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Just as with physical networks, the VMware virtual networking architecture is comprised of multiple components which can be configured in different ways to achieve a variety of network configurations. A physical network consists of both software (for example a DHCP server) and hardware devices such as network adapters and switches. The key difference between a physical network and a virtual network is that in a virtual network the hardware devices are represented in software within the virtualizaion environment.
The object of this chapter of [[VMware Server 2.0 Essentials]] is to provide an overview of both the different virtual network configuration options available with VMware Server, and also to describe the various components which combine to make up virtual networks within a VMware Server 2.0 based environment. In order to fully appreciate how the VMware Server virtual network architecture fits together On completion of this chapter it is first necessary to intended that the reader will understand the concepts of ''Virtual Network Switches'', ''Virtual Network Adapters'', ''Host Virtual Adapters'' and ''DHCP'' servers, and be able to explain the difference between ''HostOnly'', ''Bridged'' and ''NAT'' serversbased virtual networks. == VMware Server Virtual Network Configurations == Before describing the different components that comprise a virtual network it is first important to understand the different virtual network configuration options that are available to VMware Server based virtual machines: * '''Bridged networking''' — Although bridged virtual machines use the physical network connections on the host system, each virtual machine is treated as an independent client on the network. As such it will obtain an IP address from the network's DHCP server, or will require a static IP address to be manually configured if DHCP is not used. Virtual machines using bridged networking will be able to communicate directly with both the host system and other clients on the network to which the host is connected. * '''Network address translation (NAT)''' — One or more virtual machines share the IP and MAC address of the host system for the purposes of communicating with the external network. Virtual machines are able to communicate with other clients on the network to which the host is connected, but will appear to those clients as the host system, rather than as individual network clients. This approach allows multiple virtual machines to operate using a single IP address. IP addresses are allocated dynamically to NAT based virtual machines by VMware Server's internal DHCP server. Communication with the external network can only be covered in detail in this chapterestablished by the virtual machine. It is not, therefore, possible for a client on the external network to initiate a connection with a NAT based virtual machine. * '''Host‐only networking''' - Creates a private sub-net within the host for virtual machines for which no external network access is required or desired. Virtual machines configured with host-only networking can communicate directly only with the host system and virtual machines which are also members of the same host-only network. The virtual machines cannot, however, communicate with the network to which the host is connected. IP addresses are allocated to Host-only based virtual machines by VMware Server's internal DHCP server.
== VMware Server Virtual Network Switch ==
