538 VNC: Configuring password
05:43:38.644748 VRDE: loaded version 3 of the server.
05:43:38.645082 VNC: port = 5555
05:43:38.645177 VNC: Configuring password
05:46:19.616701 VBVA: VRDP acceleration has been requested.

nope. Ok, try to start it again:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...

VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-v5 | grep State
State:           running (since 2016-09-20T22:52:24.105000000)

looking good so far. A bit later - yes, now I can log into it, fsck is running and things look better.

2016-09-20: vm - there was a "blink" on the power grid which tripped my local circuit breakers, so I had to restart all machines (including virtual ones) again.

2016-08-26: vm - ad4s4a - after a power outage, I must start the virtual machines again. any running?

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms

no. start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

start trap:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-trap -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-trap" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-trap" has been successfully started.

ok.

2016-02-21: vm3 - ada0p2 - bhyve - configuration, first part in /etc/rc.conf:

# network configuration for bhyve
cloned_interfaces="bridge0 tap0"
ifconfig_bridge0="addm re0 addm tap0"
# enable bhyve - further configuration in rc.conf.local
bhyve_enable="YES"

and /etc/rc.conf.local:

root@kg-vm3# more /etc/rc.conf.local
# bhyve - configuration for virtual machines
bhyve_profiles="bvm1"
bhyve_bvm1_tapdev="tap0"
bhyve_bvm1_diskdev="/zs/vms/vm1/guest-vm1.img"
bhyve_bvm1_ncpu="2"

a bit arbitrarily, but still.

2015-10-23: vm - FreeBSD-trap - turn off VRDE:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage modifyvm FreeBSD-trap --vrde off

verify

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-trap | grep VRDE
VRDE:            disabled
VRDE Connection:    not active

then start the machine again

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-trap -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-trap" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-trap" has been successfully started.

and check running vm's

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
"FreeBSD-trap" {d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456}

and I can ssh into it. ok.

2015-10-23: vm - after installing FreeBSD on FreeBSD-trap, remove the install medium from the (virtual) DVD drive. First see what storage the machine has:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-trap | grep storage
Storage Controller Name (0):            storage
storage (1, 0): /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-ada0.vdi (UUID: 51cc7124-4e7f-49d2-9615-1f8c8bc2500e)
storage (2, 0): /zs/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-10.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso (UUID: c944e51f-cfff-4805-ba98-642d576f4cd5)

ok, check how closemedium works:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage closemedium
Usage:

VBoxManage closemedium      disk|dvd|floppy <uuid>|<filename>
                            [--delete]

remove:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage closemedium dvd /zs/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-10.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
VBoxManage: error: Medium '/zs/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-10.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso' cannot be closed because it is still attached to 1 virtual machines
VBoxManage: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_IN_USE (0x80bb000c), component Medium, interface IMedium, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "Close()" at line 1175 of file VBoxManageDisk.cpp

ok, so that won't work.. Use the storageattach command instead:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage storageattach FreeBSD-trap --storagectl storage --port 2 --medium emptydrive --type dvddrive

check if it worked:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-trap | grep storage                  Storage Controller Name (0):            storage
storage (1, 0): /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-ada0.vdi (UUID: 51cc7124-4e7f-49d2-9615-1f8c8bc2500e)
storage (2, 0): Empty

looks ok.

2015-10-19: vm - create a new vm (FreeBSD-trap) with ostype FreeBSD_64, and check how --basefolder works.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage createvm --name FreeBSD-trap --ostype FreeBSD_64 --basefolder ~/data/vbox/ --register
Virtual machine 'FreeBSD-trap' is created and registered.
UUID: d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456
Settings file: '/home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap.vbox'

allright - looks nice. Verify:

tingo@kg-vm$ ll ~/data/vbox/
total 6
drwxr-xr-x  3 tingo  users  - 512 Oct 19 23:22 ./
drwxr-xr-x  3 tingo  users  - 512 Oct 19 22:00 ../
drwx------  2 tingo  users  - 512 Oct 19 23:22 FreeBSD-trap/
tingo@kg-vm$ ll ~/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap
total 10
drwx------  2 tingo  users  -  512 Oct 19 23:22 ./
drwxr-xr-x  3 tingo  users  -  512 Oct 19 23:22 ../
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  - 5869 Oct 19 23:22 FreeBSD-trap.vbox

stuff landed where I wanted it.

