The review of the newly released VirtualBox 3 by Ryan Paul in ars technica notes that this new version of Sun's open source virtualization solution introduces experimental 3D graphics support and the ability to expose multiple CPUs to guest operating systems.

Paul writes that VirtualBox is becoming especially popular on the Linux platform because its open source licensing makes it easy for Linux distributors to package and deploy. It also generally performs better than Linux's kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), the native virtualization solution of the Linux kernel. VirtualBox 3 also has an excellent user-friendly configuration and VM management interface, he adds.

VirtualBox provides relatively good integration between the guest environment and host environment, according to the review. VirtualBox can do clipboard and folder sharing and can dynamically adjust the guest environment display resolution as the guest window is being resized. One of its most advanced capabilities is a "seamless" mode that allows users to break the windows out of a guest environment and mix them with the windows of the host environment, similar to the Unity feature of VMware Fusion, Paul reports.

While VirtualBox is outpacing its chief rival, VMware Workstation, Paul notes that the competition still retains a number of advantages, such as better support for snapshots. One of the key differentiators of VMware had been its support for virtualized SMP, Paul notes, adding that this feature was finally introduced in VirtualBox 3, which now enables users to expose up to 32 CPUs or CPU cores to a guest environment (this requires chips that support Intel's VT-x extension or AMD-V).

Paul also notes that the VirtualBox developers have gradually been adding support for accelerated 3D graphics. VirtualBox 3 has relatively solid support for OpenGL on Windows and Linux guests. It also has gained experimental support for Direct3D 8 and 9 on Windows. These advancements could make VirtualBox a viable solution for 3D gaming.

Paul writes that he has been testing VirtualBox's 3D graphics support with Linux guests since the 2.2.4 release in May. The Compiz compositing window manager will now work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu guest environments, complete with wobbly windows and 3D cube action, he reports.

In addition to support for SMP and 3D graphics, VirtualBox 3 also resolves a host of bugs, including fixes for suspend/resume on Solaris hosts, fixes for PAE on Mac OS X, and fixes for shared X11 clipboards in Linux guests, according to the review.

Finally, the reviewer declares that VirtualBox is currently his preferred desktop virtualization solution, inducing him to make the jump from VMware Server last year after losing patience with VMware's lousy Linux support. He reports using VirtualBox nearly every day for distro testing and software development, and it has made virtualization an integral part of his workflow.

More Information

VirtualBox 3.0 Released

Download

Changelog

VirtualBox.org

Podcast: What is new in VirtualBox 3.0? - Chhandomay discusses the updates with Andy Hall, Product Manager of VirtualBox at Sun

Doing a Mobile Install of OpenSolaris and VirtualBox on a Laptop

Webinar on Sun VirtualBox [...read more...]

		fullsource
Print Email Current Profile Archive Blog Generate newsletter