The third beta release of VirtualBox 3.1 is now available for testing. You can download the binaries for all platforms at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.1.0_BETA3/

In addition to the new features introduced with Beta 1 (live migration, branched snapshots, new OpenSolaris USB support, 2D video acceleration, network changes while VM is running), the following are noteworthy changes since Beta 2.

• VMM: fixes slow OpenSolaris booting (3.1.0 Beta 1 regression)
• GUI: prevent hints being send for guest-initiated resizes
• GUI: fix for saved mouse shape data which was incorrectly updated
• Xml compatibility fixes with 3.0.x (CpuIdTree element)
• Storage/VMDK: fix buffers for really huge VMDK files split into 2G pieces
• EFI: added 64-bit firmware
• 2D support: Saved state save/restore fixes
• 2D support: fixed VM reset issues
• Snapshots: suppresses the automatic resetting of immutable disk images on VM power-up if the machine has snapshots AND the current snapshot is an online snapshot, to avoid data corruption (the machine would otherwise be reset to a state which is equivalent of a poweroff of a running machine without a proper shutdown)
• Guest Additions: fixed a rare guest crash with 2 or more guest CPUs
• Windows Additions: improved file version lookup for guest OS information
• Windows Additions: disabled some debug output
• Linux Additions: fixed guests with Linux 2.4 kernels
• Linux Additions: removed debugging symbols to save space (3.1.0 Beta 2 regression)
• X11 Additions: fixed a bug which re-enabled the graphics (and dynamic resizing) capability when disabling seamless
• X11 Additions: added more default resolutions for old guests
• X11 Additions: workaround a bug in X.Org 1.3 which caused dynamic resizing to fail

Please refer to the VirtualBox 3.1 Beta 3 Changelog for a complete list of changes and enhancements.

Important Note: Please do not use this VirtualBox Beta release on production machines. A VirtualBox Beta release should be considered a bleeding-edge release meant for early evaluation and testing purposes.

Report problems or issues at the VirtualBox Beta Forum.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Virtualization VirtualBox

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 for Solaris is now available for download at the Oracle Technology Network Development. This includes 64 bit binaries for both SPARC and x86. This is pretty exciting news since this is the first time that x86 binaries for Solaris have been available at the same time as SPARC. A big thanks to our friends at Oracle for making this happen.

Let the upgrades and installations begin.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Oracle Database SPARC x86

I would like to thank Chip Bennett and all of the fine folks from Laurus Technologies for hosting the November meeting of the Great Lakes OpenSolaris Users Group (GLUG), especially on such a short notice. It was a pleasure coming back and I enjoyed meeting up some some old friends and making some new ones.

We had a rather nice discussion around recent enhancements to ZFS. As promised, I have posted my slides for your review. Please let me know if you have any trouble downloading them or if you find any confusing or erroneous bits.

I appreciate all of the folks that turned out as well as those that connected to the webcast. I hope to see all of you again at a future meeting.

Now that I have a working OpenSolaris build 128 system, I just had to take ZFS deduplication for a spin, to see if it was worth all of the hype.

Here is my test case: I have 2 directories of photos, totaling about 90MB each. And here's the trick - they are almost complete duplicates of each other. I downloaded all of the photos from the same camera on 2 different days. How many of you do that ? Yeah, me too.

Let's see what ZFS can figure out about all of this. If it is super smart we should end up with a total of 90MB of used space. That's what I'm hoping for.

The first step is to create the pool and turn on deduplication from the beginning.

# zpool create -f scooby -O dedup=on c2t2d0s2

This will use sha256 for determining if 2 blocks are the same. Since sha256 has such a low collision probability (something like 1x10^-77), we will not turn on automatic verification. If we were using an algorithm like fletcher4 which has a higher collision rate we should also perform a complete block compare before allowing the block removal (dedup=fletcher4,verify)

Now copy the first 180MB (remember, this is 2 sets of 90MB which are nearly identical sets of photos).

# zfs create scooby/doo
# cp -r /pix/Alaska* /scooby/doo

And the second set.

# zfs create scooby/snack
# cp -r /pix/Alaska* /scooby/snack

And finally the third set.

