JFYI: VirtualBox stable/unstable setteings (3.0.51.r22902)

In a month, I have been tried to investigate FreeBSD system
stable/unstable situations and factors around VirtualBox
bacause frequently my VirtualBox let FreeBSD freeze, panic
and fatal trap.

I guess my report is not strict comprehensive, but it's useful
and helpful for everyone who wants to use VirtualBox on FreeBSD.

Tested environment:
host os: FreeBSD 9-current amd64 (among 12/2009)
virtualbox: virtualbox-3.0.51.r22902_3
cpu: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550
mem: 8GB
video: GeForce 9800 GT

Kernel settings:
- Vimage lets FreeBSD freeze within VirtualBox bridge
networking feature.

VirtualBox settings:
-------------------------------------------------------------
| | effects on the host os stability|
-------------------------------------------------------------
| ACPI | NO |
| IO APIC | NO |
| PAE/NX | (not checked) |
| Core numbers | YES (*1) |
| VT-x/AMD-V | NO |
| nested paging | (not checked) |
| 3D acceleration | (not checked) |
| IDE controller type | NO |
| Additional controller | NO |
| CD/DVD drive host | NO |
| CD/DVD drive image file | NO |
| FDD drive host | (not checked) |
| FDD drive image file | (not checked) |
| Audio | (not checked) |
| Network adapter type | NO |
| Network NAT | NO |
| Network bridge | NO |
| Network inner network | (not checked) |
| Network host only | (not checked) |
| Serial port | (not checked) |
| share folder | (not checked) |
| Guest OS sort | NO |
-------------------------------------------------------------

(*1) Multicore attached virtual environment easily and frequently
lets FreeBSD freeze.

Hardware health:
- Weakened PC power unit or less-power power unit leads PC
very unstable condition. If you encounter non-reproducible
error or panic, you should better to check your PC power unit.

- Unstable memory leads FreeBSD system panic and fatal trap.
If you encounter "segmentaion fault", "panic" or "fatal trap"
error, shutdown system and check your PC memory health with
memtest86+. (Ubuntu install CD has memtest86+ feature.
Using Ubuntu as memetest86+ checker is reasonable way).
If you have luck, updating BIOS and set DRAM settings for
stable resolves this issue.

- Hard Disk should be health. Check your disk status by
smartmontools (sysutils/smartmontools).

Driver:
- NVIDIA driver (x11/nvidia-driver, nvidia-driver-195.22) leads
FreeBSD freeze non-reproducibly. If you use both
NVIDIA driver and VirtualBox along with non-reproducible
FreeBSD freeze, use nv driver instead.


Recap points:
- Check your PC health first, especially for Power unit,
memory and Hard disk.
- Remove Vimage if you want to use bridge networking feature
of VirtualBox.
- Use nv driver instead of nvidia-driver if you have FreeBSD
non-reproducible freeze problem with nvidia-driver.

--
Daichi GOTO
CEO | ONGS Inc.
81-42-316-7945 | daichi@xxxxxxxxxx | http://www.ongs.co.jp
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/daichigoto
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