Connecting Two Ethernet Adapters on a Windows Host Machine with Ubuntu Guest in VirtualBox for Fortinet VPN Client

Introduction

This article explains how to connect two Ethernet adapters on a Windows host machine with an Ubuntu guest operating system and a Fortinet VPN client in VirtualBox. This setup can be useful for various purposes, such as creating a secure connection between two networks or testing network configurations.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you will need:

• A Windows host machine
• VirtualBox installed on the Windows host machine
• An Ubuntu guest operating system installed in VirtualBox
• A Fortinet VPN client (e.g., FortiClient)

Setting up the VirtualBox Network Adapters

First, you need to configure the VirtualBox network adapters for the Windows host and Ubuntu guest:

1. Windows Host

   Go to the VirtualBox Manager, select the Windows host machine, and click on "Settings". In the "Network" tab, add a new adapter with the type "Host-only Adapter". Assign it a name, such as "Host-Only Adapter 1". Save the settings.

2. Ubuntu Guest

   In the VirtualBox Manager, select the Ubuntu guest machine, and click on "Settings". In the "Network" tab, add a new adapter with the type "NAT". Save the settings.

Configuring the Ubuntu Guest to Use the Host-Only Adapter

Next, you need to configure the Ubuntu guest to use the host-only adapter:

1. Edit the network interfaces file

   Open a terminal window in the Ubuntu guest and type:

   sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

2. Add the host-only adapter configuration

   Add the following lines at the end of the file:

    auto eth1
    iface eth1 inet static
    address 192.168.56.2
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.56.1
    

   Replace "192.168.56.2" with the desired IP address for the Ubuntu guest on the host-only network.

3. Restart the networking service

   Type:

   sudo service networking restart

Connecting the Fortinet VPN Client

Now, you can connect the Fortinet VPN client on the Ubuntu guest:

1. Install the Fortinet VPN client

   Follow the instructions in the Fortinet VPN client documentation to install the client on the Ubuntu guest.

2. Configure the VPN connection

   Open the Fortinet VPN client and configure the connection to your VPN server. Make sure to use the IP address of the Windows host as the "Local IP Address" or "Local Address" in the VPN client settings.

3. Connect to the VPN server

   Click "Connect" in the Fortinet VPN client to establish the VPN connection.

Testing the Connection

To test the connection, you can ping the Windows host from the Ubuntu guest:

If the ping is successful, you have successfully connected two Ethernet adapters on a Windows host machine with an Ubuntu guest and a Fortinet VPN client in VirtualBox.

References

For more information, refer to:

• VirtualBox Network Interfaces
• Installing FortiClient on Ubuntu