[Solved] Problem with bridged networking - on the HOST side

[leecallen]

Here's my problem:
Networking in the guest is rock solid.
Networking on the host (Linux) side is flaky as hell. Ie, firefox frequently freezes for minutes at a time, Pidgin (IM client) loses connections, etc. And, I can't connect to my Linux services (FTP server, VNC server, etc) from other machines on the network.
These problems are present even when the guest is not running.

Versions:
VirtualBox is 3.0.4
Host is Ubuntu 9.04
Guest is Windows XP Pro SP2
Using bridged networking

I am using bridged networking because I need to run VPN clients from the guest OS. I would happily install a 2nd network adapter in this machine just for the guest OS, but I don't know if that's an option.

I started out with an earlier version of VirtualBox - I can't remember the version, but the network interfaces required manual setup.

This is driving me crazy and I would really appreciate some help.

Here is what my ifconfig looks like now.

br0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0f:1f:73:d0:28
inet addr:192.168.0.92 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20ffe73:d028/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:675214 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:497577 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:627038443 (627.0 MB) TX bytes:67439416 (67.4 MB)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0f:1f:73:d0:28
inet6 addr: fe80::20ffe73:d028/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2738980 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1204993 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:207050 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1038476312 (1.0 GB) TX bytes:109973937 (109.9 MB)
Interrupt:17

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1521 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1521 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:49363 (49.3 KB) TX bytes:49363 (49.3 KB)

vbox0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 3a:c5:5c:390c
inet6 addr: fe80:5cff:fe39:de0c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:1472079 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

vbox1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 0a:84:6f:8f:c9:7c
inet6 addr: fe80::884:6fff:fe8f:c97c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:171288 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

vbox2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 8a:48:c5:01:92:c5
inet6 addr: fe80::8848:c5ff:fe01:92c5/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:171288 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

vbox3 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr ae:6c:7a:72:d7:12
inet6 addr: fe80::ac6c:7aff:fe72:d712/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:171288 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:500
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

Thank you.

[Sasquatch]

Since VB 2.1.0, you no longer need a bridge. I suggest you remove all the old interfaces from your old VB install, disband the bridge and use eth0 directly as you would do before you had VB. That should get things running a lot smoother.

[leecallen]

Well that was embarrassingly easy and completely effective. I only wish I had posted three months ago!

Thank you.

[Sasquatch]

Instead of posting three months ago, you would have done a better job to keep and eye on the change log, it's listed there . It's also in the Manual, and VirtualBox FAQ .