Debian 10, codenamed "Buster", was released on July 6th 2019. As the latest release of one of the world‘s most popular Linux distributions, Buster brings updated software packages, new features, and improved hardware support to Debian users.
The Popularity of Debian in Context
Before diving into our installation guide, let‘s quantify Debian‘s standing in the Linux ecosystem.
Debian frequently appears toward the top of most common Linux distro rankings by usage:
| Distro | Desktop Usage Share | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 34.4% | Flat |
| Debian | 14.7% | Slight ↑ |
| Linux Mint | 2.2% | Slight ↓ |
Statistics Source: StatCounter GlobalStats
Although Ubuntu leads outright in absolute deployment numbers, Debian usage share increased slightly year over year indicating steady organic adoption.
A 2019 StackOverflow survey of developers places Debian clearly in the top 5 Linux distributions utilized most:
- Ubuntu – 41.7%
- Linux Mint – 14.5%
- Debian – 12.1%
- Arch Linux – 10.6%
- CentOS – 8.9%
Not only do one in eight developers run Debian, but satisfaction scores among its userbase register strong as well:
| Distro | % Who Would Use Again |
|---|---|
| Debian | 73.2% |
| Linux Mint | 64.2% |
| Ubuntu | 55.6% |
| Arch Linux | 53.3% |
| CentOS | 47% |
Debian manages to combine widespread deployment with very high scores for stability, user happiness, and retention. Given these points, interest in Debian 10 specifically continues an upwards trajectory:
| Version | Daily Downloads | Increase vs Prior Release |
|---|---|---|
| Debian 9 | 2,150 | |
| Debian 10 | 3,250 | +51% |
Downloads of the new Buster release in its first 6 months run over 50% higher than the same period for Debian 9 "Stretch". This demonstrates users quick shift to adopt the latest Debian update.
In summary, Debian ranks as an elite Linux distribution in popularity and user satisfaction both historically and continuing with the Debian 10 series. This fame stems from deliberate principles guiding Debian‘s development we can examine closer.
Debian Development Model and Community Impacts
Debian adheres stringently to the "Debian Social Contract" – a series of commitments made to the developer and user communities underpinning the project.
These promises encompass technical excellence, open communication, free distribution, inclusiveness and non-discrimination, security updates across architectures, community self-governance plus more.
The project admits these tenets occasionally slow innovation velocity but considers stability paramount. By curating free software adhering to uncompromising standards rather rushing changes, Debian cultivates trust.
In practice this manifests through conservative update cycles, security as top priority, proactively fixing critical issues, running extensive integration testing, requiring peer reviews, gathering consensus before adding new features, etc.
These policies evolved over years of collective experience packaging complex solutions spanning independent upstream projects. As a distro focused exclusively on free software, Debian contains over 59,200 open source packages – vastly more than commercially backed rivals.
Rigor applied to such a massive pure FOSS repository guarantees Debian‘s reputation for being rock solid and never failing catastrophically in production.
Users frustrated by stability sacrifices from fast paced distros constantly assimilating bleeding edge code into core components defect gratefully to Debian‘s slower cadence.
In return, Debian community enjoys contributions and bug reports from some of the world‘s largest devops teams who benchmark virtually all Linux distros at scale. Eventually best practices permeate through Debian itself to descendants like Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
Benefits of Running Debian 10 on VirtualBox
There are several compelling reasons to setup Debian 10 as a VirtualBox virtual machine.
Testing Purposes: Creating a VM makes safely evaluating Debian risk and commitment free. Test drive Debian 10 to determine if it may suit your needs or interoperate with existing infrastructure before deploying on bare metal.
Development Environment: Build, host, and access development projects using Debian 10 as a self-contained dev platform. Enable rapid iteration unhindered by configuration concerns that arise on directly installed systems.
Specific Task Container: Require Debian for a niche purpose? By isolating Debian via VM, contain potential issues to that environment alone while keeping host PC untouched.
Access Anywhere: Transition between your main OS and Debian VM seamlessly since everything virtualized runs locally regardless of Internet availability.
For these reasons among others, downloading, installing, and firing up Debian 10 using VirtualBox delivers flexibility alongside the renowned stability inherent in Debian itself.
Virtualization Concepts and Best Practices
Before diving hands on into our Debian 10 on VirtualBox guide, let‘s establish expertise around virtualization itself…
Virtualization Explained
Virtualization refers to simulating hardware functionality enabling multiple operating systems run independently as isolated "virtual machines" on a single physical server or workstation.
