Born2beRoot

introduction

Born2beRoot is a system administration project. In this project, we learn how to create and manage a virtual machine. We use tool VirtualBox to install an operating system.

The goal of this project is to understand how a server works. We learn how to secure the system, manage users, and control services. We also learn how to use the terminal instead of a graphical interface.

This project helps us understand the basics of Linux systems. It teaches us how to work step by step, follow rules, and solve problems by ourselves.

Virtual Machine (VM)

A Virtual Machine (VM) is like a computer inside your computer.
Now let's see Virtual Machine (VM)
First, your real computer has hardware:

• CPU (processor)
• RAM (memory)
• Disk (storage) On top of this hardware, you install a program like VirtualBox. This program is called a hypervisor.

what is hypervisor ?
A hypervisor (or Virtual Machine Monitor, VMM) is software that lets multiple operating systems run on a single physical machine. It manages hardware resources (CPU, memory, storage) and allocates them to virtual machines (VMs) without interference. This improves hardware utilization, reduces costs, and provides flexibility in cloud and server environments.

How It Works ?
A hypervisor runs on hardware or a host OS to create and manage virtual machines (VMs), each with its own virtual CPU, memory, storage, and network. It intercepts guest OS requests and translates them to physical hardware, ensuring isolation, security, and stability.
The source👈🏻

Types of Hypervisor:

1. Type 1 Hypervisor:

A Type 1 hypervisor runs directly on the host's hardware. It doesn't rely on a host operating system. This architecture offers better performance and security because there is no intermediary OS. It's the standard for enterprise-level data centers and cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.

Examples: VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), and Xen.

Pros:

• High performance (direct hardware access).
• Strong security (no intermediate OS layer).
• Suitable for mission-critical workloads.

Cons:

• Requires dedicated hardware.
• Setup and management are complex compared to Type-2.

1. 2. Type 2 Hypervisor

A Type 2 hypervisor runs on top of a conventional operating system (like Windows, macOS, or Linux). It's essentially an application within the host OS. This type is generally used for desktop virtualization, development, and testing environments where a user needs to run multiple OSs on their personal computer. Performance is slightly lower than Type 1 due to the overhead of the host OS.

Examples: Oracle VM VirtualBox, VMware Workstation, and Parallels Desktop.

Pros:

• Easy to install and use.
• Useful for development, testing, and malware analysis.
• Provides good host–guest integration features.

Cons:

• Slower performance (no direct hardware access).
• Security depends on the host OS; compromise of host may affect guests.

The hypervisor acts like a manager.

When you create a virtual machine:

• It takes a part of your real CPU
• It takes a part of your RAM
• It creates a virtual disk (a file on your real disk) Now, inside this virtual machine, you install an operating system like Debian.

The virtual machine thinks it is a real computer.
But in reality:

• The CPU is not real → it is shared from your real CPU
• The RAM is not real → it is just a reserved part of your RAM
• The disk is just a file

When the VM runs:

• The OS inside the VM sends instructions (like open file, run program)
• These instructions go to the hypervisor
• The hypervisor translates them
• Then it sends them to the real hardware

So the flow is like this:

Program → OS (inside VM) → Hypervisor → Real Hardware

This is why virtualization is powerful:

• You can run many systems on one computer
• You can test without breaking your real system
• You can create servers easily

Creating the Virtual Machine

To start the Born2beRoot project, we need to create a Virtual Machine using VirtualBox.

First, we create a new virtual machine and give it a name that ends with 42 (example: login42). This is required.

Then, we choose the operating system. We must use the latest stable version of Debian.

After that, we configure the machine:

• choose RAM (enough for the system to work)
• create a virtual disk

The disk must be used later with LVM and encryption. This is very important in the project.

We must also follow these rules:

• no graphical interface (no desktop, no GUI)
• only a minimal installation
• the machine is used as a server

Example:

After creating the machine, we start it using a Debian ISO file and install the system.

Step 1: Attach the ISO file

You go to:

• Settings → Storage
• Click “Empty”
• Choose your ISO file (example: debian-13.4.0-amd64-netinst.iso)

👉 What happens inside:

• The ISO file acts like a virtual CD/DVD
• The VM will read it when it starts

Step 2: Start the machine

You click Start

👉 Inside the system:

• VirtualBox starts the VM
• VM checks boot device
• It finds the ISO (virtual CD)
• It loads the Debian installer into RAM

Step 3: Debian Installer starts

You will see menu:

• Install
• Graphical Install (DO NOT use for project ❌) 👉 Choose: Install

Step 4: Installation process

Now step by step:

• Choose language
• Choose country
• Configure keyboard

👉 Then:

• 4. Network config (automatic usually)
• 5. Set hostname (example: login42)
• 6. Create root password
• 7. Create user

Example:

Step 5: Disk partitioning (IMPORTANT)

👉 Choose:

• Guided - use entire disk and set up encrypted LVM

We choose the disk which we wish to create the partition (it only have to show one disk).

Once we choosed the disk we must make the partition as is in the subject. To do it properly we select the second option Separate /home partition.

We choose option Yes so the changes will be writen in the disk and so we can set the logical volume manager (LVM).

We click on Cancel; the erasing of the data is not required.

Again, we must choose desired password for the LVM encrypt. As is mention before we must repite the process and I advice you to write it down.

n this step we must input the required amount of volume group to use during the guided partitioning. We can write down max or the total avalaible memory, in this case being 30.8 GB.