Romero - VirtualBox 3.1: beginners guide. - Description based on print version record. - Includes index

Alfonso V. Romero has been working with Linux and open source software since 1999, when he started operating his first web server (Apache) from a PC at home. Since then he's been working for several clients in Mexico as a Java, C++, and web applications developer. He also works for Pearson Education in Mexico as a Computer Books Freelance Translator and Consultant. When he's not experimenting with new trends in open source and .NET applications, he enjoys spending some quality time with his beautiful wife, three kids, and three dogs, or playing his old electric Ibanez guitar.

He's also a big fan of Stephen King, and one of his maximum aspirations is to write a fiction novel, but his passion for computers and information technology keeps him busy as a technical writer.

To God, without whom I'd never be where I am now...

To Adelina my wife, the love of my life. I cannot thank you enough for your patience, love, encouragement, and support that kept me going no matter what happened along the way... I love you very, very much! My heart will always be yours!

To my two daughters Adelina and Arlae, and to my son Alfonso Jr., because every time I got writer's block they always managed to cheer me up with a smile, a kiss, or a hug... I love you infinitely, guys! Finally I'm going to be able to spend quality time with you in the park!

To my mother Estela, my father Alfonso, my brother Richard, and my sister Lucy, for their unconditional support, and for showing me that patience, perseverance, and stubbornness will always help you achieve whatever you're up to.

To Sarah, Pallabi, Shubhanjan, Reshma, and all the staff at Packt Publishing for being such a great support team.

To the VirtualBox team, for developing such a great product!

James Selvakumar Samraj Eliyezar is a Software Engineer who graduated from National Engineering College, Kovilpatti, India. He has more than five years of experience in developing applications for banking and financial industry. He develops primarily in Java but loves dynamic languages such as Groovy and Python. Ubuntu Linux is his favorite operating system. In his free time, he likes to blog, tweet, and read.

I would love to thank my mother Elizabeth, wife Serene, and my little son Nithil Jeremiah who are the constant source of motivation and encouragement. I would also like to thank my boss Davethu Jacob for giving me the freedom to explore and innovate.

The furore around virtualization is taking the technology world by storm and is a must for efficient utilization of network server capacity, storage administration, energy, and capital. VirtualBox is free which brings down your upfront costs for an agile data center. VirtualBox will transform your IT infrastructure into a lean data center on a Windows XP/Vista/7, Windows 2003/2008 Server, Linux, Macintosh, or OpenSolaris platform. Although VirtualBox has grown by leaps and bounds, there is not enough documentation to guide you through its features and implementation.

This hands-on guide gives you a thorough introduction to this award-winning virtualization product. It will help you implement the right virtual environment for you. Additionally, this book will help you set up an environment that will work for your system. You will learn to architect and deploy your first virtual machine without being overwhelmed by technical details.

This practical book unveils the robust capabilities and easy-to-use graphical interface of VirtualBox to help you effectively administer and use virtual machines in a home or office environment. You begin by creating your first virtual machine on a Windows/Linux guest operating system and installing Guest Additions. The book then goes on to discuss the various formats that VirtualBox supports and how it interacts with other formats. The comprehensive instructions will help you to work with all the networking modes offered by VirtualBox. Virtual appliances will be explained in detailhow they help to reduce installation time for virtual machines and run them from VirtualBox.

By the end of this book, you will be able to run your own headless VirtualBox server to create, manage, and run virtual machines in that server from a remote PC.