A hypervisor acts as the orchestrator between guest VMs and host hardware/OS. It provides a platform to launch VMs using comprehensive functionality:
| Component | Purpose |
|---|---|
| CPU scheduler | Share physical CPU cores between VMs |
| Memory manager | Assign memory to VMs from host resources |
| I/O manager | Facilitate VM storage and networking access |
| Running state | Save, pause, snapshot VMs |
Popular hypervisor solutions include VMWare, KVM, Xen, Hyper-V plus VirtualBox focused on presently.
Despite the abstraction layer, near bare-metal VM performance achievable today minimizes overhead traditionally associated withvirtualization.
Running Linux VMs Best Practices
When deploying Linux virtual machines, adhere to these expert guidelines:
- Allocate adequate vCPUs – At least 2 for solid interactivity
- Assign sufficient RAM – 1GB minimum, 4GB+ ideal
- Use paravirtualized disk controllers
- Benchmark disk I/O if speed matters
- Verify CPU mode matches host – PV-x64 for AMD-V/VT-x
- Check virtual NIC runs in optimal mode
- Enable guest OS optimizations as available
- Snapshot before major VM changes
- Script VM creation for consistency
Tuning per these parameters particularly when utilizing Debian as the guest OS hardens stability, security and performance altogether!
VirtualBox Key Capabilities and Benefits
VirtualBox stands tall as a premier open source hypervisor option – owned by Oracle after originally being Sun Microsystems technology.
It runs broadly across hosts allowing painless Debian guests powered on Windows, Linux, MacOS and Solaris machines.
Core VirtualBox traits enabling flexible Debian 10 VMs include:
- CLI accessibility – Control VMs without the GUI
- Shared folders – Easy host/guest file transfers
- Snapshots – Preserve VM states to revert on demand
- Remote connections – Manage VMs across the network
- Disk images – Portable VMs for exchange
- Extension packs – Extra functionality like webcam access
Complemented by an engaged community improving capabilities continually, VirtualBox shines for local Debian testing purposes.
System Requirements
These prerequisites must be met to install Debian 10 as a VirtualBox guest OS:
- Host Machine Hardware: 64 bit dual core CPU, 4GB+ RAM, 20GB+ free storage space on drive for VM files
- Host Operating System: Linux, MacOS, Windows 7+/Server 2008+ capable of running VirtualBox
- Virtualization Support: Intel VT-x or AMD AMD-V enabled in BIOS settings
- User Permissions: Admin access on host PC to install software and manage VMs
Note that Windows users should enable hardware virtualization (VT-x/AMD-V) in the BIOS or Debian will fail to install in the VirtualBox environment.
Now equipped with essential virtualization background and our hosting foundation covered, we drill into the Debian 10 installation process itself next.
Downloading Debian 10 ISO Image
To begin, download an up to date Debian 10 "Buster" ISO installer image.
Navigate a web browser on the VirtualBox host machine to https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/. Click the link ending in -amd64-DVD-1.iso to grab the multi-arch 64 bit DVD-1 ISO labeled (recommended).
The Debian website provides checksums to verify your download completes fully intact without errors. Click the associated SHA256 and SHA512 links under Checksums-Sha256 and Checksums-Sha512 respectively to find hash sums for the ISO.
On Linux or MacOS, run the sha256sum or shasum commands on the ISO file afterwards to independently confirm the hashes match.
On Windows, install a tool like QuickHash or HashTab to check SHA hashes match.
With the Debian 10 ISO image downloaded and hash verified, we can shift focus to setting up our VirtualBox virtual machine next.
Creating a Debian 10 VM in VirtualBox
Assuming VirtualBox already installed on your host computer, launch the application. Note that VirtualBox 6+ works ideally, though older supported versions may suffice.
Click the blue "New" icon at the top. Give the VM a descriptive name like "Debian-10-Buster" to identify it easily later among other potential VMs. Set machine folder to store associated VM data files together, and matching VM Type/Version for Linux and Debian 64 bit respectively.
On the memory size screen, allocate 1024MB (1GB) or more RAM to the Debian 10 VM. The base OS alone runs comfortably in 1GB RAM, but more memory does no harm. With today‘s host hardware having 4GB+ memory as a common minimum, assign half or at least 2GB here.
Storage comes next – create a new virtual hard disk. Dynamically allocating space that expands as the OS requires prevents wasted unused storage allocation upfront. Set a minimum disk size around 25GB for the Debian 10 install with room for applications on top.
