Contents
Components of a virtual network
Virtual networks are composed of these
elements:
- Virtual
switches. Like a physical switch, a virtual switch lets you connect other
networking components together. Virtual switches are available automatically
when you install Workstation. They are created
as needed by the Workstation software, up to a total of 10 switches on Windows
hosts and 256 on Linux hosts. You can connect one or more virtual machines to a
switch. >>More on connecting a
virtual machine to a switch
- Bridge.
The Bridge lets you connect your virtual machine to the local area network
(LAN) used by your host computer. It connects the virtual Ethernet switch in
your virtual machine to the physical Ethernet adapter in your host computer.
It is set up
automatically when you create a new virtual machine using bridged networking. >>More on bridged networking
Additional virtual bridges can be set up for use in
custom configurations that require connections to more than one LAN through
more than one physical Ethernet adapter on the host computer. >>More on custom networking configurations
- Host-only
adapter. The host-only adapter is a virtual Ethernet adapter that appears
to your host operating system as
Host-Only Interface.
It allows you to communicate between your host computer and
the virtual machines on that host computer.
The software that creates the
host-only adapter is installed when you install Workstation and choose to make
host-only networking available to your virtual machines. A host-only adapter is
created automatically when you create a new virtual machine using host-only
networking. Additional host-only adapters can be set up for use in custom
configurations that need them. >>More on
host-only networking
With host-only networking, virtual machines are not
connected to any external network unless you set up special software on the
host computer; for example, you can set up a proxy server to connect the host-only adapter to
the physical network adapter. >>More on
setting up a proxy server
- DHCP
server. The dynamic host
configuration protocol (DHCP) server provides IP network addresses to virtual
machines in host-only and NAT configurations. The host-only and NAT configurations
use different DHCP servers. >>More on Workstation DHCP server
- NAT.
The network address translation (NAT) device allows you to connect your virtual
machines to an external network in situations where you have only one IP
network address and it is being used by the host computer. For example, you can use NAT to connect your virtual machines to the Internet through a
dial-up connection on the host computer or through the host computer's Ethernet
adapter, wireless Ethernet adapter or Token Ring card. >>More on NAT
The NAT device is available automatically when you install Workstation.
It is set up automatically if you choose NAT
as the networking option when you set up a virtual machine.
- Ethernet adapter. One
virtual switch is set up for your virtual machine when you create it with the
Configuration Wizard using any
type of networking. It appears to the guest operating system as an "AMD PCNET
PCI" adapter. You can create and configure up to three virtual switches in each
virtual machine using the Configuration Editor. >>More on how networking appears in the
guest operating system
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