How can systemd autostart and control VirtualBox guests?

Question

In my particular case, with a new server installation of Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic and VirtualBox-5.2.20, it appears the old method of auto-starting guests is no longer available. Not that it was that wonderful - but it functioned. There doesn't appear to be any clean way to go about this - how can systemd and VirtualBox work together for intelligent booting, control, and shutdown?

Answer 1

Similar to your solution, but a bit simpler:

1. Run systemctl edit [email protected] --full --force and paste the following content in, updating User and Group to your username.

[Unit]
Description=Virtual Box Guest %I
After=network.target vboxdrv.service
Before=runlevel2.target shutdown.target
 
[Service]
User=USERNAME
Group=GROUPNAME
Type=forking
Restart=no
TimeoutSec=5min
IgnoreSIGPIPE=no
KillMode=process
GuessMainPID=no
RemainAfterExit=yes
 
ExecStart=/usr/bin/VBoxManage startvm %i --type headless
ExecStop=/usr/bin/VBoxManage controlvm %i acpipowerbutton
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

2. Reload systemd: systemctl daemon-reload

3. Get a list of your VM's VBoxManage list vms:

$ VBoxManage list vms
"Ubuntu" {1ba32309-d4c4-420a-a9c8-a38177f00bc4}
"Windows" {573df054-0e33-4389-896a-1234f10e25ad}

4. Use the name returned in step 3 to manage the VM via systemd. For example, to manage the "Ubuntu" VM you would run:

sudo systemctl start vbox@Ubuntu     # Start the VM
sudo systemctl enable vbox@Ubuntu    # Start the VM on boot

Answer 2

Well...I think I came up with an answer.

This is my solution. It's certainly not perfect - and part of the reason I'm sharing is to invite improvement. However - this provides for autostart, monitoring, and shutdown via systemd. And I think this is at least going in the right direction for these two products.

One caveat - the below presumes a little familiarity with both systemd & VirtualBox. It also requires ACPI shutdown functions enabled on the guests. That may be built-in to Windows, and as simple as installing acpid on Linux, but I'm not assuming. Also some guests (Windows version xxxx) may need some "tweaking" to ensure ACPI shutdowns happen immediately - I found a wonderful resource at https://ethertubes.com/unattended-acpi-shutdown-of-windows-server/

First - need to create a systemd unit of course. I'm leveraging the availability of templates.

executing systemctl edit --full [email protected] provides an editor into which we place: [Unit] Description=VirtualBox %I Virtual Server After=network.target vboxdrv.service

[Service]
Type=forking
Restart=no
TimeoutSec=5min
KillMode=process
RuntimeDirectory=vbox
RuntimeDirectoryPreserve=yes
PIDFile=/run/vbox/%I.pid

Environment='RUNDIR=/run'
Environment='PIDDIR=/vbox'
Environment='VM=%I'
ExecStart=/etc/init.d/vbox-systemd start
ExecStop=/etc/init.d/vbox-systemd stop

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

The above provides a basis:

- Allows for up to 5 minutes for startup/shutdown per guest
- The pid files will be stored as /run/vbox/<guest>.pid
- And the guests will be started as part of the normal boot process

This can be adjusted to taste - but apart from server-wide defaults leave this alone. Individual guests will be tailored later. Now - need to provide the helper script. I just spent an extended period of time fighting with the intricacies of BASH, a lack of sleep, and a severe lack of active experience with BASH. So the following works, there's a mix of styles, and I really wish I knew why my attempt at simple BASH functions failed so miserably. But I'm ready for bed so while it's not my best work it...it does work!:

#! /bin/bash
# /etc/init.d/vbox-systemd: Helper script to startup & shutdown VirtualBox
# headless machines via systemd
#
# written by Daniel L. Miller <[email protected]>

# This should not be called directly (though possible with the
# proper environment variables set). This is used by the
# [email protected] template to start & stop virtual machines - 
# with supervision.

