https://github.com/mike10004/virtualbox-auto

systemd service to automatically start and stop VirtualBox VMs
https://github.com/mike10004/virtualbox-auto

Last synced: 15 days ago
JSON representation

systemd service to automatically start and stop VirtualBox VMs

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/mike10004/virtualbox-auto
• Owner: mike10004
• License: other
• Created: 2016-10-12T20:23:34.000Z (about 8 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2018-10-16T17:51:33.000Z (about 6 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-10-08T09:20:20.439Z (3 months ago)
• Language: Python
• Size: 20.5 KB
• Stars: 1
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        
virtualbox-auto

===============

This is a **systemd** service that starts and stops VirtualBox VMs on

system boot and shutdown.

## Installation and configuration

Download the latest release here: https://github.com/mike10004/virtualbox-auto/releases

Install by executing 

    $ sudo dpkg --install build/virtualbox-auto_${VERSION}_all.deb

(Replace `${VERSION}` with the appropriate string.)

Specify that a VM is to be automatically started and stopped by creating

a file in the configuration directory `/etc/virtualbox-auto`. See `CONFIG.md` 

for details, but as a quick tutorial, if you create a file named 

`/etc/virtualbox-auto/quickstart.auto` and populate it with text

    {

        "id": "my_machine",

        "user": "vmowner",             

        "stop_action": "savestate"

    }

...then on system boot, the service will start the VM named 

`my_machine` that is owned by `vmowner`, and on system shutdown the

service will stop the VM with the `savestate` command.

## Background

Everyone knows that if you want to start VMs automatically on host boot, all 

you need to do is read https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#autostart

and *voila*, they start. However, if you actually go and do that, at least

on Linux, you find that nothing happens. If you dig deeper, you learn that

there's an `init` service called `vboxautostart-service`, but then if you dig

just a little bit deeper, you find that the service is not present in 

VirtualBox versions 5.0 and above. Plus, it was an `init` service, and your

PID 1 is probably *systemd* now, so you can't even just downgrade. 

The **virtualbox-auto.service** *systemd* unit simplifies some configuration 

aspects of automatically starting VMs on host boot, and for better or worse 

it avoids using the stock mechanism at all. Some features that the stock 

mechanism supports are not available here, so it may not fit your needs as 

well. On the upside, it's pretty simple to understand how it works.

On boot, the *systemd* unit executes `virtualbox_auto_start.py`, which reads

your configuration files and uses `VBoxManage` to start machines in headless 

mode. On shutdown, the unit executes `virtualbox_auto_stop.py`, which stops 

those machines.

## Building the installer

You can build a `.deb` package for the service by running 

    $ ./make-package.sh

from the directory where the repository was cloned. Your mileage may 

vary with that script, but if it works it will create a file named 

`build/virtualbox-auto_${VERSION}_all.deb`.