Item: Oracle VM VirtualBox
Rating: 10
Author: Claudio Fernando Maciel

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Oracle VM VirtualBox as the base for virtualizing all Docker as well as Vagrant machines in the computers which are Windows-based. There are several computers, both dev, and test servers which take advantage of virtualization services in our company, thus Oracle VM Virtual Box comes to our aid in a very satisfactory way.

Pros and Cons

Easy zero to hero configuration.
Excellent backup (snapshot) functionality, which one can take advantage of at a few clicks in order to restore an old snapshot.
Scripting functionalities, which we use in our dev and testing servers to bring different machines up, during services bootstrapping.

Memory and processing segmentation. Differently from technologies such as Docker (in Linux), one must segment the overall RAM and Processor usage in order to spare it to the virtual machine being created.
Faulty recovery when virtual machines improperly shutdown. As one needs to bring the faulted machine up again, there is a sequence of clean up that must take place before the given virtual machine can be brought back to life.

Return on Investment

Having to setup and maintain certain dev and test topologies may be a painstaking process when bare-metal is the only choice. VM Technologies, such as Oracle VM VirtualBox come to our aid, in that case, greatly saving time and resources for the company.
Its learning curve is almost close to nothing, every new employee that comes to work, even when having zero experience in this technology is able to process its paradigm in almost zero time and start using it right away.
Backups have become a more stable and seamlessly process with Oracle VM VirtualBox, with the snapshot functionality that gives us a better rotating policy means.

Alternatives Considered

Docker

In a Windows environment, Docker would not even be possible, to begin with. Also, on the way around, having a Linux based Machine, without Oracle VM VirtualBox, one would have to create a partitioned disk and enable it at boot time in order to be able to run Windows in such a machine. So, Docker would not be possible for Windows (Thanks Oracle VM VirtualBox!) and Windows software would not be possible in a Linux based environment.

Other Software Used

Docker, Vagrant

Likelihood to Recommend

Oracle is advisable for both creating a constellation of different OS's inside the same machine, thus separating the varied configurations that may be necessary for each virtual machine. One can in this way avoid all the hassle of having way too many versions of systems, such as a Java Version Machine, for instance, of for solving any other conflicting dependencies that may arise when there are just too many versions and types of systems being used in the company.

If one is looking for something that may be easily copied, Oracle VM VirtualBox may not be the best choice. Docker is better for this (in case Windows is not the base OS), for it gives a scripted way of configuring one's virtual machine, and then pulling it from an online repository.

A very good choice for virtualization

Overall Satisfaction with Oracle VM VirtualBox