When you install Workstation Pro on a Windows or Linux host system, a host-only network (VMnet1) is set up for you. You might want to configure multiple host-only networks to manage network traffic between virtual machines in specific ways.

For example, you can set up multiple host-only networks on the same host system to test routing between two virtual networks or test a virtual machine that has multiple network interface cards without using any physical network adapters. You might also want to have two virtual machines connected to one host-only network and other virtual machines connected to another host-only network to isolate the network traffic on each network.

Prerequisites

  • On a Windows host, log in as an Administrator user. Only an Administrator user can change network settings in the virtual network editor.

  • On a Linux host, log in as root. You must enter the root password to use the virtual network editor.

Procedure

  1. Select Edit > Virtual Network Editor.
  2. Click Add Network and select a network to add, for example, VMnet2.

    You can create a custom host-only network on VMnet2 to VMnet7. On Windows hosts, you can also use VMnet9. On Linux hosts, you can also use vmnet10 through vmnet255.

    The new network is configured as a host-only network by default.

  3. Click OK to save your changes.

Results

After the host-only networks are set up on a Linux host system, at least four network interfaces appear: eth0, lo, vmnet1, and vmnet2. These four interfaces should have different IP addresses on separate subnets.