LAN Segment : Hub or Switch?

[geofft]

Simple question that I've been having trouble finding an answer...

Does a LAN Segment in VmWare Workstation behave as a hub or a switch?

Example:  3 VMs on an isolated LAN segment.  If A pings B, will C be able to see the traffic?

Thanks,

Geoff

[Pyrochaser]

Think if I remember the interface in Workstation it can be created to be like both a switch or a hub. You can have a network for all your VMS to talk with one another on or you can set the network up with DHCP capabilities to assign IPs to all those systems. Again this if I remember it correctly.

[geofft]

Thanks for the quick reponse...

It doesn't look like there's any configuration possible for a LAN Segment (at least on WS11).  They don't show up in the Network editor.  It looks like they only show up when you configure your network device on a specific VM.

I also tried making a custom network in the network editor, but it didn't show any options like that either.

Thanks,

Geoff

[geofft]

Sorry, I probably should have added this in my original post...

For those that are unaware of the difference between a hub and a switch -

A switch is a 'smart' device that keeps track of what devices are on each of its ports and will route traffic only to the destination device.  All other ports do not see the traffic.

A hub is a 'dumb' device that takes traffic from any port and repeats it across all other ports.  It's up to the connected devices to determine if the traffic was meant for them or not.  This was one of the first type of network devices.  You don't see them very often anymore because of the excessive traffic to all ports.  However, they do have use as a monitoring device on small networks (my use).

Thanks,

Geoff

[geofft · Accepted solution]

OK, I'll answer my own post...

After tests with wireshark , I was able to determine that it does in fact behave like a 'hub'.

I had been testing before my post, but was running into some very confusing results that were ultimately caused by Windows firewall rules.  It turned out that they were treating the LAN segment as a public network and therefore had a much more restrictive rule set.

Geoff