First look at Veertu

One of the lesser-known changes that Apple introduced with OS X Yosemite was a Hypervisor framework, which was designed to allow virtualization solutions to be built for OS X without the need for third-party kernel extensions.

One reason for this was that eliminating the need for kernel extensions allowed the possibility of virtualization software to be distributed and sold via the Mac App Store. While neither VMware or Parallels have taken advantage of this, a new virtualization product named Veertu has recently become available in the MAS.

Veertu is available for free from the MAS, and allows installation of selected Linux VMs, downloaded from Veertu’s online library. For more details, see below the jump.

Veertu’s library of Linux VMs appear to actually be ISO files, downloaded from a Veertu-hosted service, which are then leveraged to set up a new VM using the Veertu-provided ISO file. The process looks like this:

1. In the Create New VM window, select Download and run Linux VMs then click the Next button.

2. Select the Linux distro you want from the list then click the Next button.

3. Veertu will download the appropriate installation ISO file from Veertu’s online library.

Note: These Linux ISO files are coming from Veertu and not directly from the distro maintainers. If this is an issue, the alternative is purchasing the ability to install using a user-provided ISO and then separately downloading the appropriate ISO from the desired distro maintainers’ site.

4. Once the appropriate installation ISO file has been downloaded from Veertu, a summary of the VM’s default settings will be displayed.

A. If the settings look fine as-is, click the Launch VM button.

B. If there are settings which need to be changed from the defaults, click the Customize button and make any changes needed in the Edit VM window.

Once all changes have been made, close the Edit VM window and click the Launch VM button.

5. The VM launches, using the ISO file as the boot disk, to begin the process of installing the chosen Linux distro.

Veertu also offers an in-app purchase option (currently priced at $39.99) which unlocks the ability to install Windows or other Linux distros using either an optical drive or a user-provided ISO file. The installation process looks like this:

1. In the Create New VM window, select Install your own VM from ISO or DVD then click the Next button.

2. Name the VM as desired, then select to install from an ISO file or the optical drive.

3. Once the ISO or optical drive is selected, click the Next button.

4. Choose the OS which is being installed into the VM.

5. Once the OS has been selected, click the Next button.

6. A summary of the VM’s default settings will be displayed.

A. If the settings look fine as-is, click the Launch VM button.

B. If there are settings which need to be changed from the defaults, click the Customize button and make any changes needed in the Edit VM window.

Once all changes have been made, close the Edit VM window and click the Launch VM button.

7. The VM launches, using the optical drive or ISO file as the boot disk, to begin the process of installing the chosen OS into the VM.

Once a VM is created, Veertu stores the VM at the following location:

/Users/username_goes_here/Library/Containers/com.veertu.Veertu/Data/VM Library/

As of this date, only Linux and Windows VMs are being supported. OS X VMs are not supported yet, but that option should be available in a future Veertu release.

Limitations

In working with Veertu, I’ve noticed that it has some limitations.

A. Bridged networking is not supported:

Veertu VMs are not able to use bridged networking, which is important because you must have a bridged network connection in order to PXE boot or NetBoot. Instead, Veertu VMs support using NAT networking or host-only networking.

B. Unable to change location of VMs:

As of this date, VMs created by Veertu must be stored in the com.veertu.Veertu container in ~/Library/Containers.

C. Unable to retain ISO files downloaded from Veertu’s online library:

Each time a new VM is created using the option of using Veertu’s online library of Linux ISOs, Veertu needs to download the ISO again.