Virtualbox host networking and WIFI.
Virtualbox > 2.1.4 and Jaunty. Virtualbox does that on its own now. Select host interface (or bridge network in 2.2) and then your wifi card.
No need for this lengthy howto anymore...
Scope of this HowTo
While being connected to your router (thus the Internet) via your laptop WIFI card, enable host networking on a different subnet by bridging your ethernet card.
Your ethernet card does not have to be physically connected to your network for this to work.
Your Virtualbox machines will be connected to the Internet as well.
The tutorial is constructed as follows:
similar settings to Vbox > 2.1.0 and Vbox < 2.1.0
Vbox > 2.1.0
Vbox < 2.1.0
Guest configuration
Tested and working with the following:
Virtualbox 1.5.6, 1.6.0, 1.6.2 Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
Virtualbox 2.0.4, 2.0.6 Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex
Virtualbox > 2.1.0 Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex
Pre-requisites
One computer with:
ethernet controller eth0
WIFI Controller eth1 (or wlan0 or whatever you have, change accordingly to your system)
Virtualbox
Internet connection thru eth1 (WIFI)
All the bridge creation and host interface creation knowledge comes from Virtualbox help contents. (see chapter Host Interface Networking and bridging on Linux hosts, version 2.0.6 or previous, as of 2.1.0 host networking is "integrated" in VBox)
HowTo - by example
Consider a connection to the internet via eth1 (WIFI) with IP 192.168.1.2 (netmask 255.255.255.0).
The bridge IP address will be 192.168.0.2 (same netmask as above - note the difference of subnet between the wifi and the bridge).
Bridge br0 will include eth0 (ethernet card) and the host interfaces (tap0, tap1 ... - only for Vbox < 2.1.0)
I will assume that virtualbox is up and running for the user joe.
Similar settings
Install the necessary tools
Code:
sudo apt-get install bridge-utils
Modify /etc/network/interfaces
Code:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
address 192.168.0.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
bridge_ports eth0
bridge_maxwait 0
Restart networking
Code:
sudo invoke-rc.d networking restart
Enable ip_forwarding: modify /etc/sysctl.conf
Code:
net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
While it is not necessary to create a firewall service to enable masquerading, it will be much easier to activate if you do so. You can use ufw if you prefer.
Code:
sudo vi /etc/init.d/firewall
#/bin/bash
start() {
echo "Creating iptables rule"
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE
}
stop() {
echo "Flushing iptables"
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -P PREROUTING ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -P POSTROUTING ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -F
iptables -t nat -F
iptables -X
iptables -t nat -X
}
case $1 in
start) start;;
stop) stop;;
restart) stop
start;;
status) /sbin/iptables -L
/sbin/iptables -t nat -L
exit 0;;
*) echo "Usage: firewall {start|stop|restart|status}"
exit 1
esac
exit
Make the script executable
Code:
sudo chmod u+x /etc/init.d/firewall
Create links for the service to be started/stopped automatically
Code:
sudo update-rc.d firewall defaults
Start the service to enable masquerading
Code:
sudo invoke-rc.d firewall start
VBox 2.1.0
The configuration is almost over.
You just need to select host interface in the virtual machine settings and choose br0.
VBox < 2.1.0
Code:
sudo apt-get install uml-utilities
sudo gpasswd -a uml-net $USER
sudo chgrp uml-net /lib/udev/devices/net/tun
sudo chmod g+rw /lib/udev/devices/net/tun
(reboot necessary unless someone has another solution. You can change the ownership of /dev/net/tun right away and wait for a later reboot)
If you want to create a permanent host interface
change /etc/network/interfaces to
Code:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto tap0
iface tap0 inet manual
up ifconfig $IFACE 0.0.0.0 up
down ifconfig $IFACE down
tunctl_user joe ###replace joe with the name of your user member of vboxusers and uml-net groups##
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
address 192.168.0.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
bridge_ports eth0 tap0 #tap1 tap2 ...
bridge_maxwait 0
Add as many host interfaces (tap1 tap2 ...) as desired on the same principle. If you do so, don't forget to add them to the bridge.
Restart networking
Code:
sudo invoke-rc.d networking restart
Assign tap0 (tap1 ...) as a host interface to your virtual machine.
I prefer dynamic host interfaces
To create dynamic tap interfaces (from the virtualbox help, 6.7.2. Creating interfaces dynamically when a virtual machine starts up):
* create a start up script (wherever you want, just remember where), replace joe with your user member of vboxusers and uml-net groups
Code:
cat > /home/joe/addtap.sh <<eof
#!/bin/bash
# Create an new TAP interface for the user 'joe' and remember its name.
interface=\`VBoxTunctl -b -u joe\`## replace joe with your user
# If for some reason the interface could not be created, return 1 to
# tell this to VirtualBox.
if [ -z "\$interface" ]; then
exit 1
fi
# Write the name of the interface to the standard output.
echo \$interface
# Bring up the interface.
ifconfig \$interface up
# And add it to the bridge.
brctl addif br0 \$interface
eof
chmod u+x /home/joe/addtap.sh
* create an end script
Code:
cat > /home/joe/deltap.sh <<eof
#!/bin/bash
# Remove the interface from the bridge. The second script parameter is
# the interface name.
brctl delif br0 \$2
# And use VBoxTunctl to remove the interface.
VBoxTunctl -d \$2
eof
chmod u+x /home/joe/deltap.sh
In the virtual machine network settings, do the following changes
attached to: host interface
interface name: (nothing, leave it empty)
setup application: gksudo /home/joe/addtap.sh
terminate application: gksudo /home/joe/deltap.sh
if you wish to avoid typing your password when the tap interface is created, add the following line to your sudoers file
Code:
sudo visudo
%vboxusers ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /home/joe/addtap.sh, /home/joe/deltap.sh
Guest configuration
1) No DHCP server
If you have no dhcp server serving the 192.168.0.0 range, you will need to assign an IP address in the 192.168.0.0 range to your virtual machine once it is started.
Code:
sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.3
It will be necessary to add 192.168.0.2 as a default route as well
Code:
sudo route add default gw 192.168.0.2
If you want to make it permanent, edit /etc/network/interfaces of your virtual machine.
Code:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.3
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.2
2) DHCP server
You have a dhcp server serving on the 192.168.0.0 range
either locally (laptop):
make sure the "option routers" given by dhcp is the IP of your bridge br0 (192.168.0.2)
or on your ethernet LAN connection:
nothing to do (in that case, your access to the internet will occur thru ethernet most certainly and not thru WIFI)
James Dupin
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VirtualboxHostNetworkingAndWIFI
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