8.48. VBoxManage hostonlyif

Manage host-only network interfaces.

Synopsis

VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig <ifname> [ --dhcp | --ip=IPv4-address [--netmask=IPv4-netmask] | --ipv6=IPv6-address [--netmasklengthv6=length] ]

VBoxManage hostonlyif create

VBoxManage hostonlyif remove <ifname>

Description

The VBoxManage hostonlyif command enables you to change the IP configuration of a host-only network interface. For a description of host-only networking, see Section 6.7, “Host-Only Networking”. Each host-only network interface is identified by a name and can either use the internal DHCP server or a manual IP configuration, both IPv4 and IPv6.

Configure a Host-Only Interface

VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig <ifname> [ --dhcp | --ip=IPv4-address [--netmask=IPv4-netmask] | --ipv6=IPv6-address [--netmasklengthv6=length] ]

The VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig command configures a host-only interface.

ifname

Specifies the name of the network interface. The name is of the form vboxnetN where N is the interface instance.

--dhcp

Uses DHCP for the network interface.

You cannot use this option with the --ip, --ipv6, --netmask, and --netmasklengthv6 options.

--ip=IPv4-address

Specifies the IPv4 IP address for the network interface.

You cannot use this option with the --dhcp, --ipv6, and --netmasklengthv6 options.

--netmask=IPv4-netmask

Specifies the IPv4 netmask of the network interface. The default value is 255.255.255.0.

You can use this option only with the --ip option.

--ipv6=IPv6-address

Specifies the IPv6 IP address for the network interface.

You cannot use this option with the --dhcp, --ip, and --netmask options.

--netmasklengthv6=length

Specifies the length of the IPv6 network interface. The default value is 64.

You can use this option only with the --ipv6 option.

Create a Network Interface on the Host System

VBoxManage hostonlyif create

The VBoxManage hostonlyif create command creates a new host-only network interface on the host operating system (OS). The network interface name is of the form vboxnetN where N is the interface instance. You must run this command before you can attach virtual machines (VMs) to the host-only network.

Remove a Network Interface From the Host System

VBoxManage hostonlyif remove <ifname>

The VBoxManage hostonlyif remove command removes the specified host-only network interface from the host OS.

ifname

Specifies the name of the network interface. The name is of the form vboxnetN where N is the interface instance.

Examples

The following command creates a new host-only network interface.

$ VBoxManage hostonlyif create
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Interface 'vboxnet2' was successfully created

The following command configures the IPv4 address for the vboxnet2 host-only network interface.

$ VBoxManage hostonlyif ipconfig vboxnet2 --ip 10.0.2.18