Revolutionize Your Workstation Setup: Learn How to Create a Powerful Linux Virtualization Platform Now!

Are you struggling to maintain a stable and efficient workstation? Do you want to explore the potential of Linux Virtualization platforms and reduce your hardware expenses? If yes, then you have come to the right place.

Linux Virtualization, also known as containerization, emulates multiple virtual environments on a single physical host. It enables you to run multiple operating systems, applications, and services simultaneously without affecting each other. This approach eliminates the need for physical hardware and simplifies the IT management process.

In this article, we will outline the steps to create a Linux Virtualization platform on your workstation using the popular open-source software VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a user-friendly software that allows you to run multiple virtual machines on top of a host operating system. It supports a wide range of guests including Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Let’s dive into the step-by-step process to create a powerful Linux Virtualization platform using VirtualBox.

Step 1: Install VirtualBox

The first step is to download and install VirtualBox on your workstation. You can download the latest version of VirtualBox from the official website here. Once downloaded, follow the instructions to install the software on your workstation.

Step 2: Download Linux Distributions

The next step is to download the Linux distributions that you want to run on your Virtualization platform. You can choose from a wide range of Linux distributions depending on your requirements. For example, if you want to use Linux for web development, you can choose Ubuntu, Debian, or CentOS.

You can download the Linux distribution from their official website. Make sure to download the ISO image of the distribution.

Step 3: Create a Virtual Machine

After installing VirtualBox and downloading the Linux distribution, it’s time to create a virtual machine. Open VirtualBox and click on the “New” button to create a new virtual machine. Follow the instructions and provide the necessary information such as the name of the virtual machine, type of operating system, and amount of RAM.

Step 4: Install Linux Distribution

Once the virtual machine is created, select it from the VirtualBox interface and click on the “Settings” button. In the settings, select the “Storage” tab and click on the “Empty” CD/DVD drive under the “Controller: IDE” section. Click on the “Choose Virtual Optical Disk File” option and browse the ISO image of the Linux distribution that you downloaded earlier.

Start the virtual machine and follow the instructions to install the Linux distribution just like you would on a physical machine.

Step 5: Install VirtualBox Guest Additions

Once the Linux distribution is installed, install the VirtualBox guest additions. Guest additions are a set of drivers and software that enhance the performance of the virtual machine. They also enable features such as seamless windows, shared clipboard, and drag-and-drop between the host and guest systems.

To install guest additions, select the virtual machine from the VirtualBox interface and click on the “Devices” menu. Select the “Insert Guest Additions CD Image” option to mount the guest additions ISO image inside the virtual machine. Follow the instructions to install the guest additions just like you would on a physical machine.

Repeat steps 3 to 5 to create additional virtual machines running different Linux distributions.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a powerful Linux Virtualization platform using VirtualBox. You can now run multiple Linux distributions on a single physical workstation and reduce your hardware expenses. This approach also simplifies the IT management process by enabling you to manage all your virtual machines from a single interface.

In conclusion, Linux Virtualization is an efficient and cost-effective alternative to physical hardware. With the help of VirtualBox, you can easily create and manage a Linux Virtualization platform on your workstation. We hope this article has given you the necessary knowledge and skills to revolutionize your workstation setup.

Virtualization is becoming more common nowadays. The ability to take your existing machine and provision multiple virtual machines helps tremendously with things like education, testing and experimentation, and productivity. Linux being as popular and powerful as it is, is a great place to start building a virtualization server or workstation for your own personal use. Covered here is how to create a Linux virtualization workstation from scratch. 

Virtualization Hardware Compatibility

Before you start installing any packages, you’ll want to make sure your CPU supports hardware virtualization. Many modern laptop and desktop CPUs do, but it’s good to check. The commands below will check your “/proc/cpuinfo” file for the necessary technology. If you’re not sure what you have in your system, try both – it won’t hurt anything. 

My system has an Intel CPU, so my output looks like the following image. 

If you don’t get any output on either of those commands, you can also just look at the output of lscpu and find the “Virtualization” section. Mine looks like the next image.

We know that my system is set up to handle virtualization. I’d also recommend at least 8 GB of RAM in your system. For the best experience, I’d recommend 16, 32 or even 64 GB RAM. That will give you plenty of room to set up and run multiple VMs without worrying about running out of RAM, and you could create full client/server networks or workstation fleets all on one system.

Installing KVM

KVM stands for Kernel-based Virtual Machine, and it’s the best Linux-native hypervisor out there. Performance is excellent, and there are multiple ways for you to manage your KVM virtual machines. QEMU often goes along with KVM as a way to emulate hardware.

To install everything you’ll need for your server, run the following commands:

For Fedora:

For Ubuntu/Ubuntu-based distro:

Once you have KVM installed, make sure you check that the kernel module is loaded with this command:

And that you start and enable the daemon for KVM with the command below:

Your output should look like the following image.

Many other guides will now have you set up a bridge for all your VMs to access the outside network. I won’t cover that here, but here’s a link out to the Arch Wiki that teaches you a bunch of different ways to do it. This will be helpful if you want your VMs to provide services to your broader network, but if you’re just using it for testing and sandboxing, the default network options are just fine.

Installing and Managing KVM VMs with a GUI

There are several ways you can manage your KVM virtual machines. If you’re using a graphical desktop for your Linux workstation or server, you can use Virtual Machine Manager or GNOME Boxes*, or if you’re running a CLI-only server and are looking for a GUI interface for it, you can use Cockpit and manage your VMS by installing the “Machines” application in the “Applications” menu in the interface. All of these GUI tools will also allow you to install KVM VMs.

*GNOME Boxes is easily the simplest way to deal with KVM virtual machines, but you don’t get anywhere near the same control that you get with the other offerings in terms of networking, storage, and hardware configuration.

Installing KVM VMs from the Terminal

You can also use CLI tools that come with the packages installed by the commands above. virt-install is a great tool to install KVM virtual machines without having to mess around with XML definitions. There are many different options available to use with virt-install. However, I’ve had the most success with the following template:

This should define all the aspects you’ll need for the system. You can also install over the network, import images, and specify the location of the disk by specifying “path=/PATH/TO/DIR/DISKNAME.qcow2” after the size option separated by a comma. Here’s a link to Red Hat’s documentation on virt-install.

This will open Remote Viewer (also called virt-viewer) and allow you to go through the OS install process normally. You’ll need access to a GUI, so if your server is headless, I’d recommend using Cockpit as mentioned above. You can also use kickstart files to install RHEL-based distros with virt-install.

Managing KVM VMs from the Terminal

The primary command you’ll be using to manage KVM VMs is virsh. It’s available as either a command or as an interactive shell, so entering it is as simple as typing sudo virsh and pressing Enter.

For a couple examples, you can now list all your domains with list –all, start domains with start, and shut down domains with shutdown.

There are a huge number of virsh options, so I encourage you to check out the man pages and dig into all the great things you can manage from the terminal about your machines.

You can also SSH into your VMs using their IP Address. They get IPs from the virbr0 interface, and the VMs’ interfaces are open to SSH access by default.

Now that you have a virtualization workstation on your Linux system, make sure you learn how to easily speed up your virtual machines and access your Linux VMs using VNC.

John is a young technical professional with a passion for educating users on the best ways to use their technology. He holds technical certifications covering topics ranging from computer hardware to cybersecurity to Linux system administration.

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