What are the default values?

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-trap
Name:            FreeBSD-trap
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        FreeBSD (64 bit)
UUID:            d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456
Config file:     /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap.vbox
Snapshot folder: /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/Snapshots
Log folder:      /home/tingo/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/Logs
Hardware UUID:   d89891c6-e8b0-45eb-8ba4-259ecea3b456
Memory size:     128MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       8MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
Synthetic Cpu:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
PAE:             on
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     on
VT-x VPID:       on
State:           powered off (since 2015-10-19T21:22:10.570000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
NIC 1:           MAC: 08002792F2B6, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 1 Settings:  MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           disabled
Clipboard Mode:  disabled
Drag'n'drop Mode:  disabled
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             disabled
EHCI:            disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  <none>

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB

ok. Let's try to install with only 128 MB RAM. Change the network interface:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage modifyvm FreeBSD-trap --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1 re0

(and a showvminfo confirms that nic1 is now bridged to re0. good.) Add a storage controller named "storage" to the vm:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage storagectl FreeBSD-trap --name storage --add sata --controller IntelAHCI --sataportcount 2 --hostiocache off

create a hard drive

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage createhd --filename ~/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-ada0.vdi --size 4096
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Disk image created. UUID: 51cc7124-4e7f-49d2-9615-1f8c8bc2500e

and attach it to our controller

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage storageattach FreeBSD-trap --storagectl storage --port 1 --medium ~/data/vbox/FreeBSD-trap/FreeBSD-trap-ada0.vdi --type hdd

and attach a "DVD":

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage storageattach FreeBSD-trap --storagectl storage --port 2 --medium /zs/tingo/dl/FreeBSD-10.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso --type dvddrive

current settings tells the machine to boot off floppy first. chagne it so it boots from dvd first:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage modifyvm FreeBSD-trap --boot1 dvd

set up remote access (for console via VNC)

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage modifyvm FreeBSD-trap --vrde on --vrdeport 5555 --vrdeproperty VNCPassword=secretpw

verify:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showvminfo FreeBSD-trap | grep VRDE
VRDE:            enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 5555, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
VRDE property: TCP/Ports  = "5555"
VRDE property: TCP/Address = <not set>
VRDE Connection:    not active

try to start the machine:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxHeadless -startvm FreeBSD-trap
Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.2.12_OSE
(C) 2008-2013 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

20/10/2015 00:58:09 Listening for VNC connections on TCP port 5555
20/10/2015 00:58:09 Listening for VNC connections on TCP6 port 5900
VRDE server is listening on port 5555.

and in a different shell (on my workstation) I start vncviewer from the TightVNC port.

tingo@kg-core1$ vncviewer vm::5555
Connected to RFB server, using protocol version 3.8
Performing standard VNC authentication
Password:
Authentication successful
Desktop name "VBoxVNC"
VNC server default format:
  32 bits per pixel.
  Least significant byte first in each pixel.
  True colour: max red 255 green 255 blue 255, shift red 0 green 8 blue 16
Using default colormap which is TrueColor.  Pixel format:
  32 bits per pixel.
  Least significant byte first in each pixel.
  True colour: max red 255 green 255 blue 255, shift red 16 green 8 blue 0

after giving the password, the viewer connects, and I have the install window in a window on my workstation. Nice!

