Ubuntu Host Virtualbox guest Networking weirdness
 

Hi all,

I have a bit of a strange problem with my network interfaces setup to use Virtualbox guests on an Ubuntu 7.10 host. I've adjusted my /etc/network/interfaces to allow for bridging to a static IP on my internal network and bind the tap interfaces to my eth0 through the br0 bridge interface.

auto br0
iface br0 inet static
address 192.168.178.100
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.178.1
bridge_ports eth0 tap0 tap1 tap2

auto tap0
iface tap0 inet static
tunctl_user ddales
address 192.168.178.18
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.178.1

auto tap1
iface tap1 inet static
tunctl_user ddales
address 192.168.178.17
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.178.1

auto tap2
iface tap2 inet static
tunctl_user ddales
address 192.168.178.16
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.178.1

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.178.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.16

However, sometimes, not always (maybe every third or fourth reboot of my Ubuntu host), my eth0 main host interface doesn't pull it's IP address. This obviously renders any bridge or tap interfaces lame even though they are assigned the intended IP.

Any suggestions are obviously greatly appreciated!