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The VirtualBox GUI has the corresponding controls to move the machine between the states. It's important to know that the machine state will be properly preserved between running and powered off states only if the machine is brought down using the GUI operations. This will allow VirtualBox to save the machine's state to disk. If you just kill the application then all modifications made to the VM system may be lost.

Enabling/disabling network connection

By default, after you start the machine, the network connection will not be enable on the VM. You shall locate the following sign on the title bar on the top right corner of the machine's GUI:

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If you see what you see above then the network is disabled. You will still be able to log on that machine through the GUI, but you won't be able to ssh out of the machine. Click on that sign and then click on the name of the network interface System eth0 in order to enable the network.

Mounting host machine's directories

VirtualBox allows to make select file systems (of your choice) of your host system available within the VM. This can be configured by selecting a desired machine from the list and clicking on the Setting button on the VirtualBox top-level menu. Then proceed to the "Shared Folders" sections where you can specify which file systems of your host machine you would like to mount on the VM. You may also control what kind of access level you would allow for the directories. Note that you will need to do so when the machine is shut down (not just powered off). The directories will be mounted when the machine will start up.

Mounting data directories of 

Enabling/disabling network connection

By default, after you start the machine, the network connection will not be enable on the VM. You shall locate the following sign on the title bar on the top right corner of the machine's GUI:

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If you see what you see above then the network is disabled. You will still be able to log on that machine through the GUI, but you won't be able to ssh out of the machine. Click on that sign and then click on the name of the network interface eth0 in order to enable the network.

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from PCDS

In principle, you can also mount all data directories which we have at PCDS on your virtual machine (one you start the one and logged into it as root or pcds), You will also need to enable the network as explained in the previous section. The simplest way to do so is to use sshfs. The tool is already installed on the VM. The data directories will be mounted at the usual location /reg/d/psdm/. And the mounting will require to use your real UNIX account and a password at SLAC. Here is a sample session illustrating the idea:

% whoami
pcds
 
% ls -al /reg/d/psdm/
total 8
drwxr-xr-x. 2 pcds pcds 4096 Apr  4 17:10 .
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Apr  4 17:10 ..

% sshfs gapon@psexport.slac.stanford.edu:/reg/d/psdm/ /reg/d/psdm/ -o transform_symlinks -o follow_symlinks% ls -al /reg/d/psdm/total 80
drwxr-xr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Sep 26 2013 .
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Apr 4 17:10 ..
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 7 10:54 amo
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 7 10:54 AMO
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 15 12:18 cxi
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 15 12:18 CXI
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Mar 4 15:08 dia
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Mar 4 15:08 DIA
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 15 12:18 mec
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 15 12:18 MEC
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jun 13 14:52 mob
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jun 13 14:52 MOB
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 May 30 16:41 sxr
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 May 30 16:41 SXR
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Dec 19 2013 usr
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Dec 19 2013 USR
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jun 25 11:15 xcs
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jun 25 11:15 XCS
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 15 12:18 xpp
drwxr-sr-x. 1 9997 2279 4096 Jul 15 12:18 XPP

Final notes

• The default configuration of the virtual machine won't allow external login into the machine (one can'e do 'ssh' into the system). However, it's possible to give you machine a unique IP address to allow the logins. Instructions can be found in the VirtualBox documentation. And make sure you change the default passwords of both root and pcds accounts in your virtual image.
• Please, read the documentation on VirtualBox

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