Other info from the VBoxHeadless output:

20/10/2015 00:59:34   other clients:
20/10/2015 00:59:34 Client Protocol Version 3.8
20/10/2015 00:59:34 Protocol version sent 3.8, using 3.8
20/10/2015 00:59:34 rfbProcessClientSecurityType: executing handler for type 2
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Pixel format for client 10.1.150.50:
20/10/2015 00:59:41   32 bpp, depth 24, little endian
20/10/2015 00:59:41   true colour: max r 255 g 255 b 255, shift r 16 g 8 b 0
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Using compression level 1 for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Using image quality level 6 for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Using JPEG subsampling 0, Q79 for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Enabling X-style cursor updates for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Enabling full-color cursor updates for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Enabling cursor position updates for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Enabling LastRect protocol extension for client 10.1.150.50
20/10/2015 00:59:41 Using tight encoding for client 10.1.150.50

good to know.

keyboard - Unfortunately, keyboard layout for vncviewer seems to be difficult, it doesn't look like neither US nor Norwegian layout. I can't type the '|' (pipe) character for example.

keyboard - setting Xorg keyboard layout to us (via $ setxkbmap us) in the shell before starting vncviewer works, then you get a US keyboard in the virtual machine. Unless I can make this setting local to one xterm / shell it is not good enough - it changes keyboard layout globally in Xorg.

2015-10-19: vm - get some information: VirtualBox version:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage -v
4.2.12_OSEr84980

extpacks:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   VNC
Version:      4.2.12_OSE
Revision:     84980
Edition:     
Description:  VNC plugin module
VRDE Module:  VBoxVNC
Usable:       true

Why unusable:

system properties:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list systemproperties
API version:                     4_2
Minimum guest RAM size:          4 Megabytes
Maximum guest RAM size:          2097152 Megabytes
Minimum video RAM size:          1 Megabytes
Maximum video RAM size:          256 Megabytes
Minimum guest CPU count:         1
Maximum guest CPU count:         32
Virtual disk limit (info):       2199022206976 Bytes
Maximum Serial Port count:       2
Maximum Parallel Port count:     2
Maximum Boot Position:           4
Maximum PIIX3 Network Adapter count:   8
Maximum ICH9 Network Adapter count:   36
Maximum PIIX3 IDE Controllers:   1
Maximum ICH9 IDE Controllers:    1
Maximum IDE Port count:          2
Maximum Devices per IDE Port:    2
Maximum PIIX3 SATA Controllers:  1
Maximum ICH9 SATA Controllers:   8
Maximum SATA Port count:         30
Maximum Devices per SATA Port:   1
Maximum PIIX3 SCSI Controllers:  1
Maximum ICH9 SCSI Controllers:   8
Maximum SCSI Port count:         16
Maximum Devices per SCSI Port:   1
Maximum SAS PIIX3 Controllers:   1
Maximum SAS ICH9 Controllers:    8
Maximum SAS Port count:          8
Maximum Devices per SAS Port:    1
Maximum PIIX3 Floppy Controllers:1
Maximum ICH9 Floppy Controllers: 1
Maximum Floppy Port count:       1
Maximum Devices per Floppy Port: 2
Default machine folder:          /home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs
VRDE auth library:               VBoxAuth
Webservice auth. library:        VBoxAuth
Remote desktop ExtPack:          VNC
Log history count:               3
Autostart database path:        
Default Guest Additions ISO:     /usr/local/lib/virtualbox/additions/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso

groups:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list groups
"/"

bridged interfaces

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list bridgedifs
Name:            re0
GUID:            00306572-0000-4000-8000-f079595bbb81
DHCP:            Disabled
IPAddress:       10.1.150.15
NetworkMask:     255.255.0.0
IPV6Address:    
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 0
HardwareAddress: f0:79:59:5b:bb:81
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Up
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-re0

host only interfaces

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list hostonlyifs
Name:            vboxnet0
GUID:            786f6276-656e-4074-8000-0a0027000000
DHCP:            Disabled
IPAddress:       192.168.56.1
NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0
IPV6Address:    
IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 0
HardwareAddress: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
MediumType:      Ethernet
Status:          Down
VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-vboxnet0

dhcp servers

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list dhcpservers
NetworkName:    HostInterfaceNetworking-vboxnet0
IP:             192.168.56.100
NetworkMask:    255.255.255.0
lowerIPAddress: 192.168.56.101
upperIPAddress: 192.168.56.254
Enabled:        Yes

host info

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list hostinfo
Host Information:

