Mar
12
Better network performance in Docker/Test Kitchen with Virtualbox on Mac
Posted in : virtualbox, docker, test-kitchen, and mac
If you’ve experienced really slow downloads from within VirtualBox on Mac, chances are you’re using the default NIC for your NAT interface.
I’ve seen docker’s pull taking ages when a layer size is more than a couple MB and chef installer taking more than 10mn to download the package…
Here’s how to fix it in docker-machine and test-kitchen.
For docker-machine
Check what’s your docker-machine
VM’s name:
docker-machine ls
it will give you something like the following (could be different depending of your config):
NAME ACTIVE DRIVER STATE URL SWARM DOCKER ERRORS
default - virtualbox Running tcp://192.168.99.100:2376 v1.12.5
if it’s Running
, then stop it first:
docker-machine stop default
then change the NIC to use the PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973)
instead of the default Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM)
:
VBoxManage modifyvm "default" --nictype1 "Am79C973"
And finally start it, it will now use the new NIC with “hopefully” improved speed:
docker-machine start default
For test-kitchen
Update your kitchen.yml
or kitchen.local.yml
to have your vagrant driver include the customize
config below:
driver:
name: vagrant
customize:
nictype1: "Am79C973"
Enjoy using all your available bandwidth!!