Bridged networking (Linux on Windows) stops working

[ambarish]

VirtualBox version: 4.3.6 r91406
Host: Win7x64 SP1
Guest: Fedora 20 (Linux 3.12.8-300)

I have been running my guest with a bridged interface for a year, and things were fine; I was able to make outbound calls from my guest, as well as ssh in into my guest from even outside my home network. Recently I upgraded VBox and about the same time upgrade my guest from Fedora 19 to 20. That's when bridged networking stopped working. My guest would be working fine, until packets would stop flowing out. No DNS, no IP or even ICMP. Switching the interface to a NAT would cause traffic to start flowing again, but (because its NATed), I couldn't ssh in into the guest. Turning it back to bridged would be OK. but things would stop working after a while. Any ideas why this could be happening? Thanks!

Here's the output from my host:

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PS C:\> & 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe' list bridgedifs

Name:            Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

GUID:            f7d9b9dc-446b-47a8-ab4c-9159f8d4afaf

DHCP:            Enabled

IPAddress:       192.168.1.7

NetworkMask:     255.255.255.0

IPV6Address:     fe80:0000:0000:0000:d1df:7ead:e8e7:b7cf

IPV6NetworkMaskPrefixLength: 64

HardwareAddress: 00:23:54:43:cb:b3

MediumType:      Ethernet

Status:          Up

VBoxNetworkName: HostInterfaceNetworking-Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

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PS C:\Users\Ambarish\SkyDrive\bin> & 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe' showvminfo dash --details
Name:            dash
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Fedora
UUID:            07515a2c-f446-4e70-9390-5a974e34821e
Config file:     C:\Users\Foobar\VirtualBox VMs\dash\dash.vbox
Snapshot folder: C:\Users\Foobar\VirtualBox VMs\dash\Snapshots
Log folder:      C:\Users\Foobar\VirtualBox VMs\dash\Logs
Hardware UUID:   07515a2c-f446-4e70-9390-5a974e34821e
Memory size:     1024MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       12MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
PAE:             off
Long Mode:       on
Synthetic CPU:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): DVD
Boot Device (2): HardDisk
Boot Device (3): Not Assigned
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          off
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             UTC
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     on
VT-x VPID:       on
VT-x unr. exec.: on
State:           running (since 2014-01-28T23:33:59.889000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address: 
Teleporter Password: 
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration: 
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Default Frontend: 
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
Storage Controller Name (1):            SATA Controller
Storage Controller Type (1):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (1):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (1):        on
SATA Controller (0, 0): C:\Users\Foobar\VirtualBox VMs\dash\Linux.vhd (UUID: e5f92d32-572b-41b8-a8f6-fe96c136c6fe)
SATA Controller (1, 0): C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: 3216a1be-2551-4e9d-9fd5-8c996d3c55b8)
NIC 1:           MAC: 080027E031B5, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: allow-all, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
Drag'n'drop Mode: Bidirectional
Session type:    GUI/Qt
Video mode:      640x480x32 at 0,0
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             enabled
EHCI:            enabled

USB Device Filters:

Index:            0
Active:           yes
Name:             Prolific Technology Inc. Mass Storage Device [0100]
VendorId:         067b
ProductId:        2506
Revision:         0100
Manufacturer:     Prolific Technology Inc.
Product:          Mass Storage Device
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    000000000000

Index:            1
Active:           yes
Name:             Sunplus Technology Co.,Ltd. USB to Serial-ATA bridge [0112]
VendorId:         04fc
ProductId:        0c25
Revision:         0112
Manufacturer:     Sunplus Technology Co.,Ltd.
Product:          USB to Serial-ATA bridge
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    FF3FFFFAFF0000000000003FF02BF4

Index:            2
Active:           yes
Name:             Western Digital Ext HDD 1021 [2002]
VendorId:         1058
ProductId:        1021
Revision:         2002
Manufacturer:     Western Digital
Product:          Ext HDD 1021
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    574D41565533313434313332

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  

Name: 'Music', Host path: 'C:\Users\Foobar\Cloud Drive\Documents\Archived Music' (machine mapping), writable

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Video capturing:    not active
Capture screens:    0
Capture file:       C:\Users\Foobar\VirtualBox VMs\dash\dash.webm
Capture dimensions: 1024x768
Capture rate:       512 kbps
Capture FPS:        25

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB
OS type:                             Linux26
Additions run level:                 2
Additions version:                   4.3.6 r91406


Guest Facilities:

