VMware workstation is a Virtual Machine(VM) player that is able to run the VM on the host. There are three common network modes in Vmware
Workstation. In order to set the network adapter, from the Vmware menu, choose
VM->settings (CTLR+D). Note that the virtual machine that the network would
be set should be run first. Once in the Settings menu, choose the network
adapter on the left panel and the settings menu will look similar to below
image.
The three main network mode are in the top 3 of
the network connection mode which are Bridged, NAT (Network Address
Translation), and host-only mode.
Bridged
In bridged mode, it
replicates the network on the physical network (host)
and the VM will receive its own IP address from the actual network. For example, the VM will get its true IP from the
router, which means the router now has to client, the host and the VM itself.
This means the VM should be in the same network
with the host and has same subnet and gateway. The image below is the network
configuration of the host (Windows 8). It shows the subnet mask of
255.255.254.0 and the default gateway is 192.168.10.1.
The capture below is from the Kali Linux machine.
It has the same subnet mask (255.255.254.0) and also the same gateway address
(192.168.10.1). This shows that the host and the VM reside in the same network.
Network Address Translation (NAT)
NAT mode will mask all network activity as if it came from your Host
OS using virtual network, but it
still can access the host internet connection. This means there will be a
virtual network from the VMware player. To set the NAT network, in the VMware
menu, choose edit->Virtual Network Editor. The menu will be similar with
this capture
Now, choose Change Settings to modify the NAT
network.
After select the VMnet8, there are two options for
NAT, the NAT Settings and DHCP Settings. In the bottom part, the Subnet IP and
the Subnet mask can be manually set.
NAT Settings will provide the options to change
the default gateway of the NAT network. While DHCP settings is used to
determine the IP address range that will be virtually leased by NAT network.
NAT Settings
DHCP Settings
Host–only
In host-only mode, the network can also be
manually set. The host-only settings will only allow the configuration of the
subnet mask, the network subnet and the DHCP settings. Unlike NAT, the default
gateway can not be modified.
The main different between host-only and the other
mode is the VMs in the host-only mode may not have access to the network
outside the VMware. Therefore no internet access available for these host-only
machines. If these VMs have the same subnet IP, it could communicate with each
other.
DHCP Settings
In conclusion, bridged network will replicate the
network that the host has, NAT will create a virtual network that has access to
outside network and internet access, while host-only mode only allow machines
to communicate with each other in the same host.
