Creating a virtual network in VMWare?

wweboy · February 2011

Hi everyone,

I use VMWare workstation to do all my labbing but I feel I'm doing my self a disservice by not replicating a real world environment. Is there away to make a virtual network so I can put different locations on different subnets and still have them talk to each other?

I've read about VMware infrastructure but I can't afford it and I can't do ESX anything because I only have one desktop computer. I want a setup like this

Chicago location = 10.0.1.x
New York Location = 10.0.2.x
Minneapolis Location = 10.0.3.x

Then add a domain controller at each location and what not and get replication working and the ability to emulate that environment to get a real world understanding of what is required to perform the tasks while labbing. I have a sneaking suspicion that the anwser will be I need to purchase VMWares higher end products or invest in other computers or something but I thought it wouldn't hurt to help.

Current setup is Vmware Workstation 7 then all the workstations connect to VMWarenet 6 to a Virtual PFSense firewall.

Thanks for any help.

cyberguypr · February 2011

The feature you want is under Edit > Virtual Network Editor

Here's a link that may help: VMware KB: Using the Virtual Network Editor in VMware Workstation

Fugazi1000 · February 2011

Don't forget you will need something to route between those subnets. Various options exist, but the simplest might be another VM running Windows with IP forwarding enabled and a vNic in each subnet.

RTmarc · February 2011

There are also several free routers available through the VMware Appliance marketplace.

MentholMoose · February 2011

Fugazi1000 wrote: »

Don't forget you will need something to route between those subnets. Various options exist, but the simplest might be another VM running Windows with IP forwarding enabled and a vNic in each subnet.

This is what I did when going through the MCITP: EA track, except I used a VM with a base install of Fedora Linux as the router. I was using VMware Workstation 6.5 and had three internal networks (for three AD Sites), and a fourth bridged network. The Linux VM was on all four networks; it served as the default gateway for the internal networks and routed between them, and also did NAT to the outside. It just took a few iptables rules to setup and worked fine with 128MB of RAM.

I was also interested in labbing more advanced DHCP server configuration, so I setup a DHCP relay on the Fedora VM, and configured the DHCP server on one Windows VM to do DHCP for all the internal networks.

wweboy · February 2011

Do you guys mind if you can explain more? the setup and what distro did you use? I'm stil very confused at how to go about this. I get some of it but its just not clicking for me.

Thanks so much!

Fugazi1000 · February 2011

There are many ways to get routing working - as suggested Linux would work well. Vyatta is another option - a virtual appliance router.

But if you are playing with Windows and DCs and I assume looking towards MSCE/MCITP then I would go with a Windows Server in a workgroup to use as your router.

A small footprint VM (256MB Ram) with 3 (or more) NICs - 1 in each virtual subnet you have created. Regedit to enable IP forwarding (IPRouterEnable=1). Add DCs to each subnet with the 'router' IP address as the default gateway. Ping to check connectivity.

Here is a link that might help: How To Enable TCP/IP Forwarding in Windows Server 2003

blargoe · February 2011

Fugazi1000 wrote: »

There are many ways to get routing working - as suggested Linux would work well. Vyatta is another option - a virtual appliance router.

But if you are playing with Windows and DCs and I assume looking towards MSCE/MCITP then I would go with a Windows Server in a workgroup to use as your router.

A small footprint VM (256MB Ram) with 3 (or more) NICs - 1 in each virtual subnet you have created. Regedit to enable IP forwarding (IPRouterEnable=1). Add DCs to each subnet with the 'router' IP address as the default gateway. Ping to check connectivity.

Here is a link that might help: How To Enable TCP/IP Forwarding in Windows Server 2003

I agree with this... if you "just needed a network" than one of the free virtual appliances is the easiest way to go, to the point of being menu/wizard driven and taking only a couple minutes to set up for some of them. However, doing a Windows router would certainly be in scope for you since this seems like the learning track that you're on.

miamikk · May 2011

For the same scenario (10.0.1.x, 10.0.2.x, 10.0.3.x) subnets:

What should be the VMWare network type for subnets ? (Bridged, NAT or Host-only).?

Should any of the subnet network type have "Connect a host virtual adapter to this network" checked in VMware Virtual Network Editor ?

Also, what would be the gateway (will the same gateway work for all subnets or each subnets should have its own gateway) ?

Ive setup a WinXP system with IP forwarding enabled and with 3 NICs (10.0.1.x, 10.0.2.x, 10.0.3.x ip addresses). I did not create the whole setup yet except for WinXP system.

Creating a virtual network in VMWare?

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