Solved VMWare Player network adapter settings - which one?

[Golden]

G'day,

I've been using VMWare Player to run a Linux virtual machine (Mint 12 to be precise, but I occasionally run Ubuntu and Debian).

At the moment, I am using the BRIDGED network adapter settings as shown in the image below. I noticed that there is also a NAT and HOST-ONLY setting.

Can someone explain the difference between the 3 settings? Is there an obvious benefit to using one over another - security perhaps?

Regards,
Golden

 

[Kari]

Check this: Common Networking Configurations

 

[kado897]

If you just need to access the internet chose NAT.

 

[Golden]

Thanks guys : both NAT and BRIDGED seem to behave the same way for me. Any idea why you would want ti use one over the other?

 

[kado897]

Bridged allows you to network shares on the host as well as internet though I have to admit that I have only got it to work with a windows guest.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Kado. By "shares on the host" do you mean the ability access a drive and/or folder on the host (in my case the host is Windows 7)?

I seem to be able to mount any of my hosts drives, and access them from within the virtual machine, using either NAT or BRIDGED.

Regards,
Golden

 

[kado897]

I have to say that I have never got it to share anything other the the vbox shared folders with NAT. I am talking about accessing the Windows network.

 

[Golden]

Ahh, I get you, thanks for persisting Kado. I cannot see any other PC on the Windows network, or vice versa, from within the virtual machine - so thats what the difference in bridged and NAT is, correct?

Regards,
Golden

 

[kado897]

yes that's correct Golden

 

[Golden]

Thanks Kado - I'll stick with NAT

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

The main difference is that NAT SHARES the IP address with your host which can make things easier if for example you need to connect to a wi-fi configuration that only has a limited number of IP addresses available such as University "Dorms" or "Halls of residence".

If your LAN addresses are say 192.01.x.x your NAT VM will have an address of maybe 10.0.0.1 or whatever (an Internally automatically assigned address) but any Internet request from your VM will be sent out as having an IP address of your HOST machine (192.01.x.x). This makes running things like RDP to your VM from outside your network very difficult if not impossible.

Bridged gives the VM a totally separate IP address on you main network such as if you have a router at home where your network addressses start at 192.01.x.x the IP address of your VM will also be in the range 192,01.x.x. You can use this for example to RDP to the VM from outside your internal LAN.

Probably as "clear as mud" but hopefully some help for you.

Cheers
jimbo