In setting up virtual machines with VirtualBox, I often want the following characteristics
- VM has a static IP
- host can access VM without port forwarding
- VM can access the internet
- I can move my laptop from network to network (e.g. from home to office to coffee shop) without worrying about securing or reconfiguring the VM
None of the VirtualBox network connection methods satisfies these requirements on their own.
-
NAT
Requires port forwarding if you want to connect to the VM from the host. -
Host-only
The VM can not access the internet unless the host is a router. -
Bridged
Exposes the VM to the network; not portable.
Best Answer
I can get the setup I want by setting up two adapters on the vm.
VirtualBox 4.2.12
Ubuntu 12.04 guest
In VirtualBox > Preferences > Network, set up a host-only network.
Mine is called vboxnet0, it is manually configured:
ip 192.168.56.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
no dhcp
Then, in the network settings for the virtual machine, set up two adapters:
Adapter 1
host only, vboxnet0
Adapter2
NAT
Boot the virtual machine and log in through the console VirtualBox provides.
Run this to see your adapters:
In my case the adapters were named eth1 and eth2 (and lo, the loopback interface).
Then, edit your network configuration.
Note that
eth1
has no default gateway specified.eth2
will get a default gateway from dhcp.Update March 2018
See this answer from @Hugo14453 for an updated version that works with Ubuntu 17.10 and newer.