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Introduction

VirtualBox is a hypervisor developed by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) that is designed for desktop virtualization. VirtualBox is a desktop solution for building new VM templates for use in Abiquo. This document describes how to create a new OVF virtual appliance with VirtualBox.

Choose an operating system distribution

You may find the operating system distribution you need in our public repository available by default in the Abiquo platform, but if this is not the case you can build your own VM template.

This tutorial will show how to install an OS distributed as an ISO image. In this example we will use a very simple Linux distribution, ArchLinux. This distribution is perfect for cloud environments because of its minimalist approach. You can download the ISO image from the download page.

Create a New Virtual Machine

This VM will mount the ISO or other install disk. It must also be configured using the specified virtual devices if you wish to To guarantee compatibility across different hypervisors, configure it with the specified virtual devices. 

To create a new VM click :

1. Click the New button on the main screen.
   

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1. The Create New Virtual Machine Wizard will open.
   

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2. Enter a

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1. Name for the virtual machine, archlinux, for example.

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1.  
   Select Linux as the Operating System

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1. 
   Select Arch Linux as the Version

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1. . 
   Click Next to continue.
   

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Assign Memory to the VM

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2. Select the amount of memory needed by the operating system. 512 MB should be enough. Click Next to continue.
   

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Hard drive

1. Select

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1. Create a virtual hard drive now

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1.  and click Create

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2. Select

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1. a hard disk format that is compatible with your hypervisors. See Template Compatibility Table.
   For example, for KVM hypervisors, you could select QCOW; for VMware hypervisors, you could select VMDK; and for Hyper-V, you could select VHD. 
   

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2. If required, select dynamic or fixed disk.
   1. Fixed Size will convert to other hypervisor formats more quickly than dynamically allocated.
   2. Dynamically allocated will produce a smaller disk file when the disk is not very full.
3. Click Next to continue.
   

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2. Enter the

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1. Name of the virtual disk, archlinux would be a good name (VirtualBox will add an extension). You can also change the default path by clicking on the icon to the right of the text box.
   This disk will be the disk the Operating System will use. 
2. We will now create a Virtual Disk of 2 GB; this is enough for basic tasks in an operating system. If you need to perform more complex tasks, do not hesitate to create bigger disks. Remember that disks of more than 2 GB will be broken into multiple parts by the browser upload in the UI. If you use manual upload for a larger disk, then you will need to create an OVF file for your disk.
   Enter 2.00 GB. Click Create to continue.
   

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1. A VM summary may display. 
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2. If required, click Create to continue.

Modify the VM for maximum hypervisor compatibility

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