VIRTUALBOX_SETUP_TUTORIAL.md

🧪 Running eBPF-MCP on VirtualBox

This short guide shows how to get started with eBPF-MCP using VirtualBox and an Ubuntu VM.

✅ This setup has been tested on macOS (Apple M2 Pro) running Ubuntu 25.04 (ARM64, CLI only) inside VirtualBox.

🖥️ System Setup (Example)

• Host OS: macOS (Apple M2 Pro)
• VM Tool: VirtualBox (ARM build)
• Guest OS: Ubuntu 25.04 (ARM64, CLI only)
• Architecture: ARM64

📦 Step 1: Install VirtualBox

Follow this tutorial to install VirtualBox and set up Ubuntu

This tutorial shows setup for Apple Silicon with Ubutu ARM 64, you may follow the same steps but with different OS.

📺 YouTube Setup Guide (macOS ARM)

Make sure you:

• Download the correct platform package depending on your OS (e.g., macOS / Apple Silicon hosts)
• Create a VM with Ubuntu e.g., 25.04 ARM64 ISO for macOS - you may install other versions depending on your setup.

🔧 Step 2: Boot the VM and Update Packages

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

⚙️ Step 3: Install eBPF-MCP

Run the official one-liner from the Quick Start:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sameehj/ebpf-mcp/main/install.sh | sudo bash

✅ This installs everything needed, sets up the systemd service, and starts the eBPF MCP server automatically.

🚀 Step 4: Start the MCP Server

sudo systemctl start ebpf-mcp
sudo systemctl enable ebpf-mcp
sudo systemctl status ebpf-mcp

The server runs on http://localhost:8080 and provides rich eBPF monitoring via an MCP-compatible API.

✅ Verification

Check the server is running with:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $(cat /etc/ebpf-mcp-token)" http://localhost:8080/.well-known/mcp/metadata.json

💡 Notes

• Works seamlessly with Ubuntu 25.04 (ARM64) CLI in VirtualBox.

🙌 Contribution

🛠 Contributions, issues, and PRs welcome!

If you've tested this setup on another architecture or VM solution (e.g., VMware, QEMU, x86_64), feel free to open a PR and expand this section.