VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware.
Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only
professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source
Software.
Some of the features of VirtualBox are:
- Modularity. VirtualBox has an extremely modular design with
well-defined internal programming interfaces and a client/server design.
This makes it easy to control it from several interfaces at once: for
example, you can start a virtual machine in a typical virtual machine
GUI and then control that machine from the command line, or possibly
remotely. VirtualBox also comes with a full Software Development Kit:
even though it is Open Source Software, you don't have to hack the
source to write a new interface for VirtualBox.
- Virtual machine descriptions in XML. The configuration settings of
virtual machines are stored entirely in XML and are independent of the
local machines. Virtual machine definitions can therefore easily be
ported to other computers.
