Oracle VM VirtualBox Reviews

The primary use case is creation and management of virtual machines in small network environments.

The most valuable features of the solution are that there are fewer costs and it is suitable for a small environment. We only need to go to group sharing or Oracle's website and install the solution.

The solution is not flexible. Compared to other solutions which are easy to customize, Oracle VirtualBox is extremely difficult to customize compared to VMware. 

It is not suitable for an enterprise environment.

The user interface can be improved.

I would like to have AI included in a future release.

I have been using the solution for nine years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is not scalable.

The initial setup is simple and only requires a few clicks to deploy.

It is less expensive and pretty easy to set up.

I give the solution a seven out of ten.

I am using the solution for my personal use only and also in a few small network environments and labs.

Oracle VM VirtualBox has an online community that can help with any issues.

I recommend the solution, but it may not be the best option. Oracle VM VirtualBox isn't very flexible and can be frustrating at times, requiring restarting our virtual machine before it works properly.

I use this solution for experiments with virtualization in Linux, mostly.

We have an on-premises deployment.

The most valuable feature is the ability to copy bidirectionally between the desktop and the virtual machine.

The representation is very good. I have a problem with Hyper-V where you don't see the edges, especially the bottom and the top. With VirtualBox, I'm able to see that.

VirtualBox gives you granular control to very deep levels.

This solution is not resource-heavy on the system, and I'm able to run several virtuals at one time.

This solution is very user-friendly. 

I have to keep pressing the home key so that the mouse changes context, which is something that I don't like. It should have the functionality where if I move the mouse away from one screen, the context changes automatically.

This solution cannot run when Hyper-V is running, and it would be nice if these two solutions could co-exist.

I have never used this solution for production, but I wish there was a simpler way of deployment, and I wish there was an ecosystem around it. Some other solutions, such as Docker, have a whole surrounding ecosystem. You know where to get Docker files, you know what Docker works with, etc. It's a whole ecosystem instead of a single application. It comes with almost everything you need in one place, or in the community.

I am unsure as to how stable this solution would be in a production environment. I have always thought of it as an R&D solution, as opposed to a production solution. It isn't a problem related to VirtualBox, but rather, simply how I have chosen to use it.

If you wanted to scale this solution out, or up, an automation tool may make it easier and more user-friendly, or more straightforward.

I have never needed to speak with technical support.

I prefer this solution to Hyper-V.

The initial setup of this solution is very straightforward.

I upgraded to the most recent version a few weeks ago.

I performed the implementation myself. I started using this solution a really long time ago, and you don't need anyone to help with VirtualBox.

This is a great product and I use it a lot.

This is a good R&D solution, but I don't think it would be good in production. We look for different things in R&D, such as doing a proof of concept. In a production environment, having a whole ecosystem to support the solution, including for orchestration and automatic deployments, would be better. It would also need to have more talks, seminars, and conferences, calling people in that space and then posting them on YouTube. There is a lot more to it than the technical aspect.

Overall, I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

VirtualBox can import and export virtual machines in a usable format. It’s also very easy to change settings to fine tune the VM. Also, I can send a VM to a friend to test so they don’t have to install it or port it to my other computers.

In my personal lab, it helps me explore new Linux distributions or updates before actually installing them.

I’d like to see Oracle make it easy to drag and drop files between a VM and the host PC. That would help a lot in saving time transferring files.

I've used it for about six years.

I have had no issues deploying it.

I have had no issues with stability.

I've not had to scale it.

I haven't needed to use customer service.

I have not had to use tech support as there is plenty of information available online.

I used VirtualPC before, but VirtualBox is much better. It offers more configuration options in its settings, and we wanted an alternative to Microsoft products.

Getting used to working through the settings took some time to get the hang of, but after that, it flows smoothly usually.

As a home user, it’s free.

I would recommend that you use VirtualBox and experiment with different settings.

We primarily use the solution for virtual machines for Oracle databases.

The solution's most valuable feature is its stability.

Oracle needs to improve its hot virtual machine migration. It didn't work as intended. It should allow us to migrate between virtual machines, without stopping the database.

The solution is stable.

I don't have enough information to gauge the solution's level of scalability. Our set up was in a controlled environment without scalability issues. We had an initial load, which was quite controlled, so we didn't test scalability with it. We just have our team, five people, using the solution.

We haven't needed to contact technical support. The consultant we used for the implementation answered any questions we had.

The initial setup has a moderate level of difficulty. Out of ten, I'd rate it at a five. It does depend on the project itself - whether it is simple or more complicated.

We used the services of an outside consultant to help us do the initial planning of the process as well as the installation and set up of the virtual machine.

