ELS Howto: ELS as a VirtualBox Guest

Synopsis

This document outlines the process of setting up the Elemental Linux Server (ELS) to run as a guest operating system under Sun Microsystems' VirtualBox virtualiztion software.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you should have VirtualBox installed on a host operating system. You will also need to download an ISO image of the installation CD from the ELS distribution site.

Installation

1. Use the VirtualBox New Virtual Machine wizard to create a new virtual machine with the following properties.
   • Select Linux as the OS type and Linux 2.6 as the version.
   • Allocate at least 16 MB of base memory.
   • Create a fixed-size virtual hard disk with at least 504 MB of space.
2. Make the following adjustments to the details of the newly created virtual machine.
   • Decrease the video memory to 1 MB.
   • Change the CD/DVD-ROM to point to the ISO image of the ELS installation CD.
   • Change the network adapter so that it is attached to the host interface.
3. Start the virtual machine and follow the ELS installation instructions.

Configuration

This section explains how to configure ELS to work with the emulated hardware devices presented by VirtualBox.

1. Correct the system time by enabling the rtc_local start-up script (e.g. chmod +x /etc/init.d/rtc_local.)
2. When configuring networking, use the pcnet32 kernel module to work with the AMD PCnet emulated NIC.

Note

The clock correction is necessary because VirtualBox keeps the emulated Real Time Clock (RTC) set to local time and the ELS system expects the RTC to be set to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). If rtc_local is not enabled, the system time will always be off.

Additional Information

For additional help with VirtualBox, please refer to the documentation and community support on the VirtualBox web site.

A concise list of emulated hardware devices can be found within the VirtualBox article on Wikipedia.