# zfs create scooby/dooby
# cp -r /pix/Alaska* /scooby/dooby

Let's make sure there are in fact three copies of the photos.

# df -k | grep scooby
scooby               74230572      25 73706399     1%    /scooby
scooby/doo           74230572  174626 73706399     1%    /scooby/doo
scooby/snack         74230572  174626 73706399     1%    /scooby/snack
scooby/dooby         74230572  174625 73706399     1%    /scooby/dooby

OK, so far so good. But I can't quite tell if the deduplication is actually doing anything. With all that free space, it's sort of hard to see. Let's look at the pool properties.

# zpool get all scooby
NAME    PROPERTY       VALUE       SOURCE
scooby  size           71.5G       -
scooby  capacity       0%          -
scooby  altroot        -           default
scooby  health         ONLINE      -
scooby  guid           5341682982744598523  default
scooby  version        22          default
scooby  bootfs         -           default
scooby  delegation     on          default
scooby  autoreplace    off         default
scooby  cachefile      -           default
scooby  failmode       wait        default
scooby  listsnapshots  off         default
scooby  autoexpand     off         default
scooby  dedupratio     5.98x       -
scooby  free           71.4G       -
scooby  allocated      86.8M       -

Now this is telling us something.

First notice the allocated space. Just shy of 90MB. But there's 522MB of data (174MB x 3). But only 87MB used out of the pool. That's a good start.

Now take a look at the dedupratio. Almost 6. And that's exactly what we would expect, if ZFS is as good as we are lead to believe. 3 sets of 2 duplicate directories is 6 total copies of the same set of photos. And ZFS caught every one of them.

So if you want to do this yourself, point your OpenSolaris package manager at the dev repository and wait for build 128 packages to show up. If you need instructions on using the OpenSolaris dev repository, point the browser of your choice at http://pkg.opensolaris.org/dev/en/index.shtml. And if you can't wait for the packages to show up, you can always .

Technocrati Tags: Sun Solaris ZFS FMA Netherton

The second beta release of VirtualBox 3.1 is now available for testing. You can download the binaries for all platforms at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.1.0_BETA2/

In addition to the new features introduced with Beta 1 (live migration, branched snapshots, new OpenSolaris USB support, 2D video acceleration, network changes while VM is running), the following changes have gone into this release.

• Fixed snapshots of VMs with empty DVD attachments (3.1.0 Beta 1 regression)
• Fixed snapshots of VMs with multiple attached disk drives (3.1.0 Beta 1 regression)
• GUI: fixed a crash in the snapshots widget
• VMM: guest SMP fixes in rare cases
• VMM: fixed kernel panic with older Linux kernels, e.g. CentOS 5.3 (APIC; 3.0.12 + 3.1.0 Beta 1 regression)
• 3D support: fixed Final frame of Compiz animation not updated to the screen (public ticket #4653, partly fixed, needs more work)
• 2D/3D support, Windows: fix gl support test failure when VBox installation path contains spaces
• 2D support: fix saved state restore failure when 2D is active and used by the guest (Playing a Video)
• Creating a new VM sometimes failed (3.1.0 Beta 1 regression)
• VBoxManage clonehd was broken if the same image was cloned concurrently
• added VBoxManage usage information for Floppy/DVD images
• Linux Additions: properly disable the seamless mode if the guest doesn't support it
• Windows Additions: fixed high usage of VBoxService on Windows guests (3.1.0 Beta 1 regression)
• Windows Additions: VBox Credential Provider fixes
• Windows guests: fixed invisible mouse pointer when VM was restored from a saved state.
• VirtIO: performance improvements
• EFI: 32-bpp VGA driver was added.

Please refer to the VirtualBox 3.1 Beta 2 Changelog for a complete list of changes and enhancements. Also please read the known issues before installing this beta release.

Important Note: Please do not use this VirtualBox Beta release on production machines. A VirtualBox Beta release should be considered a bleeding-edge release meant for early evaluation and testing purposes.

