Developer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Free, Amazing and Powerful, Cross-platform Virtualization Software
What is most valuable?
1. It is a free software
2. Performance is at a very good level
3. If there is a problem it can be fixed easily because it has a good community website.
What needs improvement?
If the user faces a problem he has to read a large amount of docs to fix them.
What other advice do I have?
Oracle VM Virtual box is a very good tool for me. The main reason is that it is a free product. Also, if I face a problem, I can fix it because the community website provides very good support. You do not need to have a high level of skills to work with it. As a student and a programmer, I have to use it with different operating systems. I have to check my codes in several operating systems. For that, Oracle VM is a very useful tool. On my laptop, I am running Ubuntu on OracleVM.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
It's easy to install and configure, and we're able to share USB devices between host VMs.
Valuable Features
The most valuable feature for us is the fact that it's free. It's also easy to install and configure, and we're able to share USB devices between host VMs. In this case, 'sharing' means that only one instance can use the USB device at a time, but you can detach the device and attach it to a different instance (VM or host). This is valuable as it allows you to transfer data without networking.
Improvements to My Organization
I can install and test VMs on my own computer before installing live versions on the company VMware host.
Room for Improvement
Stability should be improved because sometimes the VirtualBox stops. I believe this maybe a compatibility issue, but I'm not sure.
Use of Solution
I've been using it for three months.
Deployment Issues
We have had no issues with the deployment.
Stability Issues
Sometimes the VirtualBox stops and the process cannot be killed. The computer then needs to be restarted.
Scalability Issues
We have had no issues with the scalability.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Customer Service:
I've never asked for support from customer service.
Technical Support:I've never asked for support from technical support. The issue I had was not important enough for me to need them.
Initial Setup
The initial setup was straightforward and easy.
Implementation Team
We did it ourselves in-house with no need for support from the vendor or any third-party team.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
I use the free version.
Other Advice
You should try it as it's free.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Oracle VM VirtualBox
December 2024
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Clinical Applications Specialist at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Desktop-based virtualization is a huge help in speeding product development. It's not as robust as server platforms, nor does it need to be.
Pros and Cons
- "VirtualBox provides an isolated, consistent environment"
- "It's not as robust as server platforms, nor does it need to be."
How has it helped my organization?
Desktop-based virtualization is a huge help in speeding product development.
What is most valuable?
VirtualBox provides an isolated, consistent environment I can use to experiment with software configurations or create developer sandboxes without affecting the consistency of my own work environment.
What needs improvement?
It's not as robust as server platforms, nor does it need to be.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It works perfectly for the task. We've had no issues with instability. It's a solid open-source product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Lead Product Dev at a tech company
If I need to run Docker, I can do it inside VirtualBox. I have some objections regarding how it uses virtual memory.
Valuable Features
If I were to draw up my datacenter in my notebook, VirtualBox would be my choice to be included. If, for example, I need to run Docker, I can do it inside VirtualBox. In my opinion, it's the best solution for a small office or one-person virtualization.
Room for Improvement
It has a few kinks here and there, and Oracle should definitely improve on those, but if you know how to use it and are careful with your use of it, then it works perfectly. For example, I have some objections regarding how it uses virtual memory. If you oversubscribe the virtual memory, it just kills your notebook.
Use of Solution
I've been using it for five years.
Deployment Issues
We've had no issues with deployment.
Stability Issues
There were some small instability issues with version 5.0, but they seem to all be fixed now. It works perfectly.
Scalability Issues
We've had issues with scalability. This is something that Oracle should work on.
Customer Service and Technical Support
I don't know if Oracle even has support for VirtualBox.
Initial Setup
The initial setup was straightforward.
Implementation Team
We implemented it ourselves with our in-house team.
Other Solutions Considered
I tried VMware, but they kept asking for more money for upgrades again and again. I also had a Windows license, but not a Linux or Mac license, so I just decided to go with VirtualBox.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're partners.
Network Manager at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
Good multi-platform support and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "This solution can be used on many different platforms including Windows and Linux."
- "The user interface needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for virtualization.
This is a private cloud deployment model.
What is most valuable?
This solution can be used on many different platforms including Windows and Linux.
This solution is very easy to set up.
What needs improvement?
This solution is not enterprise-ready.
The user interface needs to be improved.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use Proxmox VE, which is better in many ways aside from the networking and not being able to install unless it is a 64-bit architecture.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Storage Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Easy to use, straightforward installation, and helpful online support
Pros and Cons
- "Oracle VM VirtualBox is easy to use."
- "The solution could be more user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
Oracle VM VirtualBox allows me to extend my existing computer to run multiple operating systems.
What is most valuable?
Oracle VM VirtualBox is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
The solution could be more user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Oracle VM VirtualBox for approximately eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Oracle VM VirtualBox is stable.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used technical support because this is no support in Iran. I have used online help such as YouTube videos.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
I plan to continue using this solution and I recommend it to others.
I rate Oracle VM VirtualBox a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager of Operations at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Oracle VM is a solution for virtual servers and machines. This software is freely available in the market.
Valuable Features:
Oracle VM Virtual Box is an open source virtualisation software which is recommended wherever budget is a issue. The software is worth using. You can virtually run different OS on a physical platform. You can run Linux on a windows system virtually or otherwise. There is an easy set up procedure for interface virtual machines with the software. You can create different VLANs and interface groups of VMs or nodes. There is also an option for switching data from the physical machine to the virtual machine and vice versa, by using share folders. You can also optimize your physical desktop and virtual desktop as well.
Room for Improvement:
In Oracle VM a simple drag and drop of files and folders between the host machine and the virtual machine is not available. Compared to other commercial virtualisation software, VMware has the facility by inclusion of its Additions feature. The matter gets worse between two different OS like Windows on the host and Linux on the Virtual machine. Some difficulties can be faced while installing virtual networking drivers on a virtual machine. It is time consuming and uploading of drives to the guest system is complicated.
Other Advice:
Pricing is a major advantage in the case of Oracle VM. The software freely available, and can therefore be used easily and tried first before acquiring the commercial software. OS that is to be installed in the guest system, can be easily installed by uploading .ISO image. This is easier and faster.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Good, I think there are more room for improvement.
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Updated: December 2024
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Virtual Box is a free and great product to create a OS and use it. Wonderful features compared to VMWARE.