Index: /trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_AdvancedTopics.xml =================================================================== --- /trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_AdvancedTopics.xml (revision 42418) +++ /trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_AdvancedTopics.xml (revision 42419) @@ -1544,5 +1544,5 @@ - + Disabling the Guest Additions time synchronization @@ -1728,5 +1728,5 @@ GUI customization - + There are several advanced customization settings for locking down the VirtualBox manager, that is, removing some features that the user @@ -1866,9 +1866,9 @@ VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/Input/MachineShortcuts "FullscreenMode=None,SeamlessMode=None" - + Action when terminating the VM - + You can disallow certain actions when terminating a VM. To disallow specific actions, type: @@ -2095,13 +2095,13 @@ Starting with VirtualBox 4.2 the memory ballooning service formerly known as VBoxBalloonCtrl was renamed to - VBoxWatchdog, which now incorporates several host services that are meant + VBoxWatchdog, which now incorporates several host services that are meant to be run in a server environment. - + These services are: - Memory ballooning control, which automatically takes care of + Memory ballooning control, which automatically takes care of a VM's configured memory balloon (see - for an introduction to memory ballooning). This especially is useful - for server environments where VMs may dynamically require more or + for an introduction to memory ballooning). This especially is useful + for server environments where VMs may dynamically require more or less memory during runtime. @@ -2114,25 +2114,25 @@ Host isolation detection, which provides a way to detect whether the host cannot reach the specific VirtualBox server instance anymore - and take appropriate actions, such as shutting down, saving the + and take appropriate actions, such as shutting down, saving the current state or even powering down certain VMs. - + All configuration values can be either specified via command line or global extradata, whereas command line values always have a higher priority when set. Some of the configuration values also be be specified on a per-VM basis. So - the overall lookup order is: command line, per-VM basis extradata (if available), + the overall lookup order is: command line, per-VM basis extradata (if available), global extradata. - + Memory ballooning control The memory ballooning control inflates and deflates the memory balloon of VMs based on the VMs free memory and the desired maximum balloon size. - + To set up the memory ballooning control the maximum ballooning size a - VM can reach needs to be set. This can be specified via command line with - --balloon-max <Size in MB>, on a per-VM basis extradata value with + VM can reach needs to be set. This can be specified via command line with + --balloon-max <Size in MB>, on a per-VM basis extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata <VM-Name> VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonSizeMax <Size in MB> or using a global extradata value with @@ -2141,25 +2141,25 @@ the parameters above, no ballooning will be performed at all. - - Setting the ballooning increment in MB can be either done via + + Setting the ballooning increment in MB can be either done via command line with - --balloon-inc <Size in MB> or using a global + --balloon-inc <Size in MB> or using a global extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonIncrementMB <Size in MB> Default ballooning increment is 256 MB if not specified. - + Same goes with the ballooning decrement: Via command line with - --balloon-dec <Size in MB> or using a global + --balloon-dec <Size in MB> or using a global extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonDecrementMB <Size in MB> Default ballooning decrement is 128 MB if not specified. - + To define the lower limit in MB a balloon can be the command line with - --balloon-lower-limit <Size in MB> can be used or using a global + --balloon-lower-limit <Size in MB> can be used or using a global extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonLowerLimitMB <Size in MB> is available. Default lower limit is 128 if not specified. - + Host isolation detection @@ -2168,25 +2168,25 @@ alternating value to a global extradata value within a time period. If this value is not set within that time period a timeout occurred and the - so-called host isolation response will be performed to the VMs handled. + so-called host isolation response will be performed to the VMs handled. Which VMs are handled can be controlled by defining VM groups and assigning VMs to those groups. By default no groups are set, meaning that all VMs - on the server will be handled when no host response is received within + on the server will be handled when no host response is received within 30 seconds. - + To set the groups handled by the host isolation detection via command line: - --apimon-groups=<string[,stringN]> or using a global + --apimon-groups=<string[,stringN]> or using a global extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/APIMonitor/Groups <string[,stringN]> - + To set the host isolation timeout via command line: - --apimon-isln-timeout=<ms> or using a global + --apimon-isln-timeout=<ms> or using a global extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/APIMonitor/IsolationTimeoutMS <ms> - + To set the actual host isolation response via command line: - --apimon-isln-response=<cmd> or using a global + --apimon-isln-response=<cmd> or using a global extradata value with VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/APIMonitor/IsolationResponse <cmd> @@ -2219,12 +2219,12 @@ - + More information - For more advanced options and parameters like verbose logging check - the built-in command line help accessible with + For more advanced options and parameters like verbose logging check + the built-in command line help accessible with --help. - - + + @@ -2267,3 +2267,69 @@ installed):VBoxManage setproperty vrdeextpack "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" + + + Starting virtual machines during system boot + + Starting with VirtualBox 4.2.0 it is possible to start VMs automatically during + system boot on Linux and Mac OS X for all users. + + + Linux: starting the autostart service via <computeroutput>init</computeroutput> + + On Linux, the autostart service is activated by setting two variables in + /etc/default/virtualbox. + The first one is VBOXAUTOSTART_DB which + contains an absolute path to the autostart database directory. + The directory should have write access for every user who should be able to + start virtual machines automatically. Furthermore the directory should have the + sticky bit set. + The second variable is VBOXAUTOSTART_CONFIG + which points the service to the autostart configuration file which is used + during boot to determine whether to allow individual users to start a VM + automatically and configure startup delays. + The config file can be placed in /etc/vbox + and contains several options. One is default_policy + which controls whether the autostart service allows or denies to start a VM + for users which are not in the exception list. + The exception list starts with exception_list + and contains a comma seperated list with usernames. Furthermore a separate + startup delay can be configured for every user to avoid overloading the host. + A sample configuration is given below: + + +# Default policy is to deny starting a VM, the other option is "allow". +default_policy = deny +# Users which are allowed are given below. +# If the default policy is to allow starting a VM is not allowed for the users below. +exception_list = bob, alice, joe + +bob = 30 # Bobs machines will be started 30 seconds after the autostart service started +alice = 180 # Alice machines will be started 180 seconds after the autostart service started +joe = 240 # Joes machines will be started 240 seconds after the autostart service started + + + Every user who wants to enable autostart for individual machines + has to set the path to the autostart database directory with + VBoxManage setproperty autostartdbpath <Autostart directory> + + + + + Mac OS X: starting the autostart service via launchd + + On Mac OS X, launchd is used to start the VirtualBox autostart service. An + example configuration file can be found in + /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/org.virtualbox.vboxautostart.plist. + To enable the service copy the file to /Library/LaunchDaemons and change the + Disabled key from + true to + false. Furthermore replace the second parameter + to an existing configuration file which has the same format as on Linux (see ). + To manually start the service use the following command: + launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.virtualbox.vboxautostart.plist + For additional information on how launchd services could be + configured see http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/BPSystemStartup/BPSystemStartup.html. + +