qemu vs VirtualBox user/hoset-only networking and port forwarding
 

I have a Linux server (SSH and Samba) running in VM with static address (192.168.136.222)
I need to access the server (living in guest) from my host machine (Linux or Windoze)
In qemu I use user networking and redirect to the guest ip address, i.e. "-net user,net=192.168.136.0/24 -redir tcp:22:192.168.136.222:22 -redir tcp:445:192.168.136.222:445"
Then I can access smb://localhost as well as ssh to localhost
In VirtualBox the only way I achieved a similar task was using "host-only adapter" and assign static ip to it in the same domain as my guest (e.g. I selected 192.168.136.2). The only disadvantage is that I have to keep the adapter with that static IP address, even when no virtualbox is running. The rest was similar to qemu and worked just fine.
I tried virtual box NAT, but it seems it only works from inside (guest) to host, and I could not redirect host to guest (not at least using Virtualbox port-forwarding dialogue)

Now my question is this:
What is the difference between qemu user networking, and "Virtualbox host-only" networking? are they the same, or qemu does a reverse NAT (in addition to NAT) to allow guest-to-host access?

P.S. I did not know if this is server-related question, or not. If it is I appreciate if admins move this to the appropriate thread.

Host only provides access from the host to the vm using an especial interface that is exposed to the host.
You can think of it as a virtual interface connected to a virtual switch where the VMs with host only interfaces are connected.
You will need to configure this interface on the same network, or run a router on any of the VMs to be able to access them.
Check
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html

Most of the simple scenarios can be full filled with bridging the interfaces to the physical network on the host.
Regards
Sebastian

Thanks for the reply.
The problem with Host-only adapter is that (because of the static guest server address) I have to assign a static IP address to it, that may conflict with the rest of my network even when no VM/guest is running.
Whereas with qemu I give the network (192.168.136.0/24) on the fly, and assign static IP address in the command-line. So basically when I close my VM the static IP address and network is gone.

I am going to ask my question in the virtualization forum, as it may be more appropriate, thanks

Hello,

I have reported this thread to be reviewed and moved, if need be. If it is moved, your other thread will be closed in favor of this thread.

Cheers,

Josh

You would need to bridge the network adapter in the VM instead of host only. That or NAT and port forward the port(s)

Thanks, I asked the question here and the answer for me was to use "--natnet1". Because my static IP address is different from the default VirtualBox address range.