virtualbox and active directory ?

jimmy1987 · Post by **jimmy1987** » 22. Jan 2008, 02:16

Ok i've got a question.
I've been running vmware for some time now and i like it.
But i discovered virtualbox and installed it on my desktop pc, ( vmware runs on my school laptop ).

I've run a test 2003 server in it for my router. And i must say i'm quite impressed with it's options. So i'm thinking about using it for school too instead of vmware. Hence my next question.

I've got the task from school too make a active directory, a replicator and a child domain. Can i do this with virtualbox? Let them communicate with each other etc.
Which one requires the most memory virtualbox or vmware? ( the benchmarks link is down so..).

Post by **JshWright** » 22. Jan 2008, 04:10

I don't have any benchmarks to cite, but I can speak from personal experience that VBox is snappier than VMWare for many applications.

As far as using VBox in an AD environment, as long as you use host networking mode, then it will work just fine.

~JW

coco100 · Post by **coco100** » 28. Mar 2008, 06:55

Hello, i have server 2003 and active directory installed.

i also have XP installed, how can i make XP connect to server 2003 domain?

server 2003 and XP are guest OS via VirtualBox

many thanks

Post by **Sasquatch** » 28. Mar 2008, 10:28

There are two options to let the VMs talk with each other. One is using Host Interface and put them in the same bridge (the physical interfaces isn't really needed here, as you want to VMs to talk with each other, not use that NIC to go to the internet) and give them the proper IP addresses.
The other method you can use, which is also faster, is to use Internal Networking. With this option, VB will create a virtual network on which the VMs can operate on. Make sure you set the proper name and ip address for the interfaces (name is set in the VM settings, this is on initial setup always the same name, but check to be sure).
Now it should work.