94. Virtualisation from the command line -- creating a debian image in virtualbox

I came across these posts and decided to put my own spin on it.
EDIT: fixed the port/device numbers for the dvd drive


Virtual box on the CLI

Here's my take on it. Most of it is self-explanatory. As with everything else Linux, names are case-sensitive.

VBoxManage createvm --name debi_dd --ostype Debian_64 --basefolder /home/me/tmp/virtual

Virtual machine 'debi_dd' is created.
UUID: 3cab43c4-d071-4d71-9e01-22a6f4e80645

Register the vm:
VBoxManage registervm `pwd`/debi_dd.vbox

or you will get

VBoxManage: error: Could not find a registered machine named 'debi_dd'

Create a harddrive:

VBoxManage createhd --filename debi_hd --size 5000 --format VDI --variant Standard

0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Disk image created. UUID: b11e6465-3ac6-441d-9e14-6417135b7cd1

The size is given in mb, VDI is the standard virtualbox format, but you can use  VMDK or VHD too. There are several variants -- Fixed, Standard, Split2G, Stream and ESX. Fixed is fixed size, standard expands as data is added, Split2G splits the HDD into 2GB chunks for filesystems which can't handle large files, Stream is 'optimized for streaming downloads and can be compressed' and I suspect that ESX is referring to VMWare's hypervisor product.

Create a SATA controller (for a win xp guest , use IDE instead)
VBoxManage storagectl debi_dd --name "ATA controller" --add sata --controller IntelAhci

Attach your harddrive
VBoxManage storageattach debi_dd --storagectl "ATA controller" --port 0 --device 0 --type hdd --medium debi_hd.vdi

and a DVD player and point it towards your debian iso
VBoxManage storageattach debi_dd --storagectl "ATA controller" --port 1 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium ~/jigdo/debian-testing-amd64-CD-1.iso

Configure your VM hardware
VBoxManage modifyvm debi_dd --memory 256 --acpi on --boot1 dvd --clipboard bidirectional --nic1 nat --cableconnected1 on --bridgeadapter1 eth0 --usb on --usbehci on

You will need to have an X server running, either on the computer hosting the virtualbox, or you need to ssh in using ssh -X -C user@server. But it works. Once you have a working linux installation you can run headless.
You can also use remmina to connect via rdp at localhost:3389.

VBoxManage startvm debi_dd

Waiting for VM "debi_dd" to power on...
VM "debi_dd" has been successfully started.

You'll now be doing the usual graphical installation...

** I had some problems with network dhcp, but manually setting the ip, gw, netmask and dns server went fine. It may be particular to my networking set up (3 cards, 2 using static ip)

Make sure to install ssh server so you can easily connect to your running VM.

So you're done installing...

Eject the DVD

VBoxManage storageattach debi_dd --storagectl "ATA controller" --port 1 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium emptydrive

Associate e.g. localhost:2222 with virtualbox:22
VBoxManage modifyvm "debi_dd" --natpf1 "guestssh,tcp,,2222,,22"

Time to go headless:
VBoxHeadless -s debi_dd

Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.1.8
(C) 2008-2011 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.
VRDE server is listening on port 3389.

and 

ssh verahill@localhost -p 2222

to log in

You can also use remmina
Connect to localhost:3389 and you'll be greeted with:

remmina in action

Use

 VBoxManage controlvm debi_dd poweroff

to power off

There's a bit of housekeeping to do with any freshly installed linux machine:

sudo apt-get install bzip2 vim 

sudo updatedb

and edit /etc/apt/sources.list to remove the cd.

You may want to edit /etc/default/grub too and set

GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"

Don't forget to sudo update-grub

If you don't want headless mode, just

VBoxManage startvm debi_dd

Removal

VBoxManage storageattach debi_dd --storagectl "ATA controller" --port 1 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium none
VBoxManage storageattach debi_dd --storagectl "ATA controller" --port 0 --device 0 --type dvddrive --medium none 
VBoxManage unregistervm debi_dd --delete 
VBoxManage closemedium disk debi_hd.vdi --delete 
rm debi_dd/ -rf