Bridging, Nat, and host-only for network connectivity in VMware workstation

In a Windows XP system, after installing the VMware Workstation virtual machine software, we can look at the Network Connections window:

There are two more network cards in the window:

• The network interface for the host-only mode in the VMware network Adapter vmnet1:vmware connection.
• The network interface for the NAT mode of the VMware network Adapter vmnet8:vmware networking connection.

View VMware's network connection modes: Bridging, Nat, and Host-only

1. Let's say we've installed the Windows XP virtual machine. In the following screen:

2. Click the "Edit Virtual machine settings" link to open the "Virtual Machine Settings" dialog box. As shown in the following:

3. In the Hardware tab, tap network adapter, and in the Network Connections box on the right, you can see:

• Bridging: Connect directly to the physical network (B).
• NAT: Use the shared host IP address (N).
• Host-only: Share a private network with the host (H).

Bridging, NAT, and Host-only mode interpretation 1. Bridged (bridging mode)

The default property of the virtual NIC VMnet0 in VMware Workstation is bridging.

In bridge mode, VMware Virtual operating system is like a LAN in a separate host, it can access any machine in the network, but it needs more than one IP address, and need to manually configure the virtual system IP address subnet mask, but also with the host machine in the same network segment, the only way The virtual system can communicate with the host machine.

Also, bridging mode can be used for virtual machines to access the Internet. In the LAN, the host is how to network, virtual machine in how to connect the network. Think of the virtual machine as another computer in the LAN. It is important to note that when a host network card is in a local area network that can access the Internet, the virtual machine can access the Internet through bridged (bridge mode).

If we want to use VMware to create a virtual server within the LAN, we can choose the bridging mode. This mode can not only sisu the network, but also can access each other between the virtual machine and the host. But bridge mode requires additional IP address, if it is in the intranet environment is still very easy, if ADSL broadband is more troublesome, because the ISP is generally not generous to provide a public network IP.

In VMware Workstation, select the Edit menu and click the Virtual Network Editor command to open the Virtual Network Editor dialog box. As shown in the following:

2. NAT (network address translation mode)

The default property of the virtual NIC VMnet8 in VMware Workstation is NAT, and the DHCP server is enabled by default and cannot be modified manually.

The biggest advantage of using NAT mode is that as long as the host machine has access to the Internet, the virtual system does not require any additional configuration and access to the Internet.

In the Virtual Network Editor dialog box, click VMnet8. As shown in the following:

3. Host-only (host mode)

The default property of the virtual NIC VMnet1 in VMware Workstation is host-only. That is, the TCP/IP configuration information (such as IP address, gateway address, DNS server, etc.) of the virtual system is dynamically allocated by the DHCP server of the VMNET1 virtual network.

In host-only mode, all virtual machines can communicate with each other, but the virtual machine can only access the host, but it cannot access the Internet.

If you only want to have data exchange between the virtual machine and the host, and you don't want the virtual machine to access the Internet, you can choose that mode.

In the Virtual Network Editor dialog box, click VMnet1. As shown in the following:

If we want to use VMware to install a new virtual system, in the virtual system without any manual configuration can directly access the Internet, you can choose the NAT mode. In this mode, the other hosts in the LAN cannot access the virtual machine, and the host can access the virtual machine, and the virtual machine can access all the hosts on the LAN, the virtual machines can also access each other, Nat mode can also be Sisu network.

Bridging, Nat, and host-only for network connectivity in VMware workstation