Which one between virt manager, gnome boxes and xen is better?

[EngineerStrange]

How is gnome boxes and xen as compared to kvm?

[EngineerStrange]

I will be using ubuntu 20.04.2 as host and q4os as guest and will use google meet. Which one will be better option for me. I am now using virtual box but having some problem in system because of python being main python version.

[slickymaster]

Post #1 moved to a thread of its own.

Please don't hijack other people's threads and don't start duplicate threads. Not only it dilutes community effort but it's also the wrong way to get the proper and adequate help to your problem.

[EngineerStrange]

Ok I thought it to be like social medias. Very very sorry for my mistake.

[MAFoElffen]

I agree with slickymaster's reasoning... I was going to suggest that in the last thread, that your question would get more exposure in a thread of it's own (instead of being buried at the end of another thread.)

"They are different animals than Virt-Manager. I know that statement deserves an explanation.

Virt-Manager is geared for a System Administrator. It has some advanced features that are there to be able to change and make the VM behave in different ways. Those assume that the person using the VM Guest has the ability and control over the guest. You install your own VM's...

Gnome Boxes, XenApps and XenDesktop are VM Viewers. Think of them as thin-clients. Just like VNC or RDP clients. There is a bit of shielding that just deals with viewing the VM, without having the ability to change how the VM runs on the hypervisor. It deals just with the VM itself.

Gnome Boxes will connect to a KVM host and is geared for an alternative to Virt-Manager, but just with access as a VM Viewer. It will work out-of-the box.

XenApp and XenDesktop is geared to work with Citrix/XenServer as a Hypervisor... You can make it work with KVM, though you have to install and configure Citrix ADM (Access Delivery Management) on the KVM Hypervisor, so that is has something compatible to connect to/through. To get around a licensing issue with the ADM, you have to configure your VM to use an external connection to your local network, instead of an internal switch to the local machine.

As for other VM Viewers to connect to a VM running on KVM... Many, many, many options.

[TheFu]

Very few people will have looked at all 3 of those. Of the people who have, I suspect they weren't looking to perform a comparison, rather they were seeking a solution for their specific needs.
Now add in some obscure distro, I'd never heard of it, q4os, and the list of people qualified to answer the question shrinks more.

I'm not qualified either.

I used Xen - the xm version, so nothing recent. That was from 2008 - 2011-ish. It was used only for Linux servers on a headless system. Access was all via ssh/cli, almost always from a remote system. I have doubts that matches your needs. A few times a year, post-patching, some of the Xen VMs would refuse the boot. The more important it was that I needed to do something else, the more likely the VMs would refuse to boot. That was how it seemed. Disclosure, I owned stock in Citrix, the company behind Xen's commercial stuff.

I've been using virt-manager with KVM/qemu as the hypervisor since around 2010. It is mostly used for Linux servers, but there are a few desktops, Ubuntu and Windows, but all of these are still accessed remotely. I use virt-manager to create a VM and to modify most settings as needed, but I use virt-viewer to access the full desktops over ssh+spice tunnels. Since I'm still using this setup, for the last 11 yrs, you can assume it is what I prefer for a number of reasons - some are technical (extreme stability) and some are political (i.e., not running a hypervisor from a corporate overlord). My personal decisions likely don't align with very many others, so add some more salt to my opinion.

I've attempted to use Gnome boxes a few times the last few years. I remember 2 yrs ago, it worked, but felt dumbed down so much as to be limiting for my needs. It is like asking an Indy car racer to drive a plastic big-wheel. Nothing wrong with big wheels, I have one in the attic. But it isn't an Indy car - ok, get that image out of your mind. ;|

Recent attempts to use gnome boxes has failed, so I've looked at some other options. Canonical has a snap package with a competitor to Boxes. Let me search for the name. Multipass. Multipass has a great name (Corbin Dallas!), but it has never worked for me either. Seemed it always needed to be in the shop. Snap packages don't work on many of my systems. Often for known reasons, sometimes for unknown reasons. https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/virtualization-multipass explains.

Found this comparison: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020...-virt-manager/

Anyway, as you can see, my history of great results and terrible failures has warped my ability to provide a response that is useful for your needs. At least we aren't trying to compare containers to VMs. Good for that, though virt-manager is just an interface into libvirt which is just an access API for other hypervisors like virtualbox, kvm, qemu, xen, and probably some VMware stuff. The libvirt website probably has a nice diagram to explain this. https://libvirt.org/api.html has some nice diagrams - not the first one - skip that. Scroll down.

I think you'll need to try each to make an informed decision. I think the Xen stuff makes pretty apps, but if the goal is just to run 1 VM, it is overkill. For that need, Gnome-Boxes or Multipass are probably the GUI and KVM is probably the hypervisor.

[MAFoElffen]

Oh man!!! TheFu I laughed so hard I hurt!

Yes, XenServer has not been the same since Citrix bought the commercial interests to it. I have to stay out of that discussion Big Time. The same when Oracle bought Sun.

I think if you are used to VirtualBox and it's VM interface, that you are going to be very happy with Virt-Manager and Virt-Viewer. Anything else is going to feel like a thin client, Isolated.

A VM Viewer does have a purpose... That purpose is usually for a company to provide access to their services to their employees and customers, in a safe, secure manner. Meaning, they have Sys and NOC Admin's who control the VM's and access to them ...and don't want them F#@ked up, as well as someone entering their system unfettered. Something light that they can click on from home or the road, and do {only) what they need to do.. Got even bigger interest in the Pandemic and the work from home/remote workplace.

[kevdog]

@TheFu -- really nice post and detailed. What's your host -- Ubuntu or another linux disto or something like ProxMox? The dedicated hypervisor distros like Proxmox have a lot of nice features baked into them.

XMAFoElffen -- xcp-ng -- it's the open-source Citrix hypervisor. No Citrix or commercial limitations here.

[EngineerStrange]

In virt-manager and kvm how can I use microphone in order to use google meet?

[QIII]

Are you using the Virtual Machine Manager GUI?