File Transfer from Host to Guest

How do you move files from your host to guest machine on a virtualization environment? To explain how the transfer is done, I would like to tell you about my current lab environment setup. I have a very powerful Window 7 desktop with Oracle V.M. Box installed. Oracle Virtual Box is also refereed to as an OVM. OVM is a powerful virtualization product for enterprise and for someone to use at home or in the test lab. The OVM has Oracle Linux server installed. Windows is my host and Oracle Linux is my guest machine. There are times you will need to move installation exes or other files and scripts from the host to guest OS. This is something which I recently had to do when installing Oracle 12c database on a Virtual Linux Operating System.

There are several ways to move files, with this article, I will list all the possible ways along with the most simple and powerful file transfer protocol that requires no software download.

1. FTP/SFTP software like FileZilla, WinSCP etc.
2. FTP or SFTP standard
3. TELNET
4. OVM Shared Folder 
5. External Storage Drive.

SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol. SFTP is preferred over FTP because of its security features and I encourage you to use SFTP wherever you use FTP.  Most organization does not let you download and install software therefore ftp software is out of the question. I have 13 scripts which I need to move from C:\user\Prabin\myscripts/ of host machine to guest Linux /oracle/home/myscripts/ directory.

Steps to move file:

1. Run cmd on your host machine.
2. Change directory to where you documents are: (cd C:\user\Prabin\myscripts)
3. Type sftp 
4. Enter the server name or IP address of guest OS.
5. Type your Linux account username
6. Type your Linux account password
7. Change the directory to where you want your files to be moved on your guest
8. put file-name for sing file or mput *.* for moving all the files.

 Useful SFTP command:

The file transfer is successful only when all the set up on a machine are configured properly. I have listed the basic checklist and ensure each item on the list are valid before you fire up the SFTP software.

1. Linux OS is powered on.
2. Port 21 is opened on your Linux Firewall
3. Oracle Linux account is active and valid
4. Valid server IP or host-name.

By now, you are able to move all your files. This is something you can do without having to pay
for fancy FTP software. SFTP that comes with Window is completely free to use and requires no configuration.