Bridged networking is a type of network connection where a virtual machine appears as an additional computer on the same physical Ethernet network as the host. More technically, the virtual machine connects directly to the Ethernet via a virtual Ethernet adapter in its configuration that connects to an Ethernet card on the host machine. You can use this type of networking if you have an Ethernet card on your PC and are on a local area network (LAN).
A bridged virtual machine can transparently use any of the services available on the network that it is bridged to: printers, file servers, gateways and so on. Likewise, when a virtual machine is bridged, any physical host or other virtual machines configured with bridged networking can use resources on that virtual machine.
If you use bridged networking, your virtual machine needs to have its own identity on the network. For example, on a TCP/IP network the virtual machine needs its own IP address. Your network administrator can tell you whether IP addresses are available for your virtual machine and what network settings you should use in the guest operating system. Generally, your guest operating system may acquire an IP address and other network details automatically from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, or you may need to set the IP address and other details manually in the guest operating system. >>More information about assigning IP addresses
To set up a virtual machine for bridged networking you need to follow these steps:
Note: When multiple virtual machines that use bridged networking run at the same time, each of them (including the host) must have a different network address. Consult your network administrator to obtain a network address.
When you power on the virtual machine, if you see the message: The network bridge on VMnet0 is not running, check that the VMnet Bridge service is running on your host operating system.
If the VMnet Bridge service does not start, it is likely that the physical network adapter card has failed to startup properly. For example, if the adapter card is uninstalled through the Network Control Panel or has been physically removed from the computer (e.g., removing a PCMCIA card from a laptop) the VMnet Bridge service cannot start.
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