Networking Question -- Mulitple Guests

[saberman]

Host: Windows 8.1 Pro x64 on a Surface Pro 3 512GB
Guests: Mutiple versions of Windows

I have four ways of running:
1. With the host in a docking station conntected to my LAN via ethernet
2. With the host out of the docking station connected to my LAN via WiFi
3. With the host out of the docking station with WiFi unconnected
4. With the host out of the docking station with WiFi connected to a public hotspot

For 1 I have the ethernet adapter bridged and defined in Windows as Private and I can see all of the machines on the host and the LAN.
For 2 I have the WiFi adapter bridged and defined in Windows as Private and I can see all of the machines on the host and the LAN.
For 3 can I use Host Only so the VMs can see each other and the host?

Do I use NAT for 4 and do I have to disable Adapter 2 (the WiFi bridged adapter)?

[BillG]

In case 3, host only is your only option, so yes, use host only.

In case 4, host only is still your best option if you want the vms to see the host. It makes no difference whether WiFi is connected or not, because the vms cannot see it from a host only connection. By design, guests on a host only network do not have a default gateway and cannot see anything except each other and the host (ie machines in the same IP subnet).

[socratis]

guests on a host only network do not have a default gateway and cannot see anything except each other and the host (ie machines in the same IP subnet).

Just a small warning; if Windows (I believe > Vista) doesn't see a default gateway, it flags the network as "Unknown" and is playing difficult with the rest of the network. So it doesn't hurt to set the gateway explicitly on the guests.

[saberman]

In case 3, host only is your only option, so yes, use host only.

In case 4, host only is still your best option if you want the vms to see the host. It makes no difference whether WiFi is connected or not, because the vms cannot see it from a host only connection. By design, guests on a host only network do not have a default gateway and cannot see anything except each other and the host (ie machines in the same IP subnet).

I guess I wasn't very clear. Assuming the four adapters on the guests are setup as folllows:
1. Bridged Ethernet Adapter (Windows Private)
2. Bridged WiFi Adapter (Windows Private)
3. Virtual Host Only Or Internal? (Windows Private)
4. ?

If I am connected to a public hotspot Adapter 2 will cause Windows to think it is a private network and expose the host and all of the VMs. So do I need to disable adapter 2 in the Network section of the VMs in that case?

[BillG]

As we noted when this problem came up in a different form earlier, most of your problems will be Windows networking problems (particularly how Windows classifies network types), not VirtualBox ones.

It is also a situation which is probably unique, so nobody is likely to have actual experience with it or anything similar.

As a general rule, it is a good idea to network you vms through host only or a private network if the host is likely to be disconnected from the LAN or moved from one LAN to another. I can see why you want to use bridged networking when you have access to your LAN, but that fails when you don't have a LAN connection. I confess I had never considered the possibility of the host connecting to a WiFi hotspot before.

Setting up a host only or internal network as well as the bridged one could cause problems with the bridged setup when on the LAN. You can get odd results when there are two possible paths between systems. I can't see any way to set this up in a way guaranteed to work in all situations.

[saberman]

>It is also a situation which is probably unique, so nobody is likely to have actual experience with it or anything similar.
It is nice be considered unique but I doubt I am the only one that has this situation:
A host that is normally docked but occassionally undocked and connecting to the LAN via WiFi. That is also used when traveling and doing demos. While on the road one would normally connect to a public hot spot.

On a side note -- is there some way to other way to figure out which VB adapter is which on the Windows side without having to match their MAC addresses?

[saberman]

Moving right along I thought the following configuration for the guest would work:
Adapter 1: NAt
Adapter 2: Host Only Network
Adapter 3: Bridged Ethernet
Adapter 4: Bridged WiFi

My Assumption was that when:
The Surface Pro 3 512 GB was in the docking stations I would have Adapter 1 disabled, Adapter 2 disabled, Adapter 3 enabled and Adapter 4 disabled.
The Surface Pro 3 512 GB was out of the docking station but the WiFi connection was to my LAN I would have Adapter 1 disabled, Adapter 2 disabled, Adapter 3 disabled and Adapter 4 enabled.
The Surface Pro 3 512 GB was out of the docking station and WiFi connection was to a public hot spot I would have Adapter 1 enabled, Adapter 2 enabled, Adapter 3 disabled and Adapter 4 disabled.

The last one caused a problem. The guest could access the internet using IE10. However, Outlook 2010 could neither send nor receive pop3 mail. The Outlook account is set to receive mail on port 110 and send mail on port 587. Do I have to do something on the host to allow the guest access to ports 110 and 587? Is there a setting in VirtualBox 5.0.6 to allow a guest to communicate through ports 110 and 587 through NAT?

The host is a Surface Pro 3 512 GB running Windows 8.1 Pro x64
The guest is running Outlook 2010 x32 on Windows 7 Ultimate x64