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Table Of Contents
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Chapter 11 Configuring a Virtual Network
Figure 11-2. Network Address Translation Setup
IfyouselectNAT,thevirtualmachinecanusemanystandardTCP/IPprotocolsto
connecttoothermachinesontheexternalnetwork.Forexample,youcanuseHTTPto
browseWebsites,FTPtotransferfiles,andTelnettologontoothercomputers.NAT
alsoallowsyoutoconnect
toaTCP/IPnetworkusingaTokenRingadapteronthehost
computer.
InthedefaultNATconfiguration,computersontheexternalnetworkcannotinitiate
connectionstothevirtualmachine.Thatmeans,forexample,thatthedefault
configurationdoesnotletyouusethevirtualmachineasaWebserver
tosendWeb
pagestocomputersontheexternalnetwork.Thisconfigurationhastheadvantageof
protectingtheguestoperatingsystemfrombeingcompromisedbeforeyouhavea
chancetoinstallsecuritysoftware.Forexample,itisoftenrecommendedthatfor
Windowsguestoperatingsystems,youuseNATuntilyouinstall
antivirussoftware.
How to Set Up NAT
AnetworkaddresstranslationconnectionissetupautomaticallyifyouselectNATin
theNewVirtualMachinewizard.OnLinuxhosts,thisselectionisavailableonlyifyou
enabletheNAToptionwhenyourunvmware-config.pl.
Requirements for IP Addresses
IfyouuseNAT,yourvirtualmachinedoesnothaveitsownIPaddressontheexternal
network.Instead,aseparateprivatenetworkissetuponthehostcomputer.Your
virtualmachinegetsanaddressonthatnetworkfromtheVMwareinternalDHCP
server.TheVMwareNATdevicepassesnetwork
databetweenoneormorevirtual
machinesandtheexternalnetwork,usingahostnetworkadapterthatisvisibletothe
hostoperatingsystem.Itidentifiesincomingdatapacketsintendedforeachvirtual
machineandsendsthemtothecorrectdestination.
network
virtual
network
adapter
virtual network switch
(VMnet8)
virtual machine
DHCP server
NAT
device