VDE parameters cause VERR_PDM_DRVINS_UNKNOWN_CFG_VALUES error

[David Andruczyk]

Two bugs: Bug #1: virtualbox is looking for "libvdeplug.so", however on Ubuntu natty 64bit, the stock vde packages do NOT create that, only libvdeplug.so.2 (which is a symlink to the specific version of the lib). Recent tarballs of vde create libvdeplug.so.3, so it may be worth it to probe for any of the above names (libvdeplug.so, libvdeplug.so.2 and libvdeplug.so.3) to handle the various possible cases out in the wild. The current workaround is to symlink /usr/lib/libvdeplug.so -> /usr/lib/libvdeplug.so.2 or 3 dependign on which version of VDE is present.

Bug#2 When attempting to configure a VM connected to a VDE switch, setting any parameters in the "Generic Properties", like the path to the switch socket causes the Virtualbox VM to be unable to start with the following error in the VM log:

00:00:00.393 VMSetError: /home/vbox/vbox-4.1.2/src/VBox/Devices/Network/DrvVDE.cpp(558) int drvVDEConstruct(PDMDRVINS*, CFGMNODE*, uint32_t); rc=VERR_PDM_DRVINS_UNKNOWN_CFG_VALUES 00:00:00.393 VMSetError:

As long as vde_switch is started with NO SOCKET NAME specified (no -s option). and the Generic Properties box is left emtpy, virtualbox will start and connect to vde.

However this doesn't let a user specific a specific port (to line up with vlan config), or a specific vswitch (of more than one are active)

The GUI pops up a very nondescript error as well:

Result Code: NS_ERROR_CALL_FAILED (0x800706BE) Component: ProgressProxy Interface: IProgress {c20238e4-3221-4d3f-8891-81ce92d9f913}

[David Andruczyk]

NOTE: After digging through the sourcecode, I found the syntax described in Virtualbox documentation as well as vde's documentation is INCORRECT with regards to virtualbox 4.1.2 (maybe it worked in old versions, I don't know)

The correct syntax to specify a specific vde switch and port is: network=/path/to/switch_ctrl_socket[<NUM>]

i.e. vde_switch -F -s /tmp/my_vswitch -M /tmp/my_vswitch_mgmt -d

If you wanted to be always plugged into port 4 (due to a special VLAN configuration) in the Generic Properties box you would enter

network=/tmp/my_vswitch[4]

NOTE: ideally Virtualbox would report a more sane error with usage information when the Generic Properties don't make sense

Documentation should be updated to use the "network=" syntax instead of the "name=" syntax.

[David Andruczyk]

correction, virtualbox's docs seem correct, but external docs are not. though the errro message presented when the "General properties" are wrong still sucks and should be improved to actuall suggest the correct/allowed terminology based on the driver selected.