Host time: 2015-10-19T20:38:43.709000000Z
Processor online count: 6
Processor count: 6
Processor#0 speed: 3500 MHz
Processor#0 description: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor            
Processor#1 speed: 3500 MHz
Processor#1 description: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor            
Processor#2 speed: 3500 MHz
Processor#2 description: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor            
Processor#3 speed: 3500 MHz
Processor#3 description: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor            
Processor#4 speed: 3500 MHz
Processor#4 description: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor            
Processor#5 speed: 3500 MHz
Processor#5 description: AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor            
Memory size: 32478 MByte
Memory available: 27664 MByte
Operating system: FreeBSD
Operating system version: 8.3-PRERELEASE

host CPU ids

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list hostcpuids
Host CPUIDs:

Leaf no.  EAX      EBX      ECX      EDX
00000000  0000000d 68747541 444d4163 69746e65
00000001  00600f20 02060800 3698320b 178bfbff
00000002  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000003  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000004  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000005  00000040 00000040 00000003 00000000
00000006  00000000 00000000 00000001 00000000
00000007  00000000 00000008 00000000 00000000
00000008  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000009  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0000000a  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0000000b  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0000000c  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0000000d  00000007 00000240 000003c0 40000000
0000000e  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000000  8000001e 68747541 444d4163 69746e65
80000001  00600f20 10000000 01ebbfff 2fd3fbff
80000002  20444d41 74285846 362d296d 20303033
80000003  2d786953 65726f43 6f725020 73736563
80000004  2020726f 20202020 20202020 00202020
80000005  ff40ff18 ff40ff30 10040140 40020140
80000006  64006400 64004200 08008140 0040c140
80000007  00000000 00000000 00000000 000007d9
80000008  00003030 00000000 00004005 00000000
80000009  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000000a  00000001 00010000 00000000 00001cff
8000000b  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000000c  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000000d  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000000e  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000000f  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000010  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000011  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000012  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000013  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000014  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000015  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000016  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000017  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000018  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
80000019  f040f018 64006400 00000000 00000000
8000001a  00000003 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000001b  000000ff 00000000 00000000 00000000
8000001c  00000000 80032013 00010200 8000000f
8000001d  00000121 00c0003f 0000003f 00000000
8000001e  00000012 00000101 00000000 00000000
8000001f  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

I don't know what this is.

hard disk backends:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list hddbackends
Supported hard disk backends:

Backend 0: id='VMDK' description='VMDK' capabilities=0x027f extensions='vmdk (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 1: id='VDI' description='VDI' capabilities=0x0677 extensions='vdi (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 2: id='VHD' description='VHD' capabilities=0x0277 extensions='vhd (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 3: id='Parallels' description='Parallels' capabilities=0x0274 extensions='hdd (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 4: id='DMG' description='DMG' capabilities=0x0240 extensions='dmg (DVD)' properties=()
Backend 5: id='QED' description='QED' capabilities=0x0274 extensions='qed (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 6: id='QCOW' description='QCOW' capabilities=0x0274 extensions='qcow (HardDisk),qcow2 (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 7: id='VHDX' description='VHDX' capabilities=0x0240 extensions='vhdx (HardDisk)' properties=()
Backend 8: id='RAW' description='RAW' capabilities=0x0262 extensions='iso (DVD),cdr (DVD),img (Floppy),ima (Floppy),dsk (Floppy),vfd (Floppy)' properties=()
Backend 9: id='iSCSI' description='iSCSI' capabilities=0x01a0 extensions='' properties=(
  name='TargetName' desc='' type=string flags=0x01 default='',
  name='LUN' desc='' type=string flags=0x01 default='0',
  name='TargetAddress' desc='' type=string flags=0x01 default='',
  name='InitiatorName' desc='' type=string flags=0x00 default='',
  name='InitiatorUsername' desc='' type=string flags=0x00 default='',
  name='InitiatorSecret' desc='' type=byte flags=0x00 default='',
  name='TargetUsername' desc='' type=string flags=0x02 default='',
  name='TargetSecret' desc='' type=byte flags=0x02 default='',
  name='WriteSplit' desc='' type=int flags=0x02 default='262144',
  name='Timeout' desc='' type=int flags=0x02 default='10000',
  name='HostIPStack' desc='' type=int flags=0x02 default='1')

