Andrei Baronov

When talking to various people, I have realized that there is a lot of misunderstanding on how NAT/Host only and bridged networking are handled by VMWare products. This is why I decided to start a series of articles designed to provide you with information about the design and use of VMWare Networking. Host only, NAT and bridged networking are covered in detail. The design overview is followed by various practical network configuration examples. The examples include isolated Virtual network for R&D purposes, Virtual network for standby replicas of production machines, Virtual network connected to DMZ for internet services (e.g. public SMTP, HTTP, FTP services, etc.) and Virtual network connected to LAN for Application, File and Print services. Understanding the VMWare networking helps to design Virtual network topology that makes most sense from connectivity, security and manageability standpoints.

The first article will cover Host only and NAT networking with VMWare Server and Workstation on Windows. Currently I have a draft of the article. I am still discussing it with some people whom I consider to be experts in the area. If you are interested in reading the draft and are committed to provide creative comments, please drop me a line at abaronov you know what to insert here amustsoft dot com.

Platforms: VMWare Server 1.x, VMWare Workstation 5.x, VMWare ESX Server 3.x
Keywords: VMWare, Networking, NAT, Host only, VSwitch, VMnet