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I'm using Virtualbox 4.0.10 on a Debian Squeeze box. I have a Windows 7 VM that I use to host a game server. After setting up NAT and port redirection, clients can connect to the VM, but the game server shows it's getting connections from the NAT gateway IP (10.0.2.2). I need that the game server gets connections from the actual public internet client IP's, so I can set up an IP whitelist in the game server.

This Debian machine is directly connected to the internet. What can I do to make this work? Guess it's not VirtualBox problem and can solve that with a virtual network interface or so, but no idea how to do it. Guess it's not Virtualbox probmem and I can make it work with a bridge interface or so.

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When you say that you setup NAT - did you do that on the Debian host or as part of the virtual machine configuration using the VirtualBox commands/GUI? A better diagram or description of your network setup would be very helpful. – Goyuix Jul 14 '11 at 2:40
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2 Answers

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Set the network adapter into bridged mode.

in VirtualBox go to the Windows 7 settings, select network then you should see that the Adaptor is set to NAT. Change this to Bridged adapter.

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Doesn't work. As I said, this machine is directly connected to the internet, and clients connect from it. – Albert Jul 13 '11 at 22:32
Is your 'server' really connected directly to the internet or is there a device (modem/router/xyzzy) that does that ? Did you give the W7 machine a public routable IP address ? – Iain♦ Jul 14 '11 at 5:57
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up vote 1 down vote

There may not be a way to change that behavior in VirtualBox.

Any one of the following could resolve your issue:

  1. Easiest and best approach: Just set up your whitelist using iptables on the Debian box instead of managing your whitelist on the VM.
  2. Use a different hypervisor that has more options to configure virtual networking and NAT behavior.
  3. Put the Debian box behind a physical firewall or router, configure your NAT rules there, and bridge the VM to your physical network adapter.
  4. Get a second public IP address from your ISP. Assign that IP address to the virtual machine and bridge it to your physical network adapter.
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Using a different hypervisor wouldn't necessarily matter - the problem is with the choice of network not the choice of virtualization. The real answer is to use bridged mode if possible. – Goyuix Jul 14 '11 at 2:38
I suspect that he can't use bridged mode on the host because he does not have multiple public IP addresses. But, that's a solvable problem, so I've added it to the list. – Miles Erickson Jul 14 '11 at 15:23
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