Oracle VM VirtualBox should be your first choice
August 22, 2016
Oracle VM VirtualBox should be your first choice
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Oracle VM VirtualBox
I've been using Oracle VM VirtualBox during the last 3 years as a hypervisor for many virtual machines I use to develop and test software. Oracle VM VirtualBox provides a very easy interface with a clear step by step process to set up, run and export/import VMs. Oracle VM VirtualBox allows me to use a Windows OS inside my MacBook Pro without the need to purchase a separate Windows installed laptop. I've also used Oracle VM VirtualBox to run many Linux based virtual machines without any issues. On Oracle VM VirtualBox, I can save all my VM images and export it for future use, or to share it with my colleagues. It's free and very reliable.
- Hypervisor to run any versions of Windows and Linux without any issues.
- Ability to import and export VM images to reuse or share them.
- Very easy set of commands to control functionality as well as a simple UI if you are not a terminal guy.
- I use it with vagrant to set up a provisioning process on-the-go.
- Free of any fees or subscriptions and very cost effective to manage and handle.
- Good documentation and a lot of support and updates.
- The memory footprint is high, and requires above 8 GB of memory to run an Ubuntu VM smoothly (considering developing inside ubuntu OS inside a MacBook Pro).
- Some known issues with OVF/OVA images import/export. We had the issue of some sections in OVF being ignored (especially Startup and Install sections).
- Some intermittent issues when mounting external hard drives and trying to access them from within the running VM.
- Minimal-to-no support needed from the DevOps team.
- Provides a direct and an easy way to access multiple VMs inside the same machines which enables performing various testing and QA tasks without the need to switch hardware.
- Automatic provisioning using tools (esp. Vagrant) which enables developing a base image once, and allows for exporting/importing anywhere across the developers team.
- Very cost-effective (no fees or monthly subscriptions).
Oracle VM VirtualBox is a good hypervisor, for the reasons mentioned above. However, working also with VMWare, I noticed that Oracle VM VirtualBox's memory consumption is always higher than VMWare, and that Oracle VM VirtualBox doesn't allow for running multiple VMs simultaneously (a feature we needed to test once). However, Oracle VM VirtualBox is still a winner when it comes to UI/UX and easy instructions and documentations. Any developer of any level can work with Oracle VM VirtualBox without the need to have a previous knowledge of system administration, unlike the other products in the market.