Bridged Networking for 2.2

[johnaaronrose]

I'm using Ubuntu Intrepid as host and VirtualBox 2.2. I've created a vm with Network setting of Bridged Network using wlan0 (my standard device for communicating with router as I don't used wired networking). However when trying to install Debian, there is no repo communication (hangs on apt config) though it does get the time. Any ideas?

[Sasquatch]

Check it's IP configuration. Maybe VB fails to use the VM MAC address to communicate with the router and drops back to the physical MAC of the interface, and the router denies an IP address because it already has one. Set a static address instead and see how that goes.

[johnaaronrose]

I'm already using a static ip address for the host (192.168.2.72) which is on same lan as router (192.168.2.1). On VirtualBox bridging details window, guest mac address is a random 'number' generated by VirtualBox.

Unfortunately I can't open a terminal on guest, as Debian has not been fully installed: as soon as I stop vm and restart it, Debian starts install from start!

Only things I can think of: firewall needs a port opened for the vm (if so, what would it be?), port forwarding should be enabled on the router for the vm (if so, what port and what ip address for the vm?). I have limited knowledge of networking so that makes it difficult!

[Sasquatch]

During netinstall, you can switch to a virtual terminal, called a TTY. Use ctrl+alt+Fx, where x is 1-6, to switch. For a VM, that would be Host+Fx. You can check the network settings there, but during setup, it should already ask for it.
There are no port forwarding rules needed for the router, as the netinstaller will use default ports 80 and 21. You only need to forward ports if you don't initiate the connection, like with P2P software.

[johnaaronrose]

Thanks for advice. Never thought about right ctrl + alt + F1 for terminal on guest! I then did ifconfig: just shows lo, wlan0 (with ip of 192.168.2.72) & non-active eth0. Should there be a device for the network bridge from the host and the guest?

I also opened port 21 for udp & tcp in the firewall.

I have no idea what to do now!

[Sasquatch]

Hitting Ctrl+Alt+F1 will switch the HOST to a TTY, not the Guest. You have to use Hostkey+Fx, like I said. A VM should not have a wlan adapter .
Now, to get the netinstall going, it's best to just use NAT.

[johnaaronrose]

Sasquatch,

Thanks for your help. I tried right ctrl & F!, but it had no effect on the guest. As you suggested, I've installed Debian using NAT for the network. Downloaded Debian updates fine. Network Manager (in vm) shows 10.0.2.15 as ip address. I'd still like to change to Bridged Networking as it will allow Debian to be a proper Server to Ubuntu Desktop (Virtualbox host) using same lan.

Otherwise, with apps (Compiere, Adempiere & OpenERP) I want to install on Debian vm, it won't be quite what I want. I've got LedgerSMB &OpenCommerce running on Ubuntu Desktop but that's OK as they're browser based for the client, whereas the other apps have a true client and need a connected server. In fact, the Compiere documentation says that it won't work without doing that. I'm currently stuck on Adempiere implementation: I can't decide whether it needs a true server or it's another problem.

So it looks like I'll have to wait till Sun get Bridged Networking using a wireless connection to the router. From what I see of postings in this forum & the Ubuntu forum, Bridged Networking works OK for a wired connection. Is there a way to report a bug to Sun similar to Launchpad for Ubuntu?

[Sasquatch]

Don't bother with Launchpad bug reporting, report them here if you have to. Canonical doesn't provide updates for VB anyway, and they tend to stick to a certain version on their distro releases. Ubuntu 8.04 for example doesn't have VLC 0.9.x, 8.10 doesn't go beyond 0.9.4. For Virtualbox-OSE, 8.04 still has 1.5.6. That won't change I'm afraid.

Now, wireless and Bridged in 2.1.x worked just fine, used it a couple of times, never had issues. I haven't tested it yet with 2.2, but don't expect any problems either. But then again, I seem to have a non-issues machine .