RemoteBox is designed to connect to a VirtualBox instance running on a server, so we need to ensure that VirtualBox is configured correctly. These instructions do not go over installing VirtualBox itself as this is trivial, but they do describe the configuration you need to do. These instructions do not reference any specific Solaris version but should be compatible with any modern version.

The documentation assumes the following:

• If the server is firewalled, port 18083 (tcp) is able to accept connections from your RemoteBox client.
• VirtualBox is installed, including The Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack.
• The steps are performed with sufficient root or administrator privileges

VirtualBox provides an agent called vboxwebsrv aka VirtualBox web service which provides network access to VirtualBox's API. RemoteBox connects to this agent in order to perform the various tasks such as administering the guests. This agent must run as a user, which is important to understand because it's the virtual machines of that user you will see when you connect.

For example, if the agent is running as the user joe, then you will see Joe's virtual machines and configuration, regardless of the credentials you connected with. It's also worth mentioning that extensions such as the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack may also need to be installed as this user, so that it's available in their configuration. You may already have an existing user you wish to use, or you can create a new one specifically for the purpose. If you are not sure how to create a user, please consult the documentation for your operating system.

For the purposes of this documentation, we will use the following values in the examples, however remember to change them to suit your setup.

vboxwebsrvuser:	virtualuser • This user should also be a member of the vboxusers group. This group is usually created by VirtualBox at install time
Server Name:	myserver.example.com
Server IP Address:	192.168.1.10
Default TCP Port:	18083

These actions should be performed with root privileges unless otherwise stated.

• The following commands configure the VirtualBox web service. Change the user and hostname as appropriate to suit your configuration. You can use the IP address instead of the hostname, if your hostname is not in DNS

svccfg -s svc:/application/virtualbox/webservice:default setprop config/user=virtualuser
svccfg -s svc:/application/virtualbox/webservice:default setprop config/timeout=integer: 0
svccfg -s webservice:default setprop config/logfile=astring: /var/log/vboxwebservice.log
svccfg -s svc:/application/virtualbox/webservice:default setprop config/host=myserver.example.com
svcadm refresh svc:/application/virtualbox/webservice:default

• Initialise and set the correct ownership of the log file. If the log file is missing or cannot be written to, the VirtualBox web service will not start correctly.

touch /var/log/vboxwebservice.log
chown virtualuser:vboxuser /var/log/vboxwebservice.log

• Start the VirtualBox web service and enable it on boot

svcadm enable svc:/application/virtualbox/webservice:default

If the service fails to start, recheck the configuration steps. Checking the contents of /var/log/vboxwebservice.log may give you some clues. You can also run the following command for more diagnostic information

svcs -x svc:/application/virtualbox/webservice:default

You should now be able to connect to the server using the RemoteBox client.

Although entirely optional, if you require guests to automatically stop and start with the server, then additional configuration is required. Firstly, we need to create the permissions file. This file tells VirtualBox which users have permission to use the autostart feature. The example here uses very open permissions however you should consider tightening them if you're concerned about security. The VirtualBox manual provides a good overview.

• Edit or create the following configuration file, using your preferred text editor

/etc/default/vb-autostart-perms

• Add the following contents to the configuration file

default_policy = allow

• Set the correct file permissions and create the autostart database

chmod 0644 /etc/default/vb-autostart-perms
chown virtualuser:vboxusers /etc/default/vb-autostart-perms
mkdir -p /var/lib/virtualbox-autostart
chmod 1777 /var/lib/virtualbox-autostart
chown virtualuser:vboxusers /var/lib/virtualbox-autostart

• Edit or create this configuration file with your preferred text editor to add the configuration options

/etc/default/virtualbox

• Add the following contents to the configuration file

VBOXAUTOSTART_DB="/var/lib/virtualbox-autostart"
VBOXAUTOSTART_CONFIG="/etc/default/vb-autostart-perms"

• Configure the service as follows

svccfg -s svc:/application/virtualbox/autostart:default setprop config/config=/etc/default/virtualbox

• Enable and start the auto-start service.

svcadm enable svc:/application/virtualbox/autostart:default

• You will also need to connect to the server with RemoteBox and set your preferences to use these configurations as shown below.

• You will also need to connect to the server with RemoteBox and set your preferences to use these configurations as shown below.

Disabling authentication to the VirtualBox web service is a big security risk as it allow anyone to connect, however it may be useful for debugging purposes. Particularly if you are experiencing authentication issues when trying to connect. Once set, you can connect with RemoteBox by simply leaving the username and password fields empty

• To disable authentication, run the following command on the server as the same user that the VirtualBox web service runs as:

vboxmanage setproperty websrvauthlibrary null