The virtual networking components in Workstation Pro include virtual switches, virtual network adapters, the virtual DHCP server, and the NAT device.

Virtual Switches

Like a physical switch, a virtual switch connects networking components together. Virtual switches, which are also referred to as virtual networks, are named VMnet0, VMnet1, VMnet2, and so on. A few virtual switches are mapped to specific networks by default.

Table 1. Default Virtual Network Switches

Network Type

Switch Name

Bridged

VMnet0

NAT

VMnet8

Host-only

VMnet1

Workstation Pro creates virtual switches as needed, up to 20 virtual switches on a Windows host system and up to 255 virtual switches on a Linux host system. You can connect an unlimited number of virtual network devices to a virtual switch on a Windows host system and up to 32 virtual network devices to a virtual switch on a Linux host system.

Note:

On Linux host systems, the virtual switch names are in all lowercase letters, for example, vmnet0.

Virtual Network Adapters

When you use the New Virtual Machine wizard to create a new virtual machine, the wizard creates a virtual network adapter for the virtual machine. The virtual network adapter appears in the guest operating system as an AMD PCNET PCI adapter or Intel Pro/1000 MT Server Adapter. In Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 guest operating systems, it is an Intel Pro/1000 MT Server Adapter.

Workstation 6.0 and later virtual machines can have up to 10 virtual network adapters. Workstation 5.x virtual machines are limited to three virtual network adapters.

Virtual DHCP Server

The virtual Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server provides IP addresses to virtual machines in configurations that are not bridged to an external network. For example, the virtual DHCP server assigns IP addresses to virtual machines in host-only and NAT configurations.

NAT Device

In a NAT configuration, the NAT device passes network data between one or more virtual machines and the external network, identifies incoming data packets intended for each virtual machine, and sends them to the correct destination.