I have been experimenting with Linux servers for a while now.  My latest experiment was at using VirtualBox to run virtual servers.  I used a helpful tutorial from howtoforge.com to guide me through the setup.  After setting up VirtualBox on CentOS and installing Fedora in a VM, I wanted the Fedora VM to automatically start up and shut down when the CentOS host started up and shut down.

With the help of google, I found a post by Jochem Kossen that included a script for controlling VirtualBox VMs.

I made some changes to it to remove the TAP configuration since it is no longer necessary in the latest version of VirtualBox.

After getting it working with the TAP functions removed I found that it would startup fine when the host booted up, but it didn't shut down cleanly.  I eventually learned that CentOS (and other Red Hat based distros) use a lock file to know if the service is running.  If the lock file is not created, the rc script assumes that the service isn't running and doesn't run the stop script.

The code below is the results of my modification.

#! /bin/sh
# vboxcontrol   Startup script for VirtualBox Virtual Machines
#
# chkconfig: 345 98 02
# description: Manages VirtualBox VMs
# processname: vboxcontrol
#
# pidfile: /var/run/vboxcontrol/vboxcontrol.pid
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
#
### END INIT INFO
#
# Version 20090301 by Kevin Swanson <kswan.info> based on:
# Version 2008051100 by Jochem Kossen <jochem.kossen@gmail.com>
# http://farfewertoes.com
#
# Released in the public domain
#
# This file came with a README file containing the instructions on how
# to use this script.
#

# Source function library.
if [ -f /etc/init.d/functions ] ; then
. /etc/init.d/functions
elif [ -f /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions ] ; then
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
else
exit 1
fi

################################################################################
# INITIAL CONFIGURATION
VBOXDIR="/etc/virtualbox"
VM_USER="vboxadmin"
USE_NAT="no"

export PATH="${PATH:+$PATH:}/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"

if [ -f $VBOXDIR/config ]; then
. $VBOXDIR/config
fi

SU="su $VM_USER -c"
VBOXMANAGE="VBoxManage -nologo"

################################################################################
# FUNCTIONS

# Determine if USE_NAT is set to "yes"
use_nat() {
if [ "$USE_NAT" = "yes" ]; then
return `true`
else
return `false`
fi
}

log_failure_msg() {
echo $1
}

log_action_msg() {
echo $1
}

# Check for running machines every few seconds; return when all machines are
# down
wait_for_closing_machines() {
RUNNING_MACHINES=`$SU "$VBOXMANAGE list runningvms" | wc -l`
if [ $RUNNING_MACHINES != 0 ]; then
sleep 5
wait_for_closing_machines
fi
}

################################################################################
# RUN
case "$1" in
start)
if [ -f /etc/virtualbox/machines_enabled ]; then

cat /etc/virtualbox/machines_enabled | while read VM; do
log_action_msg "Starting VM: $VM ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE startvm "$VM" -type vrdp"
RETVAL=$?
done
touch /var/lock/subsys/vboxcontrol
fi
;;
stop)
# NOTE: this stops all running VM's. Not just the ones listed in the
# config
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE list runningvms" | while read VM; do
log_action_msg "Shutting down VM: $VM ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$VM" acpipowerbutton"
done
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/vboxcontrol
wait_for_closing_machines

;;
start-vm)
log_action_msg "Starting VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE startvm "$2" -type vrdp"
;;
stop-vm)
log_action_msg "Stopping VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$2" acpipowerbutton"
;;
poweroff-vm)
log_action_msg "Powering off VM: $2 ..."
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE controlvm "$2" poweroff"
;;
status)
echo "The following virtual machines are currently running:"
$SU "$VBOXMANAGE list runningvms" | while read VM; do
echo -n "$VM ("
echo -n `$SU "VBoxManage showvminfo $VM|grep Name:|sed -e 's/^Name:s*//g'"`
echo ')'
done
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|start-vm <VM
name>|stop-vm <VM name>|poweroff-vm <VM name>}"
exit 3
esac

exit 0