Virtualbox testbed for updates?

Phrost5019 · 2016-09-24 20:10:34

I'm curious about the possibility of using virtualbox to test updates. I want to copy all the parts of my installation except the home directory into a virtualbox hard drive. Just curious if anyone has experience doing this and would know the best way to do it.

jasonwryan · 2016-09-24 20:35:57

Not a Sysadmin issue, moving to NC...

Burning Smile · 2016-09-24 21:33:58

Phrost5019 wrote:

I'm curious about the possibility of using virtualbox to test updates. I want to copy all the parts of my installation except the home directory into a virtualbox hard drive. Just curious if anyone has experience doing this and would know the best way to do it.

I just ended up installing an install in Vbox with a close resemblance to my main system for this exact reason. I would say don't bother with moving over your entire home folder, just install the main packages you use. (You probably won't be able to test for Nvidia driver issues so just wait thous out to see if they break anyone else's systems. (Check the forms under pacman upgrade problems)) My setup should probably work fine for you since all you need is to test updates to see they break things before installing on your main install.

EDIT- As jasonwryan mentioned below It is unlikely for updates to break your install beyond recovery. They will rarely cause issues but it can happen. (They won't physically break your computer unless an update overrides bois settings for fans and turns them off, but overheat protection would kick in and shut the computer down before any damage would accrue)

Last edited by Burning Smile (2016-09-24 22:28:34)

jasonwryan · 2016-09-24 21:42:17

FWIW, updates don't "brick" systems. They (very) occasionally might create some issues and, exceptionally rarely, may hinder booting. But your machine is not going to be reduced to an expensive paperweight...

WFV · 2016-09-24 22:40:12

I run an Arch guest on my Arch host for testing updates, but isn't full identical as host is linux-ck kernel, and guest is just linux. Mainly for things I run into trouble with most frequently, but I also keep a hand written (or printed) log book and text files of "how to fix (blank)" to cut down on re-researching how to fix blank. As others mentioned I don't keep copy of host home in the guest (don't need it). As time goes by it is getting less and less useful to me for testing updates, but useful for testing scripting etc and very useful for Arch guest install from ground up as it is close enough to a host install for the basics. Also as mentioned, my worst case about 3yrs ago I managed too totally f-ck pacman somehow and subsequently crashed my host Arch completely when trying to roll it back via rsync, which didn't brick anything, just had to do a full new install on host - fortunately for rsync and backup drives there was no /home data loss. My Arch guest has virtualbox-guest-modules-Arch and virtualbox-guest-utils installed as a few updates back I was unable to get the virtualbox-guest-iso on the Arch host to work with the Arch guest (it works fine on the Windows and Ubuntu guests). If you have a good running guest install, you can always backup the vdi (rsync or other) so if you screw up the guest, is easy to reload the backup - never-mind using VBox snapshots, they take up space and aren't always backward friendly.

Phrost5019 · 2016-09-25 02:47:16

jasonwryan wrote:

FWIW, updates don't "brick" systems. They (very) occasionally might create some issues and, exceptionally rarely, may hinder booting. But your machine is not going to be reduced to an expensive paperweight...

I understand that. My computer is a very central part of my life and having it develop issues or fail to boot can cause some serious problems for me, thats more of what I'm trying to avoid. If it's possible to use a testbed to see if there will be problems and find out how to fix them when I can, it would prevent a lot of untimely headaches.

I guess the best way to accomplish this would just to install a similar system into a vm and install my main packages. Does pacman keep track of all the packages you explicity install? Would it be best to just install every package on the host into the vm?

jasonwryan · 2016-09-25 02:51:57

Phrost5019 wrote:

Does pacman keep track of all the packages you explicity install?

man pacman

Phrost5019 wrote:

Would it be best to just install every package on the host into the vm?

Well, only those those packages that could render a system unusable if they were broken would be necessary...

ewaller · 2016-09-25 18:16:12

I don't imagine that VirtualBox is a good model of your existing system. No wifi. Virtualized network cards that are, in all likelihood, not the same as the real NICs in your system. It certainly does not use native drivers for your GPU. Sound system is virtualized as well. Probably a different number of processor cores. Certainly less RAM.

I suggest that a better choice would be to use a second drive -- a USB stick, a rotating USB drive, maybe an SD card, or even a drive in a second bay. Now that I think about it, even another partition on your existing drive. Boot into that environment and test to your heart's content. If things go Tango Uniform, no foul, just boot to your normal drive/partition. Extra bonus points -- you may even be able to set the system up so you can use the test drive/partition on bare hardware AND be able to use it as the drive for a VM.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-09-24 20:10:34

Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#2 2016-09-24 20:35:57

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#3 2016-09-24 21:33:58

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#4 2016-09-24 21:42:17

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#5 2016-09-24 22:40:12

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#6 2016-09-25 02:47:16

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#7 2016-09-25 02:51:57

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

#8 2016-09-25 18:16:12

Re: Virtualbox testbed for updates?

Board footer