# Environment variables to be defined for us by systemd unit
# RUNDIR=/run
# PIDDIR=/vbox
# VM=<vmname>

# This was setup to use environment variables - maybe support cmd line as well.
if [ ! -z "$2" ]; then
    VM=$2
fi

# So...I suppose might as well set sane defaults
if [ -z "$RUNDIR" ]; then
    RUNDIR='/run'
fi
if [ -z "$PIDDIR" ]; then
    PIDDIR='/vbox'
fi

#
# Overprotective but trying to be good...
# These utilities should be fairly standard...
#
VB=/usr/bin/VBoxManage
GREP=/bin/grep
CUT=/usr/bin/cut
TR=/usr/bin/tr
SLEEP=/bin/sleep
WAITEXIT=300

# Make sure the utilities are available
test -x $VB || exit 3
test -x $GREP || exit 3
test -x $CUT || exit 3
test -x $TR || exit 3

# Verify the pid folder tree is defined and usable
test -d "${RUNDIR:?run directory top-level must be set}" || exit 3
test -d "$RUNDIR${PIDDIR:?pid directory must be set}" || mkdir -p "$RUNDIR$PIDDIR"
# This test is a little different - this validates the name but we don't
# care if the file exists or not. At least the moment.
test -f "$RUNDIR$PIDDIR/${VM:?Virtual Machine name must be set}.pid"

PIDFILE=$RUNDIR$PIDDIR/$VM.pid

vmactive=$($VB list runningvms | grep $VM | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | tr -d '"')

case "${1:-''}" in
  'start')
    # Start the machine
    $VB startvm $VM --type headless
    # Give it at least a change to get started...
    $SLEEP 2
    # Now perform first trick and save pid
    vmactive=`$VB list runningvms | grep $VM | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | tr -d '"'`
    if [ "x$vmactive" == "x$VM" ]; then
        vmpid=$($VB showvminfo $VM --log 0 | $GREP -m 1 'Process ID' | $CUT -d ':' -f4 | $TR -d ' ')
        echo $vmpid > $PIDFILE
    else
        exit 1;
    fi
    ;;
  'stop')
    waited=0
    while [ "$waited" -lt $WAITEXIT ]; do
        # Test first so VB doesn't object to shutting off a non-running VM
        vmactive=`$VB list runningvms | grep $VM | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | tr -d '"'`
        if [ "x$vmactive" != "x$VM" ]; then
            echo "Proper ACPI Shutdown of $VM - or it wasn't running!"
            break
        fi
        # Try to turn it off - repeatedly
        $VB controlvm $VM acpipowerbutton
        # Give it a chance to take.
        $SLEEP 5
        waited=$((waited+5))
    done

    # Time to clean up - force terminate if necessary and delete the pid file
    [ "$waited" -ge $WAITEXIT ] && [ -f $PIDFILE ] && kill -s 9 $PIDFILE
    [ -f $PIDFILE ] && rm $PIDFILE
    ;;
  'status')
    vmactive=`$VB list runningvms | grep $VM | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | tr -d '"'`
    if [ "x$vmactive" == "x$VM" ]; then
        vmpid=$($VB showvminfo $VM --log 0 | $GREP -m 1 'Process ID' | $CUT -d ':' -f4 | $TR -d ' ')
        echo "$VM is running as PID $vmpid"
    else
        echo "$VM is not running"
    fi
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: vbox-systemd [start|stop|status]" >&2
    exit 3;
    ;;
esac

So...now all that's necessary to start a virtual machine is: systemctl start vbox@<your-guest-name>. More exciting - systemctl status vbox@<your-guest-name> will provide systemd status of the VM! And you can even do a systemctl stop vbox@<your-guest-name> to turn it off.

To activate auto-start - simply run systemctl enable vbox@<your-guest-name>.

Now - if you need extra control, like specifying the order in which the guests boot, use the tricky systemctl edit vbox@<your-guest-name>. Notice this time we're not using the --full argument - this creates an override folder just for this guest without duplicating the base unit. Maybe this guest needs SQL services from the host:

[Unit]
After=mysql.service
Wants=mysql.service

Now this guest won't be started until the mysql server is up. Or if this guest provides critical services you can add:

[Services]
Restart=yes

Remember - just put in the systemd arguments you need to add or override - the rest come from the template.

I hope this helps someone else - and if others can contribute please do!