[OpenIndiana-discuss] Slow NFS with OI151a host and VirtualBox VM's

[Ron Parker]

I am running an OpenIndiana 151a host that shares files via NFS to my
local VirtualBox VM's. It seems to max out around 1MB/s. This is
killing the performance of compiles, etc. But due to the amount of
source and the lack of disk space on my laptop, it is not realistic to
have redundant copies of my source and builds in each VM.

The VM's are configured with 2 NIC's. One is NAT'd for Internet access
and the other is host-only so that they can communicate between
themselves. I am using an entry in the VM's /etc/hosts to automount
NFS via the host-only interface and the performance is horrible.

After googling, I know there is an issue with network contention when
running bridged-mode with VirtualBox VM's and NFS on the same
interface and this can be worked around given two NIC's. But, that
doesn't seem to be exactly the same as my problem nor does it provide
workable solutions for my situation.

If anyone has any ideas or a suggestion of a better forum for this
question I am open to input.

Thanks,

Ron Parker