ceponatia wrote:I read the networking guide on this forum
I'm not certain what you were reading, but this tutorial will help show what each Virtualbox network type will do:
Virtualbox Networks: In Pictures
ceponatia wrote:I've read elsewhere that Ubuntu no longer uses etc network interfaces
Not sure what an 'etc' network interface is, or if that was runaway autocorrect. The VM OS uses whatever network adapter Virtualbox provides for it. You can use 'ip address' or 'ifconfig' inside the VM OS's Terminal to see the adapter (probably 'eth0' or 'enp0s3' something like that).
ceponatia wrote:forwarded "the internet protocol" (forum won't let me write the protocol name because it thinks it's an address) through VirtualBox to port 8000 on my desktop, then forwarded 8000 through my router,
That you're forwarding a port through Virtualbox tells me you're possibly using Virtualbox's NAT or NAT Network for the VM. As the Pictures tutorial shows, these types put a virtual 'router' between the VM and your physical LAN. Such port forwarding does work. You forward through NAT or NAT Network, then you'd forward through the physical LAN router to point at the
host PC's IP address (
not the VM's IP address). Traffic coming from the physical router to the host on the port set in NAT or NAT Network will get forwarded to the VM. Of course, the host itself can't have something listening on the same port that NAT or NAT Network are forwarding, or unusual things will happen.
ceponatia wrote:f I can assign a "virtual IP" or MAC address to my VM that my router can see.
Each VM network adapter does have its own unique MAC address. But you would use Bridged to expose that MAC address ut on the physical LAN for the router to see. Bridged puts the VM independently on the LAN, with no port forwarding through Virtualbox necessary. The VM OS can also get an IP address from the LAN, or you can set a compatible static IP address in the VM OS. Set the physical router to forward directly to the VM's network name, MAC address, or IP address.
