Re: Running a FreeBSD guest
On 3/22/21 7:20 PM, Victor Sudakov wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
What's the minimum software kit to run a couple of FreeBSD guests
(serial console, no graphics needed) on a Debian 10 host?
I don't need any fancy management GUI like that of VirtualBox, would
just prefer some minimalistic hypervisor managed from the CLI. The
ability to access the host's raw disk devices from the guest would be a
great advantage.
Please don't just say "kvm" or any other single word but give a pointer
to a good step-by-step document.
I have been using VirtualBox on Debian for the past several years. My
Debian 9 graphical workstation has VirtualBox 6.1 and is currently
running a FreeBSD 12.2-RELEASE-p4 guest for development. It just works.
VirtualBox is a very professional product -- reliable, performant, well
designed GUI and CLI, good documentation, etc.. Installation
instructions are here:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/virtualbox/6.0/user/install-linux-host.html
I like that VirtualBox runs on the most common platforms -- Windows,
macOS, Linux, and Solaris. I want this feature, in case I need to move
a guest between platforms:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/virtualbox/6.0/user/hostossupport.html
I typically use the GUI, but there is a CLI that can do everything the
GUI can do and more. Or, you can install the headless version if you do
not need or use graphics.
I have shared host directories with guests in the past:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/virtualbox/6.0/user/sharedfolders.html
VirtualBox can also share raw drives:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/virtualization/virtualbox/6.0/admin/adv-storage-config.html
STFW "linux kvm vs. virtualbox 2021", this article made some interesting
points:
https://linuxconfig.org/virtualization-solutions-on-linux-systems-kvm-and-virtualbox#h3-kvm-or-virtualbox
David
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