[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Laptops and Virtulization



On Tuesday 23 September 2008 19:30:20 Clifford W. Hansen wrote:
> On Tuesday 23 September 2008 13:16:11 Joseph Rawson wrote:
> > On Monday 22 September 2008 13:41:38 Clifford W. Hansen wrote:
> > > On Friday 19 September 2008 09:56:11 Clifford W. Hansen wrote:
> > > > On Friday 19 September 2008 09:38:04 Stephan Peijnik wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, 2008-09-19 at 08:59 +0200, Clifford W. Hansen wrote:
> > > > > > I would like to find out from the list what they use on there
> > > > > > laptops for virtulization.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I'm needing to run a vm on my laptop for using as a development
> > > > > > server, and I need it to be able to access the network my wifi
> > > > > > card is attached to.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I have scoured the interweb and havn't found what I'm looking for
> > > > > > (other then vmware which has some issues)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I would prefer to run the latest etch-n-half kernel, possibly
> > > > > > even lenny although I don't have lenny yet.
> > > > >
> > > > > Personally I am using VirtualBox OSE for exact the reason you would
> > > > > like virtualization.
> > > > >
> > > > > After a quick check virtualbox-ose is either available within Lenny
> > > > > (including the kernel module) or via etch-backports where you need
> > > > > to build the kernel module yourself though.
> > > > >
> > > > > For a list of packages available in Debian check
> > > > > http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=virtualbox-ose.
> > > > >
> > > > > Regards,
> > > > >
> > > > > Stephan
> > > >
> > > > Stephan,
> > > >
> > > > I was using VirtualBox for a while, but could never get the bridged
> > > > mode working due to my laptop connecting via wifi, but then again no
> > > > one else needs to access my dev box anymore. Well DHCP wasn't
> > > > working.
> > > >
> > > > Will give it a bash again, thank you...
> > >
> > > Just for future reference / anyone who is interested I got the
> > > following working.
> > >
> > > And it almost does exactly what I need, well it's good enough for now:
> > > <vbox-networking.sh>
> > > #!/bin/bash
> > >
> > > LAN="eth1"
> > > DHCP_SERVER="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
> > >
> > > case "${1}" in
> > >         "start" )
> > >                 TAP=$(VBoxTunctl -b -u clifford)
> > >                 echo ${TAP} > /var/run/vbox.tap
> > >                 sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 >> /dev/null
> > >                 ip link set ${TAP} up
> > >                 ip addr add xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/xx dev ${TAP}
> > >                 parprouted ${LAN} ${TAP}
> > >                 iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ${LAN} -j MASQUERADE
> > >                 dhcrelay3 -q -i ${LAN} -i ${TAP} ${DHCP_SERVER}
> > >                 echo ${TAP}
> > >                 ;;
> > >         "stop" )
> > >                 TAP=${3}
> > >                 kill -9 $(ps -elf | grep ${TAP} | grep -v grep | awk
> > > '{print $4}' | grep -v $$)
> > >                 ifconfig ${TAP} down
> > >                 VBoxTunctl -d ${TAP} >> /dev/null
> > >                 sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=0 >> /dev/null
> > >                 ;;
> > > esac
> > > </vbox-networking.sh>
> > >
> > > This can then be used by VirtualBox as the network script (Network -->
> > > Host interface settings --> Setup/Terminate)
> > >
> > > I just run these as "sudo /path/to/vbox-networking.sh start" and it
> > > does the rest.
> > >
> > > Unfortunately due to using parprouted it seems like it's not accessable
> > > from the lan, but I'm working on this... The solutions possibly has
> > > something to do with a bridge...
> >
> > I thought about replying to you when you first posted, but I didn't know
> > how to respond to bridging over wifi.  The debian wiki has some pretty
> > good info on setting up a bridge for virtualbox.  A few weeks ago, I
> > updated the example script that brings the interface up and down, and
> > added a snippet of my sudoers file that lets you run the particular
> > commands without using a password.  On my system, all the tap interfaces
> > are named
> > vbox_{$vboxname}, and everything seems to be working just fine.
> >
> > Here's the page: http://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox
> >
> > I didn't like adding the tap interfaces to /etc/vbox/interfaces, and I
> > think that the solution on the wiki page is much better than having to
> > list static interfaces there.
> >
> > Btw, I've never heard of parprouted before.  I just looked up the package
> > and it seems interesting.  I might play with this later.
> >
> > Using an ethernet bridge can be painful on a laptop sometimes, like when
> > there's no dhcp server on the network, and you have to give the br0 a
> > static address.  That makes it much more difficult when the VM's are also
> > expecting to get their network info from dhcp.  There are also problems
> > when there is a dhcp server, but there's no dns updates for the
> > hostnames. This can get to be annoying when you're using many VM's.
>
> Just done some testing using a bridge, I've managed to get this part to
> work, and VBox sets up the tap devices as required, the only problem is
> that the vm can't see the network only the devices attached to the bridge.
>
> Although, doing all of this and attaching the bridge to the wired
> connection works... :/
>
> The main problem I have with my previous method is that other machines on
> the lan cannot see my vm's...
>
> Why and how does VMWare get this right (ok other than having money thrown
> at it :p )

OK to kind of answer my own question :(

Taken from: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Net:Bridge
<quote>
** It doesn't work with my Wireless card! **

This is a known problem, and it is not caused by the bridge code. Many 
wireless cards don't allow spoofing of the source address. It is a firmware 
restriction with some chipsets. You might find some information in the bridge 
mailing list archives to help. Has anyone found a way to get around Wavelan 
not allowing anything but its own MAC address? (answer by Michael Renzmann 
(mrenzmann at compulan.de))

Well, for 99% of computer users there will never be a way to get rid of this. 
For this function a special firmware is needed. This firmware can be loaded 
into the RAM of any WaveLAN card, so it could do its job with bridging. But 
there is no documentation on the interface available to the public. The only 
way to achieve this is to have a full version of the hcf library which 
controls every function of the card and also allows accessing the card's RAM. 
To get this full version Lucent wants to know that it will be a financial win 
for them, also you have to sign an NDA. So be sure that you won't most 
probably get access to this peace of software until Lucent does not change 
its mind in this (which I doubt never will happen).

If you urgently need to have a wireless LAN card which is able to bridge, you 
should use one of those having the prism chipset onboard (manufactured by 
Harris Intersil). There are drivers for those cards available at 
www.linux-wlan.com (which is the website from Absoval), and I found a mail 
that says that there is the necessary firmware and an upload tool available 
for Linux to the public. If you need additional features of an access point 
you should also talk to Absoval.

** I still don't understand!! **

Doing full bridging of wireless (802.11) requires supporting WDS . The current 
implementation doesn't do it.

It is possible to do limited wireless to Ethernet functionality with some 
wireless drivers. This requires the device to be able to support a different 
sender address and source address. That is what WDS provides.

There are ways to make it work, but it is not always straightforward and you 
probably won't get it right without a pretty solid understanding of 802.11, 
it's modes, and the frame header format. 
</quote>
-- 
Thank you,

Clifford W. Hansen
PHP Developer / Linux Administrator

(Cell)    +27 82 883 8677
(Fax)     +27 86 503 0634
(E-Mail)  clifford@nighthawk.co.za
(MSN)     clifford@nighthawk.co.za
(GPG)     0x936D6C19

"We have seen strange things today!"

()  ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail 
/\  www.asciiribbon.org   - against proprietary attachments

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.


Reply to: