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4.12. How-To / FAQ for virtualbox configuration issues
Shrink VDI disk
cd <folder containing virtual disk>
VboxManage modifyvdi `pwd`/disk.vdi compact
Enumerate Customizations on VirtualBox guest
~$ VBoxManage getextradata <guest-name> enumerate
HTTP port forwarding
If you have a VirtualBox guest running on a NAT connection -- and you want to provide access to some http services on the VBox guest via the host computer, do the following :
e.g. Your virtual box guest has a http server running on port 5000, and you want to make this accessible on port 5000 of the host.
VBoxManage modifyvm <guest name> --natpf1 "any-name, tcp,,5000,,5000"
To make this available on a specific IP interfaces of the host :
VBoxManage modifyvm <guest name> --natpf1 "any-name, tcp,<this.is.an.ip>,5000,,5000"
This will forward all requests on localhost of the host on port 5000 to port 5000 of the guest.
SSH access to VirtualBox guest
If the VirtualBox guest is running on a bridged network connection - ssh access is via the IP address assigned to the guest.
If the VirtualBox guest is running on a NAT network connection - ssh access is via tcp tunneling, to set this up do the following : All of the commands have to be run on the host computer.
First set the forwarding port (e.g. 2345) on the host computer :
$ VBoxManage setextradata <guest-name> "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/HostPort" 2345
Next the port to forward to on the guest computer :
$ VBoxManage setextradata <guest-name> "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort" 22
Finally specify the protocol :
$ VBoxManage setextradata <guest-name> "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/Protocol" TCP
Restart the guest, and ssh from the host into the guest :
ssh -l <user-on-guest> -p 2345 localhost
To unset a customization , run it without any parameters :
$ VBoxManage setextradata <guest-name> "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcnet/0/LUN#0/Config/ssh/GuestPort"