HDDs

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list hdds
UUID:        42849ea1-a25f-4ad0-8d9f-abde7f9fa9ae
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v3/FreeBSD-v3.vdi
State:       locked write
Type:        normal
Usage:       FreeBSD-v3 (UUID: 003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7)

UUID:        6d5428f2-6d84-492c-9f2c-1a3a666a8fc0
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /home/tingo/vbox-files/xubuntu1110.vdi
State:       created
Type:        normal
Usage:       xubuntu-v4 (UUID: 07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8)

UUID:        d27f675e-2be9-4852-85cd-460dc90d101a
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5.vdi
State:       locked write
Type:        normal
Usage:       FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44)

UUID:        a35d30b2-2ff0-40f2-8778-8976c2f5a95b
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/v5-music.vdi
State:       locked write
Type:        normal
Usage:       FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44)
DVDs
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list dvds
UUID:        eca2c48c-55d9-44ab-b6e3-79b98e5358f3
Format:      RAW
Location:    /home/tingo/dl/bsd/fbsd/8.2/FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso
State:       created
Type:        readonly

UUID:        ec981393-d21d-46f7-9d16-abf9f48f48c4
Format:      RAW
Location:    /home/tingo/dl/bsd/fbsd/8.3/FreeBSD-8.3-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso
State:       created
Type:        readonly

ok. Other stuff (floppies, etc.) I don't have in this VirtualBox installation.

2015-06-21: I'm powering down the host to install a new fan. First, see which virtual machines are running:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

And then I shut them down (from inside each machine), then check again:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms

none running - great. After the host got it's fan installed and is back on, it is time to start the virtual machines again:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"xubuntu-v4" {07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

only need to start v3 and v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

check:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

ok.

2015-04-01: copy v5 back from it's temporary home at the host v7 to host vm. On v7, it looks like this:

tingo@kg-v7$ ll ~/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/
total 33839484
drwxr-xr-x  3 tingo  users  -         512 Apr  1 11:06 ./
drwxr-xr-x  4 tingo  users  -         512 Feb  7 13:53 ../
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -        7414 Apr  1 11:06 FreeBSD-v5.vbox
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -        7327 Apr  1 11:06 FreeBSD-v5.vbox-prev
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  8293273600 Apr  1 11:06 FreeBSD-v5.vdi
drwxr-xr-x  2 tingo  users  -         512 Feb 15 14:35 Logs/
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  - 26349752320 Apr  1 11:06 v5-music.vdi

on vm, it looks like this:

tingo@kg-vm$ ll ~/"VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/"
total 33180742
drwxr-xr-x  3 tingo  users  -         512 Feb 23  2014 ./
drwxr-xr-x  5 tingo  users  -         512 May  1  2012 ../
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -        7351 Feb 23  2014 FreeBSD-v5.vbox
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -        7351 Jan 15  2014 FreeBSD-v5.vbox-prev
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  -  8280690688 Feb  5 04:21 FreeBSD-v5.vdi
drwxr-xr-x  2 tingo  users  -         512 Jul 12  2014 Logs/
-rw-------  1 tingo  users  - 25679712256 Feb  5 03:01 v5-music.vdi

Are the UUIDs different?

tingo@kg-v7$ grep "Machine uuid" ~/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5.vbox
  <Machine uuid="{5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}" name="FreeBSD-v5" OSType="FreeBSD" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2015-04-01T09:06:54Z">
tingo@kg-vm$ grep "Machine uuid" FreeBSD-v5.vbox
  <Machine uuid="{5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}" name="FreeBSD-v5" OSType="FreeBSD" snapshotFolder="Snapshots" lastStateChange="2014-02-23T19:21:20Z">

they look the same.

