Crear servicio para VirtualBox

Para ejecutar máquinas virtuales de VirtualBox, la alternativa libre a Vmware desde el inicio del sistema y como servicios es necesario crear un script para el demonio.

Se puede crear una copia del /etc/init.d/skeleton, pero es más rápido utilizar la siguiente plantilla ya predefinida para VirtualBox. Para ello crearemos el script del servicio:

$ sudo nano /etc/init.d/virtualbox-Monowall


y se introduciría el siguiente contenido que posteriormente hay que adaptarlo a la máquina propia (en el ejemplo se ejecuta una máquina Monowall):

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: virtualbox-Monowall
# Required-Start: $local_fs $remote_fs vboxdrv vboxnet
# Required-Stop: $local_fs $remote_fs
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: S 0 1 6
# Short-Description: Monowall virtual machine
# Description: Monowall virtual machine hosted by VirtualBox
### END INIT INFO

# Author: Brendan Kidwell
#
# Based on /etc/init.d/skeleton from Ubuntu 8.04.

# Do NOT "set -e"

# PATH should only include /usr/* if it runs after the mountnfs.sh script
PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
DESC="Monowall virtual machine"
NAME=virtualbox-Monowall
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME

MANAGE_CMD=VBoxManage
VM_OWNER=carlos
VM_NAME="Monowall" #This has to be the name exactly as it appears in your VirtualBox GUI control panel.

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
[ -f /etc/default/rcS ] && . /etc/default/rcS

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.0-6) to ensure that this file is present.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
# Return
# 0 if daemon has been started
# 1 if daemon was already running
# 2 if daemon could not be started

sudo -H -u $VM_OWNER $MANAGE_CMD showvminfo "$VM_NAME"|grep "^State:\s*running" >/dev/null && {
echo "$VM_NAME" is already running.
return 1
}

sudo -H -u $VM_OWNER $MANAGE_CMD startvm "$VM_NAME" --type vrdp >/dev/null || >/dev/null || {
echo Failed to start "$VM_NAME".
return 2
}

echo "$VM_NAME" started or resumed.
return 0
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
# Return
# 0 if daemon has been stopped
# 1 if daemon was already stopped
# 2 if daemon could not be stopped
# other if a failure occurred

sudo -H -u $VM_OWNER $MANAGE_CMD showvminfo "$VM_NAME"|grep "^State:\s*running" >/dev/null || {
echo "$VM_NAME" is already stopped.
return 1
}

sudo -H -u $VM_OWNER $MANAGE_CMD controlvm "$VM_NAME" savestate || {
echo Failed to stop "$VM_NAME".
return 2
}

echo "$VM_NAME" suspended.
return 0
}

#
# Display "State" field from showinfo action
#
do_status()
{
sudo -H -u $VM_OWNER $MANAGE_CMD showvminfo "$VM_NAME"|grep "^State:\s*.*$"
}

case "$1" in
start)
[ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
do_start
case "$?" in
0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
esac
;;
stop)
[ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
do_stop
case "$?" in
0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
esac
;;
restart|force-reload)
#
# If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
# 'force-reload' alias
#
log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
do_stop
case "$?" in
0|1)
do_start
case "$?" in
0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
*) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
esac
;;
*)
# Failed to stop
log_end_msg 1
;;
esac
;;
status)
do_status
;;
*)
#echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}" >&2
echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload|status}" >&2
exit 3
;;
esac

:

Resumidamente, hay que incluir el nombre de la máquina tal y como está definida en VirtualBox, el usuario que la ejecuta (y que mantiene por tanto sus ficheros de configuración en $HOME/.VirtualBox y el nombre del propio script).

Dar permisos al script:
$ sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/virtualbox-Monowall

Y probar a arrancarlo:
$ sudo /etc/init.d/virtualbox-Monowall start

Comprobar su estado:
$ sudo /etc/init.d/virtualbox-Monowall status

Pararlo:
$ sudo /etc/inid.d/virtualbox-Monowall stop

Por último hay que dar de alta ese script en los correspondientes runlevels:

$ sudo update-rc.d virtualbox-Monowall defaults


Fuente Glump.net (en Inglés)