VMware network connection bridging, Nat, host-only mode

If you want to use VMware to install a virtual machine or create a virtual system isolated from other machines in the network, perform special debugging. In this case, it is very important to select the network connection mode of the virtual system. If you choose an incorrect working mode, you will not be able to achieve the above purpose, and you will not be able to make full use of VMware's role in network management and maintenance. Now let's take a closer look at three working modes of VMware. Understand three working modes.

 VMware provides three working modes: bridged (bridging mode), NAT (network address translation mode), and host-only (host mode ). To apply them properly in network management and maintenance, you should first understand the three working modes.

 1. bridged (Bridging Mode)

 In this mode, the Virtual Operating System of VMware is like an independent host like a host in the LAN. It can access any machine in the network. In the bridge mode, you need to manually configure the IP address and subnet mask for the virtual system, and also need to be in the same network segment as the host machine, so that the virtual system can communicate with the host machine. At the same time, because the virtual system is an independent host system in the LAN, You can manually configure its TCP/IP configuration information to access the Internet through the LAN gateway or router.

 The relationship between a virtual system in the bridge mode and the host machine is like connecting two computers on the same hub. If you want them to communicate with each other, You need to configure the IP address and subnet mask for the virtual system. Otherwise, the communication will fail.

 If you want to use VMware to create a virtual server in the LAN to provide network services for LAN users, you should select the bridge mode.

 2. Host-only (Host Mode)

In some special network debugging environments, you must isolate the real environment from the virtual environment. In this case, you can adopt the host-only mode. In host-only mode, all virtual systems can communicate with each other, but the virtual system and the real network are isolated.

 Tip: in host-only mode, the virtual system and the host machine system can communicate with each other, equivalent to the two machines connected through twisted pair wires.

 In host-only mode, the TCP/IP configuration information of the virtual system (such as the IP address, gateway address, and DNS server) is created by vmnet1 (host-only) DHCP servers in the virtual network are dynamically allocated.

 If you want to use VMware to create a virtual system isolated from other machines in the network and perform some special network debugging, you can select the host-only mode.

 3. NAT (network address translation mode)

The Nat mode enables the virtual system to use the NAT (Network Address Translation) function to access the public network through the network of the host machine. That is to say, you can use the NAT mode to access the Internet in a virtual system. In Nat mode, the TCP/IP configuration information of the virtual system is provided by the DHCP server of the vmnet8 (NAT) Virtual Network and cannot be modified manually, therefore, the virtual system cannot communicate with other real hosts in the local area network. The biggest advantage of using the NAT mode is that it is very easy for the virtual system to access the Internet. You do not need to configure any other configurations, but only need the host machine to access the Internet.

 If you want to use VMware to install a new virtual system, you can directly access the Internet without manual configuration in the virtual system. We recommend that you use the NAT mode.

 Tip: The vmnet8 virtual network mentioned above in Nat mode, the vmnet1 Virtual Network in host-only mode, and the vmnet0 Virtual Network in bridged mode, they are all generated based on the automatic configuration of the vmwarevm and do not need to be set by the user. Vmnet8 and vmnet1 provide DHCP services, while vmnet0 does not.

 Configure the virtual system working mode

 In actual work, due to different user requirements and different debugging environment requirements, different users need to select different working modes, maybe the bridged mode, it may also be in Nat or host-only mode. Regardless of the working mode, it is very easy to configure the virtual system to the corresponding working mode. In the "new Virtual Machine wizard" dialog box, you can complete the configuration.

 In the new Virtual Machine wizard dialog box, click "Next" to enter the "Network Type" dialog box, you can select the working mode you are using ). In the "Network Type" dialog box, there are four single options: bridged mode, Nat mode, host-only mode, and no network connection. After selecting the desired working mode, click "Next" to complete the virtual system working mode configuration.