With machine settings defined, check over the VM hardware summary page to confirm resource levels look adequate to proceed. Click Create to finalize the new Debian 10 virtual machine!
Attaching Virtual Optical Drive to VM
Before starting the VM, we need to connect the Debian 10 ISO downloaded earlier as the boot media.
Select the Debian 10 VM entry and click Settings. Under the Storage tab, locate the Optical Drive entry with a blank CD icon. Click the icon, then choose your downloaded Debian ISO image file to attach. With the ISO serving as a virtual CD/DVD disc inserted into the VirtualBox VM DVD drive, we are ready to installation Debian!
Launching the Debian 10 Installer
Click Start to boot your configured VM!
The Debian boot menu appears – select the option ending in Install. Text and dialog/menu based installers are available, pick your preferred interface. This launches the actual Debian setup process.
Starting the Install Procedure
Early phase installer steps involve language, location, keyboard layout, and starting disk partitioning setup. Defaults tend to suit most cases here initially.
However, pay the disk setup options especial attention in the next section before committing changes to disk.
Partitioning Disks
The installer presents multiple partitioning options:
- Guided – Entire Disk
- Guided – Use Free Space
- Manual
For simplicity, select Guided partitioning to erase & dedicate the entire virtual disk. Let Debian auto configure disk partitions suiting the VM itself.
However, if you specifically wish to manage partitions manually, choose the Manual configuration path. Here you individually create, size, format and mount partitions as desired fully hands-on. Skip Guided options when going the manual route.
In either case, within the installer confirm write changes to disk when ready. Doing so erases then writes partition tables and filesystems to the virtual disk according to your chosen configuration.
Software Selection
Debian offers vast package repositories – install only what you need, lean and mean. The standard system utilities and SSH server make a good starting point however. Graphical desktops like GNOME or KDE Plasma Workspaces prove useful down the road as well.
Setting Up Users
Create at least one non-root user account for daily administrative login purposes. Secure the root account with a strong password also.
Adding your name packs personalization into the mix also.
With preferences tuned to taste, double check all details thus configured, then click Install to kickoff actual file copying, package installations, and system software configuration! Time for a beverage while the process runs – installing an entire OS end-to-end does consume some time, after all.
When eventually finished, reboot into your freshly installed Debian 10 system!
First Boot Experience
Upon your installed Debian VM powering on for the first time, hit Enter at the GRUB menu to boot the default OS entry.
Log in using the user account added during setup. Congratulations, you now have a running Debian 10 Buster Linux distribution in a self-contained VirtualBox virtual machine!
From command line or desktop manager, verify we indeed run Debian 10:
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release: 10
Codename: buster
$ uname -r
4.19.0-5-amd64Notice the kernel version proves we utilize the latest Linux 4.19 series with GCC 8.3 toolchains.
Key Packages and Versions in Debian 10
Beyond foundational packages, noteworthy software shipping in Debian 10 includes:
| Software | Version | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GNOME | 3.30 | Newest GNOME 3 release |
| Cinnamon | 3.8 | Feature release |
| KDE Plasma | 5.14 LTS | Long term support |
| LibreOffice | 6.1 | Tons of new features |
| PHP | 7.3 | Performance + language improvements |
| Python | 3.7 | Data classes, protocol buffers, more |
| MySQL | 8.0 | Deleted – Now defaults MariaDB |
| Apache | 2.4 | Stable, security-centric release |
| systemd | 241 | Init system holding strong |
| OpenJDK | 11 | 6 month release cycle |
Of particular interest, MySQL no longer ships with Debian 10! MarieDB now provides the default LAMP database instead continuing efforts to fully replace Oracle controlled MySQL in Linux ecosystems.
Post Installation Considerations
With Debian up and running in VirtualBox, consider these followup points:
Guest Additions – Install VirtualBox guest additions into Debian to enable closer host integration, shared folders, better graphics drivers and mouse pointer support.
Software Updates – Fully update packages present in your new installation using apt update && apt upgrade. Reboot to apply kernel or other system updates afterwards.
Additional Software – Populate your Debian 10 VM by installing favorite applications, LAMP stack, development tools, etc catering to your specific needs.
Development Tools – Enable the Debian Backports archive to install newer package versions than included in the main Debian 10 repositories like GCC 10, Linux 5.7 kernel, etc.
dotfiles – Import dotfiles to quickly customize and configure your new Debian terminal, shell, editors and various aspects exactly to taste.
With Debian running smoothly in its virtual playground, fully personalized to your needs through these tips, it stands ready whenever you require the stability and software power inherent in Debian Linux!
