How to Nat a VM on ESXi 5.5

[Nikhil11]

Hi,

My seniors have asked me to NAT the ip adress of a VM running on ESXi 5.5 to to another ip address in another network. Although i advised that this would be a strenous process and would be most suitable to doing this via the OS. They stressed that it would have to be done on VM level. Any guesses as to how can i achieve this . Should i go through pfsense method by installing and doing the same or is there any other way which VMware could recommend. Kindly help on this matter.

Thanks

Nikhil

[abhilashhb]

The NAT has to be done on the router and the IP has to be given at the OS level. Like, if you have a 192.x.x.x at VM OS you have to NAT it at router using a 10.x.x.x IP.

NATing is a task done by routers. it cannot be done at a VM(Unless you are using a VM as a router)

[john23]

Agreed with Abhilash, NAT is not possible in vSphere on VM level. only way do on physical router..as mentioned above..

[Nikhil11]

Hi,

Went through some links and got the following link which was helpful in the case although might not work.

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_2_on_VMware_ESXi_5

I do agree, that Natting has to be done on Router / Firewall level but even Vmware suggests Natting is possible using Vcloud Networking and Security suite. Anyone can guide if it is possible though

thanks

Nikhil

[abhilashhb]

Yes you will have to buy vCNS. Now vCNS is not available through standalone. You will have to upgrade your environment(vSphere) to vCloud suite licensing. The question is, do you want to spend thousands of dollars for a NAT service?

Or do you already own a vCNS instance? Then we could think of a way to do it.

[Nikhil11]

Hi Abhilash,

I doubt we would be allowed to upgrade the licensing, although we do have Vcloud networking and Security available in our Essential plus license, i am doubtful whether it will do the job

thanks

Nikhil

[abhilashhb]

The feature that comes with enterprise plus is endpoint protection. That is for antivirus offloading. It will not be able to do what you require.

If you found any of the answers useful, consider awarding points by choosing correct and helpful answers

[Nikhil11]

Hi Abhilash,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Regards

Nikhil