Run an OVA using VirtualBox¶

An Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) is a single file package that allows for easy distribution and setup of virtual machines (VMs). VirtualBox is an open source virtualisation platform that allows you to use OVA files to create and manage VMs. This guide will cover how to acquire an OVA file, install VirtualBox, and configure and launch an Ubuntu VM that you can connect to via the virtual console or over SSH.

Download an OVA¶

The easiest way to get an OVA is to download one from cloud-images.ubuntu.com. You can get the latest daily OVA for a given $SERIES by downloading https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/$SERIES/current/$SERIES-server-cloudimg-amd64.ova.

Create a new directory and get the latest daily for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat).

mkdir virtualbox-ova
cd virtualbox-ova/
wget https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/noble/current/noble-server-cloudimg-amd64.ova

Install VirtualBox¶

There are two ways of getting VirtualBox depending on whether you are on an Ubuntu system or not.

From the Ubuntu archive¶

If you are on Ubuntu, the simplest way to get VirtualBox is from the Ubuntu archive, the official repository provided by Ubuntu.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install virtualbox

From the upstream source¶

Alternatively, you can download VirtualBox from the upstream source. Use the instructions provided there for installing VirtualBox on your OS.

Import the OVA into the VirtualBox¶

Start VirtualBox:

Select Import to add our OVA as a virtual appliance:

On the next screen you can modify the appliance settings by double-clicking on them, or by enabling/disabling the appropriate check boxes:

Once imported, the appliance will be visible on the left side bar of the VirtualBox home screen:

Before attempting to run the appliance however, you’ll need to generate and attach an ISO image containing configuration data for cloud-init. cloud-init uses that data to initialise the instance during initial boot. This step is needed since we are using a cloud image instead of a standard desktop image. To learn more about creating and using a local cloud-init datasource, refer to Create and use a local cloud-init datasource.

Create and attach an ISO image¶

To create an ISO image we’ll use the cloud-localds function from the cloud-utils package. On Ubuntu and Debian systems you can install this via apt:

sudo apt install cloud-utils

For other operating systems, follow the instructions from the cloud-utils upstream repository.

Additionally, to set up remote access for your machine, you’ll need to have a set of SSH keys. To learn more about SSH keys and their generation, refer to SSH/OpenSSH/Keys.

Once these prerequisites are met, you can generate and attach the ISO seed image.

Create a YAML file with password authorisation enabled:

cat <<EOF > my-cloud-config.yaml
#cloud-config
chpasswd:
  list: |
    ubuntu:ubuntu
expire: False
ssh_pwauth: True
ssh_authorized_keys: <YOUR_PUB_KEY>
EOF

Replace <YOUR_PUB_KEY> with your public key.

Create the ISO image:

cloud-localds my-seed.iso my-cloud-config.yaml

Attach the ISO as an optical drive:

From the VirtualBox main menu, select the OVA image on the left side bar, right-click on it and choose Settings > Storage:

To add an optical drive, select the +CD icon beside Controller:IDE. Then use Add to specify the my-seed.iso created above and finally select Choose:

You are now ready to launch the VM.

Launch the VM¶

From the VirtualBox main menu, select Start. This will start the launch process for your VM and may take some time to complete.

When you reach the ubuntu login: prompt, enter the username and password from the YAML file above. If you didn’t change the template, both the username and password will be ubuntu.

Success! Run some commands to ensure that everything is set up correctly.

Verify that you can access the internet:

ping -c 3 ubuntu.com

Check your IP configuration (needed for connecting via SSH):

ip a

Verify that the SSH service is running:

sudo systemctl status ssh

Check disk configuration:

df -h

When you are done with your session, you can turn off the VM by selecting File > Close from the top bar menu of the window running the machine. Other options are also available under the Machine heading.

Connect via SSH¶

To connect via SSH, we’ll make use of the bridged network adapter that was configured during the appliance setup. You’ll need the IP address of the VM. On the virtual console of the (running) VM, run:

ip a

to get something like:

$ ip a1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000 link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00 inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever2: enp0s3: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000 link/ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 192.168.1.123/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic enp0s3 valid_lft 86389sec preferred_lft 86389sec

Ignore the loopback (lo) interface and use the ethernet interface (enp0s3) to get the IP address. It’s on the line starting with inet and in this case it is 192.168.1.123.

After ensuring that the VM is running, you can now log in via SSH from your host terminal with the command ssh $USERNAME@$IP_ADDRESS.

ssh [email protected]

If this is the first time you’re connecting to this VM, you’ll have to confirm that you want to connect.

$ ssh ubuntu@192.168.1.123The authenticity of host ‘192.168.1.123 (192.168.1.123)’ can’t beestablished.ED25519 key fingerprint isSHA256:7vJHf4BcNaZ9dQKSPG8tFw3uRlXnV1kTbmYgEjL0h5o.This key is not known by any other namesAre you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?yesWarning: Permanently added ‘192.168.1.123’ (ED25519) to the list ofknown hosts.

Once done, disconnecting from the SSH session will not power down the VM unless you explicitly called poweroff or another similar command.