LAB (Microsoft windows server 2012 R2 + Windows 8.1 Client )

[chandanthakur]

Hi,

I am using windows server 2012 R2 edition and windows 8.1 as client. I created the virtual instances in the virtual box but having some issues in networking between them. I am using "internal network" for them both to be the part of same network. I turned off the firewall on server + Window 8.1 client + my PC.

1. Some time I try to ping client form the server it will be okay but half of the time it says "host unreachable"
2. From the client it always says "request time out".

I don't know why server sometime able to ping client but client cannot able to ping the server back.
I am using virtual box 4.3.16 version.

as I am not setting any IP on server 2012 and windows 8.1. They are assigned automatically by the vbox dhcp. For example in my case:

Server IP - 169.254.164.246
Windows 8.1IP - 169.254.193.76

Is there any step I am missing?

Thank you

[Perryg]

as I am not setting any IP on server 2012 and windows 8.1. They are assigned automatically by the vbox dhcp. For example in my case:
Server IP - 169.254.164.246
Windows 8.1IP - 169.254.193.76

I doubt that VBox is assigning those addresses. They are APAPI addresses assigned by Windows when it does not detect a network.

You need to manually setup the Windows network if you want it to work properly.

[BillG]

Indeed. You should assign the server a static IP in its own IP subnet and either set up a DHCP server on it or manually configure the networking for the client(s).

The fact that you are using VirtualBox does not automatically make it a VB problem. The problem you have would be exactly the same if you had physical machines and a physical hub/switch.

I suggest that you read up on Windows lab setup.

[chandanthakur]

Hi,
Let me give you my IP address scheme
Pfsense
em0(Bridge-WLAN): via DHCP
em1(LAN): 10.0.0.20/24 - Static
Windows server 2012 : 10.0.0.10 /24 - static - With default gateway + DNS server = 10.0.0.20 (IP of em1: Pfsense)
Windows 8 client 1: 10.0.0.100/24 - static - With default gateway + DNS server = 10.0.0.20 (IP of em1: Pfsense)
Windows 8 client 2: 10.0.0.200/24 - static- With default gateway + DNS server = 10.0.0.20 (IP of em1: Pfsense)

I do not set any dhcp server on 2012 server, so I set IP address on windows 8 client statically. Problem that I am getting is that I am able to ping to internet to all machines, and all machines can ping Pfsense LAN interface i.e. 10.0.0.20 , but I am unable to ping between the machines i.e server 2012 and windows 8 clients. Ping response is "Request time out".

[BillG]

Probably nothing to do with VirtualBox. Ping is quite often blocked by built-in firewalls in Windows.

A better test would be to try to share files between them.