Facility "VirtualBox Base Driver": active/running (last update: 2014/01/28 23:44:47 UTC)
Facility "VirtualBox System Service": active/running (last update: 2014/01/28 23:45:22 UTC)
Facility "Seamless Mode": active/running (last update: 2014/01/28 23:44:47 UTC)
Facility "Graphics Mode": not active (last update: 2014/01/28 23:46:23 UTC)

And from my guest:

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[root@dash system]# ifconfig -a
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 1680  bytes 364241 (355.7 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 1680  bytes 364241 (355.7 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

p2p1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.254  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fee0:31b5  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 08:00:27:e0:31:b5  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 281237  bytes 80698786 (76.9 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 292177  bytes 336177525 (320.6 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

[noteirak]

When the problem occurs, could you give the following output in the guest please :

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sudo ifconfig -a
sudo route -n
sudo cat /etc/resolv.conf
ping 8.8.8.8
ping google-public-dns-a.google.com
nslookup 8.8.8.8
nslookup google-public-dns-a.google.com

[ambarish]

Here you go:

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[root@dash ~]# ifconfig -a
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 4992  bytes 1364585 (1.3 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 4992  bytes 1364585 (1.3 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

p2p1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.254  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fee0:31b5  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 08:00:27:e0:31:b5  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 961282  bytes 598267201 (570.5 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 735359  bytes 771848111 (736.0 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

[root@dash ~]# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 p2p1
[root@dash ~]# cat /etc/resolv.conf 
# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 192.168.1.1
[root@dash ~]# ping 8.8.8.8
connect: Network is unreachable
[root@dash ~]# ping google-public-dns-a.google.com
connect: Network is unreachable
[root@dash ~]# nslookup 8.8.8.8
Server:		192.168.1.1
Address:	192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
8.8.8.8.in-addr.arpa	name = google-public-dns-a.google.com.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

[root@dash ~]# nslookup google-public-dns-a.google.com
Server:		192.168.1.1
Address:	192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address: 8.8.8.8

[root@dash ~]# 

[noteirak]

Well your guest doesn't have a default route for some reason. Could you give the same output when it is working?
At first, this seems to me like a problem in your network configuration, most likely at your router or in the OS itself.

[ambarish]

It's entirely possible it's a problem in the guest OS with my upgrade from Fedora 19 to 20. Below's the output when it's working. As you surmised, the routing table has an extra entry. I'm familiar with Linux but not with networking, and some basic Googling revealed nothing interesting. Would you know what would cause the default route to disappear like that? Could it have anything to do with VBox, or is this all Fedora? Thanks again!

Code: Select all

root@dash ~]# ifconfig -a
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 8176  bytes 1814193 (1.7 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 8176  bytes 1814193 (1.7 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

p2p1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.254  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fee0:31b5  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 08:00:27:e0:31:b5  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 1091450  bytes 608797509 (580.5 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 772282  bytes 780516636 (744.3 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

[root@dash ~]# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
0.0.0.0         192.168.1.1     0.0.0.0         UG    1024   0        0 p2p1
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 p2p1
[root@dash ~]# cat /etc/resolv.conf 
# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 192.168.1.1
[root@dash ~]# ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=48 time=28.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=48 time=28.7 ms
^C
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1001ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 28.700/28.767/28.834/0.067 ms
[root@dash ~]# ping google-public-dns-a.google.com
PING google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8): icmp_seq=1 ttl=48 time=28.4 ms
64 bytes from google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8): icmp_seq=2 ttl=48 time=28.4 ms
64 bytes from google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8): icmp_seq=3 ttl=48 time=29.1 ms
64 bytes from google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8): icmp_seq=4 ttl=48 time=29.1 ms
^C
--- google-public-dns-a.google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3005ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 28.408/28.789/29.175/0.412 ms
[root@dash ~]# nslookup 8.8.8.8
Server:		192.168.1.1
Address:	192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
8.8.8.8.in-addr.arpa	name = google-public-dns-a.google.com.

Authoritative answers can be found from:

[root@dash ~]# nslookup google-public-dns-a.google.com
Server:		192.168.1.1
Address:	192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address: 8.8.8.8

[noteirak]

A route doesn't just disapear like that, that is for sure, but your case is also unique, so I don't think this is a Virtualboxd issue. Especially since Virtualbox doesn't deal with IPs and routing, only with hardware bridging.
You say things works at first then break. Is there a maximum amount of time it works then breaks? It could be some background task messing around.

To me, the issue comes from your update/OS/applications, not from Virtualbox. At least, there is nothing to indicates it would come from Virtualbox.