Virtualbox preferences settings

[zoe]

Hi all,
I am new to Vbox and when I see there is a File-Preferences-Network option and there is option to configure Host-only adapter and DHCP server settings. But when we create a Virtual Machine in Virtual Box there we can set the ip address of each of the Virtual Machines using the Host-only adapter. Then what is the difference between the two ip settings? If there is already some ip address that is set in the preferences under File menu for the host-only adapters, then why do we again need to assign some ip address to the individual VMs which are using the same "Virtualbox host-only adapters"?
I am using Windows 7 as OS .
can anyone pls tell me the differences between - bridged and host-only adapter?
And can someone tell me how to configure VMs using host-only adapters?
Where should I set the IP addresses? Is it inside the VMachines or I set it in the preferences option under File menu in VBox Manager?
Hope I have made my question clear.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[noteirak]

Bridged means it is connected like a regular PC to your home router/switch. The VM has its own IP and can be joined like a regular computer.
Host-Only means exactly what it means - it's purpose is when you only need to talk to the host. It use a different IP subnet (192.168.56.x) by default. The Host gets the 192.168.56.1. You would set the VM to 192.168.56.2

you can find further information about the networking mode in the User Manual - Chapter 6.
IP configuration itself (software leve) is not in scope of Virtualbox (hardware level) and I would suggest a networking forum for this.

[zoe]

Hi noteirak,
Thanks Sir for replying. But can you please tell me what is "software level networking" means? which settings in Virtualbox falls under "software level networking"??
Also , I am in trying these for last 2 weeks and i am now really fed up as I cant proceed in my networking studies with these problem-
I want to create 2 VMs using host-only adapter and I want to assign the 10.0.0.0 /24 network to the VMs . One of them will be using Win XP as OS and the other Linux as OS. How do I set up the ip address? I want to assign 10.0.0.2 /24 to one vm and 10.0.0.3 /24 as ip of 2nd vm and both will have a default gateway of 10.0.0.1
But when I go to Preferences under the File menu & then to Network -> Host-only Networks I see that the "Virtualbox Host-only Ethernet adapter" has already 192.168.56.12 /24 ip address! And my real PC running windows 7 has a wlan internet with ip address of 192.168.1.x as ip address. So I am confused what should be the ip address of the individual VMs I mentioned at the beginning and also do I need to change the ip address of the Virtualbox Ethernet adapter under File Menu ? If 'Yes' then can it be something like these - 10.0.0.0 /24 or it should be like 192.168.56.12 /24 as it was before?
Also,I was following a video which showed me to assign the 10.0.0.0/24 network to the VirtualBox machines in the same cloud using host-only network adapter but the "Virtualbox Ethernet Adapter " in VirtualBox Preferences showed to be having the 192.168.56.12 /24 IP address ! Can I assign it any ip address in the 10.0.0.0 /24 network ?
2) Also there is a "Enable DHCP-server" option under Preferences in VirtualBox, what is it for? Where is this DHCP server located( sorry if i am being silly but as I said i am a newbie in networking).Is my real machine acting as the DHCP server or Virtualbox ethernet adapter is the dhcp server?

[noteirak]

By "software level networking" I mean that it has nothing to do with Virtualbox.
Virtualbox emulate hardware features, like a MAC address, a link status. But an IP is not hardware. It is a logical concept that only works in software (by software I mean OS and above).

Yes you can change the Host-Only adapter config via Virtualbox and set it to 10.0.0.x/24. Don't use 10.0.0.0 as IP as it is not usable for that. use 10.0.0.1 for the host and 10.0.0.2 in the guest per exemple.

The DHCP Server mentioned is for the Virtualbox Ethernet adaptor only. It is done by Virtualbox itself, so your host is not the DHCP and will not give away IPs.

Again, you really should really seek more info on a networking level. Virtualbox is only a hardware emulator and IP configuration is not in scope here.