Very poor network performance in guest

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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Shadowww
Posts: 32
Joined: 27. Nov 2010, 13:38
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Various

Very poor network performance in guest

Post by Shadowww »

Hi there. After upgrading to VirtualBox 4 (not sure if that's related), I have noticed that guest's network performance is horrible compared to host's:

Guest:
Image
Host:
Image

I am using Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop adapter, so I am pretty sure that's not it's limitation.
Host is Windows 7 x64, guest is Windows 7 x86.

Guest configuration is following:
CPU: 4 virtual cores (host - 6), IO APIC enabled, AMD-V enabled, nested paging enabled;
RAM: 2048 MB RAM (host - 8 GB)
GFX: VRAM - 64 MB; 3D acceleration enabled, 2D video acceleration enabled;
HDD: pre-allocated 20 GB VDI on SATA controller with Host I/O caching enabled;
Audio: Windows DirectSound, Intel HD Audio;
Network: e1000 in NAT mode;
USB: enabled in EHCI mode.

By the way, CPU load on host and guest didn't exceeded 10% during both tests.
squall leonhart
Posts: 312
Joined: 21. Apr 2010, 10:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows XP, 8, 10, Android x86

Re: Very poor network performance in guest

Post by squall leonhart »

the paravirtualised network adapter is better for high throughput.
Shadowww
Posts: 32
Joined: 27. Nov 2010, 13:38
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Various

Re: Very poor network performance in guest

Post by Shadowww »

squall leonhart wrote:the paravirtualised network adapter is better for high throughput.
I have tried it, still is almost same - download was around 80 mbit/s, upload - 60.
SRChiP
Posts: 2
Joined: 26. Dec 2010, 11:06
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 7 x64

Re: Very poor network performance in guest

Post by SRChiP »

Shadowww wrote:I have tried it, still is almost same - download was around 80 mbit/s, upload - 60.
At least its almost doubled.

It could be a limitation of using a single connection. Try multiple connections to multiple hosts and check for maximum combined speed.
Loozer
Posts: 1
Joined: 19. May 2012, 07:27

Re: Very poor network performance in guest

Post by Loozer »

Seeing something similar here. I upgraded to v4.1.14 a while back and have not had any problems until today. When running 'sudo apt-get update' it used to take less than a minute to complete. Now it takes more than 10 minutes before I become pissed enough to kill the process since it doesn't complete. The host DL rates are unchanged. EVERY guest OS shows the same problem. The download rate tops out at about 6K, norm about 2K, and frequently will stop entirely. Sometimes if I wait long enough, it MIGHT continue the download, but most times, once it stops, it stops for good. Can't find a damn thing on this forum that even comes close to being a viable solution to this problem. Wondiering if I will have to go back to a previous version of VirtualBox to make things work properly again since I need access to those VMs.
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