GNS3/VirtualBox host-only network adapter problem

[superwave]

Hi,

I have a setup which involves GNS3 and VirtualBox in which I have the following:

In GNS3:

1) A cloud attached to a VirtualBox host-only network adapter
2) The cloud faces a switch which in turn interfaces with a firewall which has the IP address 192.168.56.1/24

In VirtualBox:

1) The host-only network adapter is configured with the static IP address 192.168.56.2/24
2) The VM (Win XP) uses this adapter as its unique adapter

In the VM:

1) I try to configure the local area connection (manually) with IP address 192.168.56.2/24 but it says this address already taken (I thought this was linked to the VirtualBox adapter… I get confused right here…). So I give it another IP in the range, i.e: 192.168.56.10.

When in the VM, I cannot ping 192.168.56.1 nor can I ping the VM from the firewall either.
If you ask:

1) I can see the IP of the VirtualBox host-only network adapter (192.168.56.2/24) in the ARP table of the firewall in GNS3
2) both firewalls on the guest and on the host are deactivated.
3) I use VirtualBox 4.2.6r82870 and GNS 0.8.3.1 with ASA 8.4.2

Any help much appreciated,

[Perryg]

We don't support GNS3 here. You need to ask them.

[superwave]

ok, no problem.

Putting GNS3 aside, can you please tell me if my VirtualBox setup is correct?

Thank you

[noteirak]

The Host-only adapter acts like a switch for a sperate network, but in your case your normal LAN with the firewall is the same subnet as the host-only subnet, so your host has 2 NICs have the same subnet, and this will cause issues.
You get the warning of duplicated IP address because your host has already this address.
See the host-only adapter as a switch, you will still need different IP addresses.

[superwave]

Thank you for your explanation.

I have tried making it work for some time again and I don't see how.
Can you tell me how I can set this up so that the host-only adapter (192.168.56.2) can ping the other interface (192.168.56.1)?

Thanks again

[noteirak]

I told you : you need to change the subnet used either by the other interface or by the host-only interface.
If you don't understand what I am talking about here, I think you should first understand how networking works first, which I am not sure you fully grasp the extend of what you are doing here.

[superwave]

And how do you explain the following?

Host IP: 192.168.56.2 (no gtw)
Guest IP: 192.168.56.3 (no gtw)
Firewall IP: 192.168.56.1

The guest and the host can ping the firewall 25% of the time. During the other 75% of the time, looking at the ARP table on the firewall shows incomplete MAC addresses. The firewall can never ping the host nor guest.

All NICs are full duplex and I've tried all speed scenarios (10,100, auto).

[superwave]

Here's the output from the debug arp command (firewall):

Pings are sent out from the guest:

Output when requests time out:
*Mar 1 01:08:58.851: IP ARP: rcvd req src 192.168.56.3 0800.27b1.f537, dst 192.168.56.1 FastEthernet0
*Mar 1 01:08:58.859: IP ARP: creating entry for IP address: 192.168.56.3, hw: 0800.27b1.f537
*Mar 1 01:08:58.859: IP ARP: sent rep src 192.168.56.1 d000.0b60.0000,
dst 192.168.56.3 0800.27b1.f537 FastEthernet0

Output for successful pings:
*Mar 1 01:08:58.879: IP ARP: rcvd req src 192.168.56.2 0800.2700.c046, dst 192.168.56.3 FastEthernet0
*Mar 1 01:09:04.247: IP ARP: rcvd req src 192.168.56.2 0800.2700.c046, dst 192.168.56.1 FastEthernet0
*Mar 1 01:09:04.251: IP ARP: sent rep src 192.168.56.1 d000.0b60.0000,
dst 192.168.56.2 0800.2700.c046 FastEthernet0

[Perryg]

Have you talked to the gns3 people about this?
gns3 uses a different configuration. vlan and as such needs to be addressed by them.