Report problems or issues at the VirtualBox Beta Forum.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Virtualization VirtualBox

VirtualBox 3.0.12 has been released for all platforms. 3.0.12 is a maintenance release.

Changes in VirtualBox 3.0.12 include

• VMM: reduced IO-APIC overhead for 32 bits Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 guests; requires 64 bits support (VT-x only)
• VMM: fixed double timer interrupt delivery on old Linux kernels using IO-APIC (caused guest time to run at double speed)
• VMM: reinitialize VT-x and AMD-V after host suspend or hibernate; some BIOSes forget this (Windows hosts only)
• VMM: fix loading of saved state when RAM preallocation is enabled
• BIOS: ignore unknown shutdown codes instead of causing a guru meditation
• GUI: never start a VM on a single click into the selector window
• Serial: reduce the probability of lost bytes if the host end is connected to a raw file
• VMDK: fix handling of split image variants and fix a 3.0.10 regression
• VRDP: fixed occasional VRDP server crash
• Network: even if the virtual network cable was disconnected, some guests were able to send / receive packets (E1000)
• Network: even if the virtual network cable was disconnected, the PCNet card received some spurious packets which might confuse the guest
• Shared folders: fixed changing case of file names
• Windows Additions: fix crash in seamless mode
• Linux Additions: fix writing to files opened in O_APPEND mode
• Solaris Additions: fix regression in guest additions driver which among other things caused lost guest property updates and periodic error messages being written to the system log

For a complete list of the changes in this release, please take a look at the VirtualBox Changelog.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Virtualization VirtualBox

The first beta release of VirtualBox 3.1 is now available. You can download the binaries at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/3.1.0_BETA1/

Version 3.1 will be a major update. The following major new features have been added:

• Migration of a VM session from one system to another (Teleportation)
• VM states can be restored from an arbitrary snaphot (Branched snapshots)
• New snapshots can be taken from other snapshots (allows for forking VMs)
• 2D video acceleration for Windows guests using the host video hardware for overlay stretching and colour conversion
• The network attachment type can be changed while a VM is running
• Experimental support for new USB features in OpenSolaris hosts (nv124 and later)
• Significant performance improvements for PAE and AMD64 guests (VT-x and AMD-V only; normal (non-nested) paging)
• Experimental support for EFI (Extended Firmware Interface)

A particularly nice new feature in the user interface is a red/green visual indicator on critical resource allocation controls.




These are relative to the capacity of the system and not what resources are currently free, but should prevent accidental overallocation of resources like CPU or memory.

Important: You should reinstall the guest additions after upgrading to the beta release.

If you experience problems after upgrading to the beta release (such as SMP Solaris getting upset with heavy network load) you can reinstall an older version of VirtualBox. Just remember to reinstall the guest additions after the downgrade.

If your VMs are in an Inaccessible state check the XML configuration files. In the details panel you should see something like

Could not load the settings file 'D:
\blah\.VirtualBox\Machines\Chapterhouse (Solaris 10)\Chapterhouse (Solaris 10).xml'

Element '{http://innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings}CpuIdTree': This element is not expected.
Result Code:          VBOX_E_XML_ERROR  (0x80BB000A)
Component:            VirtualBox
Interface:            IVirtualBox {3fab53a-199b-4526-a91a-93ff62e456b8}

Using the editor of your choice, open the XML file in the error message and remove the <CpuIdTree\> tag. Save the file and hit the refresh button in the VirtualBox window and you should be able to restart your VM.

Please refer to the VirtualBox 3.1 Beta 1 Changelog for a complete list of changes and enhancements. Please do not use this VirtualBox Beta release on production machines. A VirtualBox Beta release should be considered a bleeding-edge release meant for early evaluation and testing purposes. Please read the known issues before installing this beta release.

Please use our 'VirtualBox Beta Feedback' forum at http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewforum.php?f=15 to report any problems with the Beta.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Virtualization VirtualBox

VirtualBox 3.0.10 has been released for all platforms. 3.0.10 is a maintenance release and contains quite a few performance and stability improvements.

