Have a MacPro with dual ethernet ports. I have a RedHat Enterprise 4 Linux VM, a WIN2000PRO VM, and a WIN XP VM to run simultaneously. Each VM needs to receive streaming data from a different server on the ethernet. I am assuming I should set each VM up as its own IP address. (feel free to correct me as need be!) Am I doing this as 'bridged', 'shared', 'host only' - or what? I have looked for, but not yet found, a writeup to guide me on my task... Any help for this novice greatly appreciated. I am still on 1970 for now, and have had zero crashes in over 6 months of constant use. Maxed-out at 7 simultaneous VM's. LOVE Parallels! zeker00 MacPro two dual-core 3Ghz Intel Xeon, 4GB RAM, OS X 10.4.8, Parallels 1970. Apple Cinema 30" display. VM's: Solaris10, Windows 2000Pro, WindowsXP HomeEdition w/SP2, Red Hat Enterprise LINUX 4.0
To put it in simple terms: Bridged network - VM can initiate communication to computers on LAN, computers on LAN can initiiate communication to VM, i.e. VM can ping other computers, other computers can also ping VM. Shared network - VM can initiate communication to computers on LAN, but computers on LAN cannot initiate communication to VM, i.e. VM can ping other computers, other computers cannot ping VM. Host-only network - VM can only communicate with other VM and other programs running on the same computer. VM cannot communicate with other computers. So in your case, if the other computers are pushing data to your VM (e.g. you setup a FTP server for others to send files to you), you need to use Bridged. Otherwise, use Shared.
Another way of looking at it (nothing wrong with the other post): * If you have a home/small office firewall/router that shares your broadband connection between multiple computers - and is your responsibility - then Bridged is usually the best choice. The router should automatically assign IP addresses to your new VMs. * If you only have a USB modem or single-connection cable box, but still want your VMs to connect to the internet, use "shared". * If you want to keep your VMs isolated from the outside world but able to exchange files etc. with your Mac then use "Host Only". * If you are connecting to a office/university network then you should talk to your network manager. If your network manager is likely to reply "Duh?"; "Sorry, we don't support Macs", "No! Now, what was the question?" or glance meaningfully at next year's calendar, then "Shared Networking" is your friend. It might technically violate your Acceptable Use Policy - you have been warned - but shouldn't do any actual harm. If your office/university network generally allows people to plug in their own PCs and automatically doles out addresses then "Bridged" should work - but, in principle, if you screw up you could interfere with others. Plus - if you bridge an out-of-date XP installation to a typical university network you'll be infected withing 10 minutes. What actually happens: "Shared" and "Host Only" networking each create a virtual network inside your Mac, to which your VMs are connected, and Parallels will automatically hand out IP addresses to the VMs - these are taken from the "private" IP address range (10.x.x.x). The "Host Only" network is completely cut off from the outside world - only the VMs and the Mac can see it. For the "Shared" network, the Mac acts as a gateway between the virtual network and the outside world - much like "Internet sharing" or a home broadband router box. Only the Mac needs a valid external IP address - As far as the outside world is concerned, the VMs are invisible, and all requests come from the Mac. This is great if you only have one valid IP address (e.g. from an internet provider, or a private LAN that requires all computers to be registered) and/or want to protect your Windows VMs from the big, cruel world. "Bridged" networking is more like giving each VM is own ethernet port, wired into the same socket as the Mac. The outside world can connect to the VMs just as if they were real machines plugged into the ethernet. This means that your VMs will need valid IP addresses for your network, and the gateway and name server stuff filled in appropriately - but if the network has a DHCP server then this should happen automatically. In some cases, your "network card" needs to be registered with the DHCP server - you'll need the "hardware address" (confusingly called a MAC address) of your virtual network adaptor - which can be found under the "Advanced" tab in Parallels network card config. The name "bridge" comes from "physical" networking. Say you have two ethernet networks to join. If you make sure that each network has a distinct set of IP addresses you can join them with a "router" and packets will get passed to the correct network. Alternatively, you can use a "bridge" which effectively just mushes the networks together - which was (once) cheaper and works with any network protocol, not just TCP/IP. The use of "Bridged" in the VM context is accurate but not helpful...
