virtualbox.org

I'm trying to set up networking between a Suse Linux guest running in a VirtuaBox on a WinXP host and an external box running an embedded Linux Os.
The embedded linux box is connected to WindowsXP box using an ethernet over USB connection.

In Suse Linux I setup a Host-only adapter connected to "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapater".
I give the eth1 adapter the fixed IP adress 1921.168.1.5. The eth0 adapter is connected to VB NAT adapter that connects to the Internet and gets its address through dhcp.

# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 08:00:27:30:98:31
inet addr:10.0.2.15 Bcast:10.0.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::a00fe30:9831/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:4912 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:4160402 (3.9 Mb) TX bytes:111836 (109.2 Kb)

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 08:00:27:88:FD:59
inet addr:192.168.1.5 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::a00fe88:fd59/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:222 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:46639 (45.5 Kb)

In Windows XP I make a bridge between VirtuaBox Host-Only Network and the Linux USB network adapters.
I assign the bridge the fixed address 192.168.1.20

In the embedded linux box I set the usb0 interface to the fixed address 192.168.1.10.

I can ping the WinXP host (192.168.1.20) from the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10).
I can ping the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10) from the WinXP host (192.168.1.20).
I can NOT ping the WinXP host (192.168.1.20) or the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10) from the VirtualBox Linux guest (192.168.1.5).
I can NOT ping the the VirtualBox Linux guest (192.168.1.5) from either the WinXP host (192.168.1.20) or the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10).

However if I change the fixed address of eth1 on the VirtualBox Linux guest to another network (192.168.0.5) I can ping both the WinXP host (192.168.1.20) and the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10).
But I can NOT ping 192.168.0.5 from either the WinXP host (192.168.1.20) or the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10).

I am trying to connect an NFS client on the embedded Linux box (192.168.2.10) to an NFS server on the Suse Linux Guest running in VirtualBox.

Anyone have any ideas as to why this isn't working?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Michel

Host-only means exactly what it says.

Strangely enough I observe exactly the same behaviour when I change the adapter to a bridged network (Miniport for bridged MAC).
But that might be normal because in WinXP I'm bridging the Linux USB adapter to the VirtualBox Host-Only network.

Why then am I able to ping from Suse Linux guest to the devices when they don't reside on the same network?

And I see excatly the same behaviour when I remove the bridge in WinXP and use a network bridge linked to the Linux USB adapter.

# ifconfig eth1 192.168.0.5
# ping 192.168.1.10
PING 192.168.1.10 (192.168.1.10) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=6.58 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=2.08 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.10: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.50 ms
^C
--- 192.168.1.10 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 3 received, 25% packet loss, time 3016ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.503/3.389/6.585/2.272 ms

# ifconfig eth1 192.168.1.5
# ping 192.168.1.10
PING 192.168.1.10 (192.168.1.10) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.5: icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.5 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.5 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.5 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable


Any idea why this is happening?

Michel

Why are you bridging the host-only adapter in XP? VirtualBox was not intended to be used this way. Look at your ping times. For a local net this should be <=1ms
You have a router right? Use it. Set the guest to use Bridged (in the guest settings), loose the host-only bridge in XP, and get the host and guest to work properly. Then worry about the other PC in the net.

Thanks for pointing me in teh right direction.
I disabled all network adapters in VirtulaBox and in guest Linux and started up the configuration from scratch.

This time I used adapter 1 for the local bridged network with static Ip addresses and adpater 2 as NAT for internet access.
When I started up the system everything works as expected.
I browse the net and I can access teh NFS server in the Linux Suse guest from the embedded Linux device connected to WinXP PC through Ethernet over USB.

Michel