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JLogan2016
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Routing between physical hosts - Bridged only option?

I am working on setting up a vSphere lab for testing. I currently have two Dell servers (2 x quad-core, 72 GB RAM, 6TB disk each). I also have two licenses for VMware Workstation. My original thought was I can just do 3 ESX hosts and a virtual NAS VM on each physical host, giving me a total of 6 ESXi hosts for the cluster. I do not, however, want to used Bridged networking if I can get away with it (already a large number of devices on the main subnet).

So my question is do I have any other options without purchasing more hardware? I figure Host-Only is out of course, but I am wondering if it would it be possible to get NAT to work if I connected the two physical hosts via a cross-over cable or something like that. Just curious if anyone has played with any of the more complex networking options and could provide some suggestions.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

The only answer is bridged.

But if your servers have more than one network card then you could limit the bridged interface to those cards if you'd want.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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JLogan2016
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi, thanks for the response. Can you explain that a bit more? Each server has 2 broadcom NICs; are you thinking a crossover and then bridged just to that interface? If so, how would I route that out to the external internet?

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

I rarely think "crossover cable" but if that's your intended setup then that could work.

Of course when you go the crossover cable way then your lab is isolated from the internet, which when I read your initial question sounded like it was your goal.

If OTOH you put a switch there inbetween those 2 NICs then you could also hookup a little router (firewall/gateway) on the switch and still have your lab in a separate network segment.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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JLogan2016
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks. I am thinking I am going to have to turn on of the physical 2016 servers into a router, and do it that way.

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