We are using the on-premises deployment model.

I would recommend the solution for licensing purposes if you are using an Oracle database. Otherwise, I would recommend clients to consider different platforms. The Oracle VM has the advantage of being free, so you only pay for support. It's very cheap, but I don't think it's very good as VMware.

I'd rate the solution six out of ten.

I can manage the VirtualBox images. It's a VirtualBox. We work with both VMware and VirtualBox. Linux-wise, I go with the VirtualBox. I don't go with the VMware, because of the simplicity. Especially when you're using Oracle Linux, you are matching the products together. The manageability of the virtual images is much better. That's what I like.

If I could maybe have cloud images, that would be awesome. It's going to be hard to manage cloud with a cloud, or image with an image, but hey, if it can be done, we can do that, too. Why not? You have mobility, so you can use something. You can have a server with all of the VirtualBoxes there and the images there. For example, if you are managing an application, you can use it from a touch of a screen. Why not?

I've been with this company since November 2015, and they've probably been using it for quite a longer time than I'm here. From my perspective, that's roughly a year.

It has been consistently stable over the past year. We didn't have any down time. All of the images were always perfectly done.

It's funny; sometimes one of the IT departments would say, "Well, why don't you convert your VirtualBox to VMware?" That means I have to redo the whole thing. So, I said, "Forget it. I'll stay with this one." Don't add more fire to a fire. Just leave it as it is. If it isn’t working, then maybe you try to put it out with water, but that doesn't work sometimes. Just stay where it is. It’s meant to be like that.

It is scalable. It does what we need to do with our images for our production, especially for the Linux images.

I don't really have any contact with support, because everything works fine. I haven’t had a chance to actually talk to them. Maybe not right now, but from previous engagements, I have some experience with Oracle support and also the community. I'm part of the OTN. I’ve been a partner of the OTN since before I joined my current company. Before that, for another engagement, they were using Oracle, and I decided I needed to know something. I logged in, I asked some questions, and people come on. That's how you learn. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

What are your needs? What is the most important for you? Then, we can show you what you can manage. The benefits: It's Oracle, so there you go. You have a VirtualBox. It's well-known. It's stable. I use it. If it works for me, it might as well work for you. Simple.

My primary use of the solution is for testing distributions and installations. 

While in the past I used the solution on Linux, which I no longer do, and FreeBSD, which is my daytime runner, I am not very happy with its use on the latter. For the past year or so, it slowed down upon its use. 

I am not a great fan of Oracle's products. I have not been happy with these since version 6. I find the solution to be incredibly unstable, constantly falling over and not working properly. 

I've been using Oracle VM VirtualBox on and off for five or six years.

I find the solution to be incredibly unstable, constantly falling over and not working properly.

I have very little to do with technical support. As I have been doing things for nearly 30 years, I solve any issues which may arise on my own. 

The installation is easy, although I could not say how long it took. 

The license I use is free. 

The solution is on-premises as part of the labs. 

As I am the one who tests the solution, I am the only one making use of it in my organization. 

I do not believe that I would recommend the solution to others. 

I rate Oracle VM VirtualBox as a six or seven out of ten.

I use it for experimenting with different operating systems in user environments. I also use it to have a backup to the Windows so that I can access Windows, and it is up and running. I don't have to worry about building a system from scratch.

The pause feature is valuable. I can pause, which is something that not all hypervisors allow. The snapshot feature is also valuable.

It would be good if we could use Hyper-V Windows subsystems with Linux and VirtualBox on the same instance. Currently, to be able to use VirtualBox, we have to restart the machine into an instance of Windows where Hyper-V is disabled, which is understandably very inconvenient.

I have been using this solution for more than five years.

It is stable. It is more stable than it used to be.

I don't have any experience with their technical support.

Its initial setup is straightforward. The duration depends on whether you're using it on Windows or Linux. It takes slightly longer on Windows than Linux.

I deployed it myself. Currently, I am the only user of this solution.

I plan to keep using this solution. I would rate Oracle VM VirtualBox a seven out of ten.

I use this for development tests only on my personal laptop.

I am able to perform small developing tests.

I like that it is free and runs on Linux/Ubuntu - I wouldn't use any other solution.

There are a few bugs that need to be updated.

I used this product very briefly on my Linux laptop.

I think that it is a stable solution. It is small, light, and can virtualize my development for testing.

I have not needed to use their support. I have been able to resolve issues myself and/or via Google search.

Initial setup was quite easy, took five minutes in total and I was able to do it by myself.

I would rate my ROI a four out of five.

No licensing is required as it is open-source.

I would recommend this solution for single users only - not for production servers or any other big servers.