Choosing a specifc WiFI SSID for Network Connection

[kkillion]

Is it possible to configure a VMWare Workstation virtual network adapter (which is attached to a WiFi adapter) to specify the SSID or WiFi profile to be used? The environment we are in is this:

• Host machine attached to corporate LAN via Ethernet.

• Virtual machine's virtual NIC attached to WiFi adapter in host.

• WiFi adapter in host can see multiple SSIDs broadcasting.

The result we are trying to achieve is this:

• Have the virtual machine's virtual NIC intiate or at least use WiFi on specific SSID.

Reason for need:

So that our host machines can be on the highly secured and restricted corporate LAN while our VMs simultaneously access the open and unsecured guest WiFi network so that we can perform testing of software that otherwise will not work inside our LAN.

Any ideas?

[oreeh]

Since the VM is not aware of the WiFi network this isn't possible.

All the WiFI related things depend on the host.

[WoodyZ]

Can't you just tell the WiFi Adapter on the Host which WiFi Network to attach to and not worry what the Guest is doing as it's already bound to the Host's WiFi Adapter?

[kkillion]

My experience indicates that what you say here is correct, but I was hoping that there was a way around this apparent limitation. Thanks for your reply Oreeh.

[kkillion]

This would be an acceptable scenerio except for one big issue: If we have both the wired and wireless adapters connected at the same time (for the host), we are multi-homed with two different default gateways which conflict. It does not appear that the Workstation version of VMWare allows the host to determine which NICs are used by itself and which NICs are used by the guest(s) like we can do with ESX. If we could make this work in the exact manner we wish, we would do the following:

Host machine uses the wired adapter exclusively

Guest #1 uses WiFi adapter #1, attaches to specific SSID #1, and gets IP address #1

Guest #2 uses WiFi adapter #2, attaches to specific SSID #2, and gets IP address #2

Guest #3 uses WiFi adapter #3, attaches to specific SSID #3, and gets IP address #3

If we were using a mutli-port wired NIC, then we can accomplish our goal without much problem...its the WiFi that seems to be making this difficult and that fact that VMWare Workstation does not allow full seperation of the networking layer between the host and guest(s) as is normal with the ESX Server product.

[oreeh]

It does not appear that the Workstation version of VMWare allows the host to determine which NICs are used by itself and which NICs are used by the guest(s)

This actually can be done.

You can disable automatic bridging and bridge the VMs to the desired NIC. In addition you can remove all protocols except the VMware Bridge Protocol from a NIC to configure the NIC as a "VM only" NIC (usually not necessary).

[kkillion]

Ok....I like where this is going. I am going to investigate this possibility further.

I am curious about something though - with the server based product (ESX) when you attach NICs to either the host or VMs, the host completely ignores all NICs not assigned to it. This is built by default into the underlying customized Linux kernel. However, since the Workstation product is running on top of a Windows host (in our case, Windows XP Pro), I do not see how it is possible to make the "host" ignore and NOT use adapters that we only want to be used by the guests. If I go into the Windows Networking Control Panel and "disable" any of the "extra" physical adapters, then they are also no longer available for use by the guests.

Am I correct or missing something here?

[oreeh]

To make Windows igore a NIC simply remove the "Client for Microsoft networks" and the "File and Printer sharing for Microsoft networks".

If you only need bridging functionality you can also remove the "TCP/IP protocol".

[kkillion]

aaaaahhhh. My lightbulb is now on and I am going to give this a try. I will post back to this thread to let everyone know if handling the NIC adapters in this fashion allows us to dedicate the WiFi to our guest VM.

Thanks for the valuable input Oreeh.

Kirk