Contents
Setting up a second bridged network interface on a Linux host
If you have two physical
Ethernet adapters installed on your host computer, connected to two different
networks, you may want your virtual machines on that host computer to bridge to
both Ethernet adapters so the virtual machines can access either or both
physical networks.
To set up a virtual machine
to bridge to a second physical Ethernet adapter, you need to add a second call
to vmnet-bridge for the second adapter. This is done in the /etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware
script.
In the following example, a
bridge to the first Ethernet adapter is set up on eth0 for a virtual
machine. In the example, a bridge is added to the second Ethernet adapter on eth1.
To add a second bridged
network interface on a Linux host:
- Stop the
VMware Workstation services using the following command in a shell window:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware stop
- Open the /etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware
script in a text editor and look for the following line:
cd "$vmware_bin_dir"
&& "$vmware_bin_dir"/"$bridge" -d
/var/run/"$bridge"-"$vHubNr".pid
/dev/vmnet"$vHubNr" "$pHostIf"
- After this, add the following, all on
one line, to the /etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware script. This allows your
virtual machines to connect to the second Ethernet adapter via bridged
networking:
cd "$vmware_bin_dir"
&& "$vmware_bin_dir"/"$bridge" -d
/var/run/"$bridge"-2.pid /dev/vmnet2 eth1
Note: VMnet2 is used in this
configuration because VMnet1 is reserved for host-only network
connections.
- Start
the VMware Workstation services using the following command in a shell window:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware start
- In a shell window, execute the
following command:
ps auwx
You should see two lines similar to
the following:
root 711 0.0 0.1 1024 308 ? S
Sep25 0:00 /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge -- d /var/run/vmnet-bridge-0.pid /dev/vmnet0
eth0
root 712 0.0
0.1 1024 308 ? S Sep25 0:00 /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge -- d
/var/run/vmnet-bridge-2.pid /dev/vmnet2 eth1
Note: The first line refers to the first
Ethernet adapter, and the second line to the second Ethernet adapter.
- You can
now connect each virtual machine to either or both Ethernet adapters.
- For each
virtual machine, run the Configuration Editor (select Settings >
Configuration Editor).
- Configure a virtual Ethernet adapter to use
bridged networking to the physical adapter eth0.
- Configure
a virtual Ethernet adapter to use custom networking to the vmnet2
adapter. This will ensure that the second Ethernet adapter bridges to the
physical adapter eth1.
- Save and
close the configuration.
Related links:
Back to top
© 2001 VMware, Inc.
All rights reserved.