host interface networking unstable in 2.1.4

[nbi]

Host interface networking works upon startup (I can see promiscuous mode in /var/log/messages) of the VM, but eventually all connections are lost. It isn't even possible to ping the gateway. By contrast NAT seems to work ok. Unfortunately this poses a critical problem since VPN is only supported in Host mode. IPV4 is used so it can't be anything related to IPV6 as mentioned in the manual.

Platform is Debian Lenny 64 bit, kernel 2.6.28.

[Frank Mehnert]

Please add the type of your host network card. And which network card emulation did you select for the guest (PCnet or E1000)?

[nbi]

My physical card is a Linksys WMP54G wireless (RT2500 chipset). It has kernel support in the 2.6.28 kernel.

I tried all the emulations. The Intel Pro 1000 doesn't seem to work in any of the interface modes, I even tried updating to the latest Intel drivers as suggested in another bug report.

The Fast PCnet seems to work flawlessly in NAT, but is unstable in HostIf.

[James]

I am having the same issue.

guest (virtual) NIC: PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973)

host (physical) NIC: 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection (made by Intel)

VirtualBox version: 2.1.4 (non-OSE)

Host OS: Ubuntu 8.10 (intrepid)

Guest OS: Windows XP SP 3

I am also using VPN. I've tried both Microsoft and Cisco clients the problem happens with both of them.

[James]

Replying to jamespgray:

64 bit kernel version 2.6.27.

[Licho]

Same issue, all adapters in all modes. Sometimes it works for days before connection is lost.

[nbi]

Unstable in NAT as well. Just at a lesser frequency and longer after a reboot.

[nbi]

NAT seems to have been fixed with version 2.2.0. Bridged mode looks ok too, but I only checked the outbound direction.

[nbi]

2.2.0 bridged works except for one critical thing: can't reach the Internet using the instructions given here at the vbox site. In my previous comments by "outbound" I meant to the host, but obviously a useful configuration includes Internet access too.

Replying to nbi:

NAT seems to have been fixed with version 2.2.0. Bridged mode looks ok too, but I only checked the outbound direction.

[Alex Barker]

This is not fixed in 2.2.0 for Bridged mode and is still an issue for me using openvpn on a tap interface. Vbox keeps switching to promiscuous mode and eventually hangs the guest systems.

This is my client config for open vpn. Openvpn client is running on the host.

remote domain.tld
port 1194
dev tap
secret static.key
proto udp
comp-lzo
ifconfig 192.168.128.50 255.255.255.0
route 192.168.128.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.128.1

Please fix.

[Frank Mehnert]

The last releases contain some hostif-related fixes. Please reopen if this problem is still current with VBox 3.0.8.

[Licho]

Its still an issue, but there is solution now, virtio-net appears to be stable.

[Technologov]

It seems to be WiFi related.

Please change topic: "host interface networking unstable in 2.1.4" --> "WiFi bridge networking unstable"

-Technologov

[Licho]

No its NOT WIFI RELATED.

Wifi problems are separate issue.

This problem affects both host-only and bridge networking for very long time. It causes virtual network adapter to fail under very heavy load and you lose connection to host.

[Aleksey Ilyushin]

Does the problem still occur in 4.0? If it does could you please provide the following information (it should be collected when the connectivity to the host has been lost):

• vbox log
• tcpdump output in guest while pinging the host
• tcpdump output on host while guest pings the host

Thanks in advance.

[James]

I can no longer reproduce this issue. Previously this was an issue with both the OSE and proprietary versions.

(From the host OS)

$ dpkg -s VirtualBox-OSE | grep Version Version: 3.1.6-dfsg-2ubuntu2 $ uname -a Linux sage 2.6.32-27-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 2 00:51:09 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Frank Mehnert]

Thanks for the feedback!