Just copy files across:

tingo@kg-vm$ pwd
/usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5
tingo@kg-vm$ scp tingo@v7:~/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/* .
Password for tingo@kg-v7.kg4.no:
FreeBSD-v5.vbox                                                                    100% 7414     7.2KB/s   00:00   
FreeBSD-v5.vbox-prev                                                               100% 7327     7.2KB/s   00:00   
FreeBSD-v5.vdi                                                                     100% 7909MB  50.1MB/s   02:38   
scp: /home/tingo/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/Logs: not a regular file
v5-music.vdi                                                                       100%   25GB  46.8MB/s   08:57   
tingo@kg-vm$ scp tingo@v7:~/vbox/FreeBSD-v5/Logs/* ./Logs/
Password for tingo@kg-v7.kg4.no:
VBox.log                                                                           100%   79KB  79.2KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log.1                                                                         100%   50KB  49.9KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log.2                                                                         100%   39KB  38.6KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log.3                                                                         100%   39KB  38.6KB/s   00:00   

Next, try to start v5. Check status:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"xubuntu-v4" {07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}

and start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

verify:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

good.

2015-02:22: after getting a new motherboard and a new cpu for the host (vm), I need to start the virtual machines again:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"xubuntu-v4" {07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

v5 is currently running on a different host (v7):

tingo@kg-v7$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}
tingo@kg-v7$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

a temporary solution.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}

that's all.

2014-07-12: after yesterdays' power failure (local circuit breaker tripping), I need to start the virtual machines again. start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

check that they are running:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

done.

2014-02-23: after adding another hard drive to the vm machine, start the virtual machines again: start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

check that they are running:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

done.

2014-01-15: after upgrading the memory to 32 GB, start the virtual machines again. start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...

Check that they are running:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

done.

2014-01-15: shutting down all virtual machines (ok, it's only two - v3 and v5) in preparation for a memory upgrade of the machine. Verify that no virtual machines are running:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms

Good.

2013-07-23: after a case upgrade, start the virtual machines again.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms

Ok, none are running. Start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

Start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

Check that they are running

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

done.

2013-07-15: - vm - VirtualBox has been upgraded:

root@kg-vm# pv virt*
virtualbox-ose-4.2.12       =  up-to-date with port
virtualbox-ose-kmod-4.2.12  =  up-to-date with port

Now, let's start the virtal machines again. Which machine have we?

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list vms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"xubuntu-v4" {07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

Are any running?

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms

No, start v5:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v5 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v3" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v3" has been successfully started.

Start v3:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage startvm FreeBSD-v3 -type headless
Waiting for VM "FreeBSD-v5" to power on...
VM "FreeBSD-v5" has been successfully started.

Check that they are running:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}
"FreeBSD-v5" {5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44}

Looks good. Details on the pages for the respective vm.

2013-06-10: vm - ok, to get VNC in VirtualBox 4.2.6, do this:

VBoxManage setproperty vrdeextpack VNC

VBoxManage modifyvm vm1 --vrdeproperty VNCPassword=somepass
VBoxManage modifyvm vm1 --vrdeauthlibrary null
VBoxManage modifyvm vm1 --vrdeport 5901
VBoxHeadless --startvm test1

the last part for each vm. And yes, you do have to set a password.

2013-06-09: vm - os has been upgraded:

tingo@kg-vm$ uname -a
FreeBSD kg-vm.kg4.no 8.3-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 8.3-PRERELEASE #5: Sun Jun  9 17:44:22 CEST 2013     root@kg-vm.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64

and VirtualBox has been upgraded

root@kg-vm# pv virt*
virtualbox-ose-4.2.6        <  needs updating (port has 4.2.12)
virtualbox-ose-kmod-4.2.6_3  <  needs updating (port has 4.2.12)

I probably should upgrade more. Previously I was using version 4.0.8 of VirtualBox:

root@kg-vm# pv | grep virt
virtualbox-ose-4.0.8        <  needs updating (port has 4.0.10)
virtualbox-ose-kmod-4.0.8   <  needs updating (port has 4.0.10)

That's it.

