VirtualBox : Network Types

You have 4 types of Network in VirtualBox. But how to chose?
Here are the basics...

NAT
NAT (Netork Address Translation) means the virtual machines will have private IP addresses on the virtualBox virtual network
VMs are not available from other pcs networking but can initiate connections to outside resources (servers, internet etc)

Host :

Guest :

C:\>ipconfig Windows IP Configuration Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8c63:1859:487c:f577%10 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.9 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7804:1a06:c47b:f37d%17 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\>ipconfig Windows 2000 IP Configuration Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.15 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.2.2 C:\>

Bridged Adapter

Bridged Adapter connects virtual machines via the host network card.
They are on the same subnet and get an IP from the same router/dhcp server that the host does.
VMs are effectively on the physical network.

Host :

Guest :

C:\>ipconfig Windows IP Configuration Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8c63:1859:487c:f577%10 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.9 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7804:1a06:c47b:f37d%17 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\>ipconfig Windows 2000 IP Configuration Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Host-only Adapter

VirtualBox acts as the router (via adapter vboxnet0) and allocates IP addresses to VMs
By default this is a private network although you can assign a gateway (to grant internet access) making a a Bridged Adapter anyway.

Host :

Guest :

C:\>ipconfig Windows IP Configuration Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8c63:1859:487c:f577%10 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.9 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7804:1a06:c47b:f37d%17 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\>ipconfig Windows 2000 IP Configuration Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.101 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Internal Network

VMs can see each other, but not the host or the outside world :(

Host :

Guest :

C:\>ipconfig Windows IP Configuration Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8c63:1859:487c:f577%10 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.9 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7804:1a06:c47b:f37d%17 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\>ipconfig Windows 2000 IP Configuration Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.21.26 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :