Easily launch any virtualbox vm in headless mode or stop it using a simple configuration file

gistfile1.txt

#!/bin/bash

function usage {
	echo "Usage: $0 [file] [start|stop|status|connect]"
}

if [ -z $1 ]; then
	usage
	exit 0
fi

if [ ! -f $1 ]; then
	echo "No such configuration file $1"
	usage
	exit -1
fi

source $1

for var in "vm_name" "vm_uuid" "vm_user" "vm_addr"; do
	if [ -z ${!var} ]; then
		echo "Missing configuration parameter $var"
		exit -1
	fi
done

case "$2" in
    start) 
    vboxmanage startvm $vm_uuid --type headless 
    ;; 
    stop) 
    vboxmanage controlvm $vm_uuid savestate 
    ;; 
    status) 
    echo "$vm_name is `vboxmanage showvminfo $vm_uuid | grep State | cut -c18-`" 
    ;; 
    connect) 
    ([ ! -z $ssh_key ] && ssh -i "$ssh_key" $vm_user@$vm_addr) || ssh $vm_user@$vm_addr
    ;; 
    *)
    usage
    ;; 
esac