Solaris 10 NIC Bridge Mode - NIC type

[junkfer]

Hello,

i have a solaris 10 server and want a VBox instance 4.2.26 to run in zone with exclusive igb interface.
I want also that the VBox guest use the NIC in Bridged mode.

The question is, that need i plumb or give any IP in the Zone to the interface, or i just let it there unconfigured and start the Guest in headless mode with the neccessary NIC bridging configuration?

Another question, maybe somebody can help, that what NIC can be the best choice for Guest Win2003 Server?
Currently i use AMD PCNet Fam III, but sometime experience ping outputs, maybe the Intel PRO/1000 MT Server device will be better?

Thank You, best regards,

Ferenc Junkert

[junkfer]

Hello All,

Successfully installed the zone with exclusive interface, virtualbox guest Win2003, in the zone, with also AMD PCNet III, and/or Intel 82545EM.

The server phisically running in an ISP center, with dedicated 100Mbit line, and the weird thing, that I experience, with both interface type, ping drops.

When i try to use the server for video broadcasting, the connection with the broadcasting notebook also drops down the network connection few times under one hour period.

Can somebody give me clues (RTFM Link?), where is the problem search?

Thank You, best regards,

Ferenc Junkert

[junkfer]

Other funny thing i found

Solaris host:
dladm show-dev
igb0 link: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full
igb1 link: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full

Win2k3 guest shows
Speed: 1Gbps
Status: Connected

Any suggestion?

thank you, regards,

Ferenc Junkert

[martyscholes]

I believe the VirtualBox faux network drivers advertise to Windows that they have a 1gb connection to the host. The host would then throttle that down to the 100mb real connection. If the Windows stack cannot handle packet drops well then this could happen. Packet drops are the correct way for a switch or router to handle congestion. This is a problem on the new TiVo when it has a gigabit link but there is a slower link in the chain. Some packets (correctly) get dropped but the TiVo stack does not handle that well. The solution with the TiVo is to enable ethernet flow control. You can do the same with the Solaris via dladm. Give that a try and see if it helps.