2012-08-26: vm - try to expand the music hard drive:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showhdinfo
Usage:

VBoxManage showhdinfo       <uuid>|<filename>
tingo@kg-vm$ pwd
/usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5
tingo@kg-vm$ l
./                    FreeBSD-v5.vbox       FreeBSD-v5.vdi        v5-music.vdi
../                   FreeBSD-v5.vbox-prev  Logs/
tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showhdinfo ./v5-music.vdi
VBoxManage: error: Cannot register the hard disk '/usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/./v5-music.vdi' {a35d30b2-2ff0-40f2-8778-8976c2f5a95b} because a hard disk '/usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/v5-music.vdi' with UUID {a35d30b2-2ff0-40f2-8778-8976c2f5a95b} already exists
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: "OpenMedium(Bstr(pszFilenameOrUuid).raw(), enmDevType, AccessMode_ReadWrite, pMedium.asOutParam())" at line 209 of file VBoxManageDisk.cpp

Ok, don't do that.

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showhdinfo v5-music.vdi
UUID:                 a35d30b2-2ff0-40f2-8778-8976c2f5a95b
Accessible:           yes
Logical size:         20000 MBytes
Current size on disk: 17403 MBytes
Type:                 normal (base)
Storage format:       VDI
Format variant:       dynamic default
In use by VMs:        FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44)
Location:             /usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/v5-music.vdi

Ah, much nicer.

How much space do we have?

tingo@kg-vm$ df -h /usr
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad4s4f    102G     49G     44G    53%    /usr

OK, let's add 10G to the virtual hard drive:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage modifyhd v5-music.vdi --resize 30000
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

and list it

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage showhdinfo v5-music.vdi
UUID:                 a35d30b2-2ff0-40f2-8778-8976c2f5a95b
Accessible:           yes
Logical size:         30000 MBytes
Current size on disk: 17404 MBytes
Type:                 normal (base)
Storage format:       VDI
Format variant:       dynamic default
In use by VMs:        FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44)
Location:             /usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/v5-music.vdi

Cool. Next start up the virtual machine again and prepare to fix things inside it.

2012-08-26: vm - preparing to backup the v5 machine:

I shut down the machine (pity, then I won't have music while this operation is ongoing), then check:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list runningvms
"FreeBSD-v3" {003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7}

It is not running - good.

Do the backup:

tingo@kg-vm$ cd V*
tingo@kg-vm$ scp -r ./FreeBSD-v5 tingo@f3:~/virtualbox_vms/
tingo@kg-f3.kg4.no's password:
FreeBSD-v5.vdi                                                   100% 6766MB  10.9MB/s   10:20   
FreeBSD-v5.vbox                                                  100% 7092     6.9KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log                                                         100%   57KB  57.1KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log.1                                                       100%   57KB  56.8KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log.2                                                       100%   35KB  34.7KB/s   00:00   
VBox.log.3                                                       100%   35KB  34.7KB/s   00:00   
FreeBSD-v5.vbox-prev                                             100% 7092     6.9KB/s   00:00   
v5-music.vdi                                                     100%   17GB  10.9MB/s   26:40   
tingo@kg-vm$

(which takes some time, the system hard drive is 6.6G, and the data hard drive (music) is about 20G)

2012-05-02: I created a new hard drive to hold all music on v5:

UUID:        a35d30b2-2ff0-40f2-8778-8976c2f5a95b
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /usr/home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/v5-music.vdi
State:       locked write
Type:        normal
Usage:       FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44)

That's it.

2012-05-02: List all hard drives:

tingo@kg-vm$ VBoxManage list hdds
UUID:        42849ea1-a25f-4ad0-8d9f-abde7f9fa9ae
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v3/FreeBSD-v3.vdi
State:       locked write
Type:        normal
Usage:       FreeBSD-v3 (UUID: 003ebcaa-1c74-4672-86af-6493341287e7)

UUID:        6d5428f2-6d84-492c-9f2c-1a3a666a8fc0
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /home/tingo/vbox-files/xubuntu1110.vdi
State:       created
Type:        normal
Usage:       xubuntu-v4 (UUID: 07826334-8d9a-4c68-8132-b9cc4cea67a8)

UUID:        d27f675e-2be9-4852-85cd-460dc90d101a
Parent UUID: base
Format:      VDI
Location:    /home/tingo/VirtualBox VMs/FreeBSD-v5/FreeBSD-v5.vdi
State:       locked write
Type:        normal
Usage:       FreeBSD-v5 (UUID: 5312412c-353b-41bf-9535-497e1c45de44)

That's it.