Specifications

Administration Guide
316 VMware, Inc.
To enable the setting of the PromiscuousAllowed configuration variable
1Click!the!Edit!Configuration!tab!of!the!VMware!Management!Interface!to!
determine!which!network!the!virtual!Ethernet!adapter!is!using.!
For!this!example,!assume!that!the!Networking!section!of!the!page!shows!the!
adapter!is!using!vmnic0.
2Log!in!to!the!server’s!service!console!and!type!the!following!command:
echo "PromiscuousAllowed yes" > /proc/vmware/net/vmnic0/config
This!allows!the!guest!operating!systems!in!all!virtual!machines!using!vmnic0!to!
enable!promiscuous!mode.!If!the!adapter!is!using!a!different!network,!such!as!
vmnet_0,!make!the!appropriate!substitution!in!the!command.
3Take!the!appropriate!steps!in!the!guest!operating!system!to!enable!promiscuous!
mode!on!the!virtual!network
!adapter.
You!might!want!to!allow!only!some!adapters!on!a!particular!network!to!use!
promiscuous!mode.You!can!selectively!disable!promiscuous!mode!based!on!the!MAC!
address!of!the!virtual!machine’s!Ethernet!adapter.!
To set the PromiscuousAllowed variable to “no”
1 Connect!to!the!virtual!machine!with!the!remote!console!and!use!the!guest!
operating!system!tools!
to!determine!the!MAC!address!of!the!virtual!Ethernet!
adapter.
2Log!in!to!the!service!console!and!type!the!following!command:
echo "PromiscuousAllowed no" >
/proc/vmware/net/vmnic0/<MACAddress>
In!place!of!<MACAddress>,!substitute!the!virtual!Ethernet!adapter’s!MAC!address!
in!the!standard!format!00:05:69:XX:YY:ZZ.!If!the!adapter!is!using!a!different!
network,!such!as!vmnet_0,!make!
the!appropriate!substitution!in!the!command.
Sharing Network Adapters and Virtual Networks
In!many!ESX!Server!configurations,!a!clear!distinction!exists!between!networking!
resources!used!by!the!virtual!machines!and!those!used!by!the!service!console.!This!
might!be!important!for!security!reasons,!for!example,!isolating!the!management!
network!from!the!network!used!by!applications!in!the!virtual!machines.
You!might!want!to!
share!resources,!including!physical!network!adapters!and!virtual!
networks.!This!section!provides!instructions!on!sharing!in!both!directions:!making!the!