[vbox-dev] FW: Re: [VBox-users] Predictable PCI bus addresses for network interfaces?

[Kent R. Spillner]

> Yes, the bus address is in hex, and with some digging I actually found
> what's going on - you've configured the Intel 82545EM network adapter
> (official Intel product name PRO/1000 MT Server), and the manual gives
> the following hint in section 6.1: "The MT Server variant facilitates
> OVF imports from other platforms." - i.e. this one implicitly enables
> VMware compatibility hack (swapping slots 0x03 and 0x11). If you switch
> to any other model the first device will move to 00:03:0 as expected.

Ok, thanks for digging!  I'm interested in this in order to predict the default systemd v197+ interface names when using Vagrant to dynamically configure multiple networks per guest.

Is there a way to query individual guests for VMWare compatibility via the API or using VBoxManage at the command line?  It doesn't appear any guest properties are set (I checked with VBoxManage guestproperty enumerate <guest>).  VBoxManage showvminfo <guest> displays a lot of detail, but I don't see anything specifically indicating VMWare compatibility.

Alternatively, is there a subcommand of VBoxManage I can use to list the PCI address of each active nic for a guest?  I could parse the output of VBoxManage showvminfo <guest> and derive the address from the combination of chipset and NIC type since I now have a better understanding of the mapping, but if that information is already available with a different command that would be great.

> I'm wondering how you ended up with this card type - there are exactly
> three ways: importing an OVF/OVA appliance which wasn't created by
> VirtualBox, creating a VM with OS type "JRockit VE", or manually
> selecting this card type.

Funnily enough, I manually selected that card type.  Prior to your first response to my original question I was trying different combinations of type & slot in an effort to determine how stable the PCI address selection is and which factors affect it.  :)  Now I understand why that card type specifically is different from all of the others.