# psrinfo -v
Status of virtual processor 0 as of: 10/30/2009 14:33:18
  on-line since 10/30/2009 08:18:50.
  The i386 processor operates at 2613 MHz,
	and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
Status of virtual processor 1 as of: 10/30/2009 14:33:18
  on-line since 10/30/2009 08:18:52.
  The i386 processor operates at 2613 MHz,
	and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
Status of virtual processor 2 as of: 10/30/2009 14:33:18
  on-line since 10/30/2009 08:18:52.
  The i386 processor operates at 2613 MHz,
	and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
Status of virtual processor 3 as of: 10/30/2009 14:33:18
  on-line since 10/30/2009 08:18:52.
  The i386 processor operates at 2613 MHz,
	and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.

As you can see my 4 CPU Solaris guest is running just fine. I was encouraged after 3.0.8 but under heavy network loads the SMP guest would lock up. I've been playing youtube videos while doing live upgrades for the last couple of hours and everything seems to be running as expected.

Changes in VirtualBox 3.0.10 include

• VMM: guest SMP stability fixes
• VMM: fixed guru meditation with nested paging and SMP guests
• VMM: changed VT-x/AMD-V usage to detect other active hypervisors; necessary for e.g. Windows 7 XP compatibility mode (Windows & Mac OS X hosts only)
• VMM: guru meditation during SCO OpenServer installation and reboot (VT-x only)
• VMM: fixed accessed bit handling in certain cases
• VMM: fixed VPID flushing (VT-x only)
• VMM: fixed broken nested paging for 64 bits guests on 32 bits hosts (AMD-V only)
• VMM: fixed loading of old saved states/snapshots
• Mac OS X hosts: fixed memory leaks
• Mac OS X hosts (Snow Leopard): fixed redraw problem in a dual screen setup
• Windows hosts: installer updates for Windows 7
• Solaris hosts: out of memory handled incorrectly
• Solaris hosts: the previous fix for #5077 broke the DVD host support on Solaris 10 (VBox 3.0.8 regression)
• Linux hosts: fixed module compilation against Linux 2.6.32rc4 and later
• Guest Additions: fixed possible guest OS kernel memory exhaustion
• Guest Additions: fixed stability issues with SMP guests
• Windows Additions: fixed color depth issue with low resolution hosts, netbooks, etc.
• Windows Additions: fixed NO_MORE_FILES error when saving to shared folders
• Windows Additions: fixed subdirectory creation on shared folders
• Linux Additions: sendfile() returned -EOVERFLOW when executed on a shared folder
• Linux Additions: fixed incorrect disk usage value (non-Windows hosts only)
• Linux installer: register the module sources at DKMS even if the package provides proper modules for the current running kernel
• 3D support: removed invalid OpenGL assertion
• Network: fixed the Am79C973 PCNet emulation for QNX (and probably other) guests
• VMDK: fix handling of split image variants
• VHD: do not delay updating the footer when expanding the image to prevent image inconsistency
• USB: stability fix for some USB 2.0 devices
• GUI: added a search index to the .chm help file
• GUI/Windows hosts: fixed CapsLock handling on French keyboards
• Shared clipboard/X11 hosts: fixed a crash when clipboard initialisation failed

If you are running on a Solaris or OpenSolaris host you should reboot your systems after reloading the kernel driver as soon as it is convenient. This is a temporary situation that is expected to be resolved soon.

For a complete list of the changes in this release, please take a look at the VirtualBox Changelog.

Technocrati Tags: Sun Virtualization VirtualBox

Truculent (n) - A borrowed vehicle, normally from a neighbor or family member.

Usage: I've returned that truculent me last week.

Biathlon (v) - Choosing an AMD motherboard over Intel for your next home computer project.

Iconoclast (n) - Your most recent Twitter profile picture.

Latency (adv) - A warning, generally issued to teenagers.

Usage: You can go to the movies with your friends, but come home latency that you will be grounded for the next two weeks.

IO Channel (n) - A new cable TV network dedicated to actors who made careers out of playing peripheral characters.

hypervisor (n) - the type of boss that wants regular status reports. Hourly.

paravirtualization (n) - what happens when you run both VMware and VirtualBox in your environment.