Item: Oracle VM VirtualBox
Rating: 9
Author: Mauro Carrillo

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Oracle VM VirtualBox is used by our internal IT department to test various operating systems and applications. It's a very useful tool to stand up to a virtualized environment for testing. It's easy to use and manage.

Pros and Cons

This open source software is a powerful tool to test deployment of any new OS and applications.
VirtualBox is a general-purpose virtualizer of hardware that can host any targeted server or desktop.

Compatibility issues. At times there seems to be errors when configuring a virtual machine with newer OS. For example, Windows 10.
Lack of support. Being that this is an Open Source software there is very little support as far as articles available to troubleshoot issues.

Return on Investment

This being an Open Source application it's a no-brainer when looking for an inexpensive way to simulate a virtual environment.

Alternatives Considered

Citrix Hypervisor (formerly XenServer) and BMC Virtualization Management

The preferred solution was Oracle VM VirtualBox due to the cost-effectiveness and type of stand-alone testing that we were looking to accomplish. As previously stated this is by no means an enterprise solution like other systems. Its more for a standalone system.

Other Software Used

Mitel Applications Suite, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), Asigra

Likelihood to Recommend

This solution is great for anyone who needs to virtualize a system and is looking for an inexpensive way of creating a test environment. This is, however, not a cloud-based solution in any way. This is more of a stand alone for a quick deployment.

Open Source VM

Overall Satisfaction with Oracle VM VirtualBox