RESOLVED:New User Issues with Amahi Server (in VirtualBox)

[hec1152]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and use of Amahi. Before converting over to it, I wanted to verify that it would work on my home network as both DHCP and DNS server. When I run in in VirtualBox all seems to be well in that I can release and renew IP address via ipconfig on two test machines on network (one is running Amahi in VirtualBox). Both are Windows 7 machines. But on the machine running VBox/Amahi I lose all connectivity to the internet via my router. The second machine connects fine. When I look at the Networking tab on Amahi server, I notice that both machines have IP addresses assigned insofar as Amahi thinks. But the VBox/Amahi machine is not accessible. I've checked info everywhere I can think and am at a loss to explain this or know what to do, so I'm reluctant to add any more of my machines to the network. BTW - the Router has it's DHCP server turned off, there are no other DNS or DHCP servers on the network, I've disabled IPv6 on the VBox/Amahi machine and inside Vbox/Amahi, I can see the internet fine. It's just that when I move to the host machine, there's no internet connection as long as it's running Amahi.

I'd appreciate whatever advice or suggestion you could offer.

Thanks,
HEC

[radioz]

Is your virtual machines network configured to use the 'Bridged' adapter or NAT?
I think you need Bridged for it to work cleanly. That way your Amahi has a completely separate IP from its host.

[hec1152]

Yes, The VirtualBox machine is bridged. It sees the network and the internet via it's connection.

[radioz]

I'm not really clear on your exact problem, but it sounds like the host machine has connectivity problems?

On the host, open a terminal and type ifconfig. Post your results.

Can you ping from your host to some other box using IP addresses? How about by names?

Can you ping from some other box to the host using the hosts IP address? How about by name?

Can you ping from the host to the Amahi VM by IP? By name?

Can you ping from VM to host by IP?

[hec1152]

Thanks for your prompt response. It took me a little while to setup and gather info your requested along with some other observations that I hope are helpful. Here's what I have:

I'm not really clear on your exact problem, but it sounds like the host machine has connectivity problems?

I'm trying to run Amahi Server in VBox virtual machine under Windows 7 host. I want to test using Amahi as DHCP/DNS server before I install it on standalone machine and switch over to it. My goal is to be able to have all machines on my network getting their ip addresses from the AmahiVM and relying on its DNS to see each other by shortname. All this while Amahi is running as VM. Also wanted host machine that AmahiVM runs on to be able to access network and internet (i.e. just another client on network). I realize that for both host and other machine on network, I must release and renew their IP addresses once router's DHCP is turned off so that their new ipaddr will come from Amahi VM.

After starting Amahi VM, I turn off my router's DHCP server to rely on Amahi VM only. I note that when I look at HDA networking via AmahiVM, I see the IP addresses for the Windows Host plus a few others that have picked up their ipaddr from Amahi (e.g. iPhone).

On the host, open a terminal and type ifconfig. Post your results.

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Network Bridge:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : tanbark.intranet
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.102
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::e40d:8ab:3bbb:e53%23
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.14.83
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.tanbark.intranet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : tanbark.intranet

Tunnel adapter isatap.{3252D73F-14C5-4C20-AE47-8B11F97CB757}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :


Can you ping from your host to some other box using IP addresses? How about by names?

Yes and No

Can you ping from some other box to the host using the hosts IP address? How about by name?

Yes and Yes (other box must have picked up ipaddr from Amahi VM)

Can you ping from the host to the Amahi VM by IP? By name?

No and No. Cannot see internet form host

Can you ping from VM to host by IP?

Yes (ping hostname works). Can see internet from VM.

Can you ping from another machine to HDA by name and by IP.

Yes and Yes (ping hdaipaddr works and ping HDA works). Can see internet from another machine.


You didn't ask for it but here's ipconfig output from the other machine on the network after it was released and renewed on network after router DHCP turned off.

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : tanbark.intranet
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::cc17:68e8:281a:d095%10
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.180
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::cd52:9281:2c7d:8696%18
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.134.150

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.tanbark.intranet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : tanbark.intranet

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{F29CBE23-5E3D-42A7-85EB-8E916A815F48}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :


The bottom line on what I'm seeing seems to be that everything on Amahi network is accessible by ipaddr and by name which is as intended. But, for the host machine that's running the Amahi VM, there's no access to anything on the network nor the external internet. That's the problem I'd like to correct so that I can continue to use the host machine as a client on the network while at the same time it hosts the Amahi VM which is providing DHCP/DNS for entire network including the host.

Thanks in advance for your help and advice and apologies if I'm not seeing the obvious or doing something stupid.

[radioz]

This looks strange:

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.102

Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.14.83

How is your network configured? Why aren't these on the same network (i.e 192.168.xxx.xxx)?

[hec1152]

JUst noticed that too. I have no idea. Other than Virtualbox running on this one machine I don't know what I'm doing that causes this. These are intended to be just a Windows 7 network (Home) with Win7, Linux, and XP clients. No exotic stuff or configuration intended. Can you give me a hint on what I might look for to understand this? Maybe I'm overlooking something obvious.

[radioz]

Looking back over your IPCONFIG output, I noticed that it shows the bridged connection.

Is that something you configured or is that because Windows detected the Virtualbox bridge connection?

I run lots of Virtualbox VM's (including Win7) but I have a Linux host, not a Windows one.

What is the IP address of your router? 192.168.0.xxx?

Do you have your HDA setup as both a DHCP and DNS server?

[hec1152]

Yes this is the way Windows 7 configured the network with the VirtualBox installation. I noticed that it shows as bridged on this machine but doesn't (didn't?) on another machine that's setup same way but with no VB installation.

The IP address of my router is 192.168.0.1. I'm trying to use Amahi as both DHCP and DNS. That's the way I have it setup as far as I can tell. On the VBox installation it was working ok to resolve names and handout IP addresses so I believe it's configured ok. I'm trying to set this machine up such that the Amahi server will be 192.168.0.2 (both DHCP and DNS).

[radioz]

It occurred to me that perhaps the problem is that the Windows host gets configured before the Amahi VM starts up.
Since the VM is supposed to be the DHCP and DNS server, Windows doesn't get configured properly.

Try this:
Once your Amahi vm is up and running, open a command window on the Windows host and type:
ipconfig /release
and then
ipconfig /renew

After a moment give it a try. I thi