VMware Fusion Network Settings - Part 1

VMware Fusion Network Settings – Part 1
VMware Fusion Network Settings – Part1

(Version 1.0)
One of the areas that has been simplified in the first release of VMware Fusion is the configuration
of the virtual network settings. Similar to the Windows and Linux hosted variants of VMware
products, there are 2 network interfaces setup during the installation of Fusion, plus a bridge from
Fusion to the computer’s active NIC. The 2 virtual network cards that are configured are the host-
only network, vmnet1, and the NAT network interface, vmnet8. To learn more about these
configurations I would suggest that the documentation for VMware Workstation 6 networking is
read, as Fusion is derived from the same codebase. See the VMware Workstation 6 online manual
and specifically the section on “Configuring a Virtual Network”, and especially the parts relating to
Linux.
What Fusion doesn’t easily let you do is manually configure the IP address ranges used by vmnet1
and vmnet8, or add additional virtual networks; e.g. vmnet2, etc. This first article demonstrates how
to change the Fusion network settings, allowing the IP address range to be specified for the default
connections. Before we start the process we need to understand a few of the files used to configure
Fusion. In the “/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/” directory are several files and sub-
directories important to the Fusion application.
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/
boot.sh Bash script used to start and stop VMware Fusion daemons and kexts.
config Holds vmnet1 subnet and mask settings
locations Installation database, settings, folders and files
vmnet-dhcp.conf Template for DHCP daemon configuration file
vmnet-nat.conf Template for NAT daemon configuration file
vmware-config-net.pl Perl script to configure Fusion
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet1
dhcp.conf DHCP daemon configuration file
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8
dhcp.conf DHCP daemon configuration file
nat.conf NAT daemon configuration file
nat.mac MAC address used for NAT device
© 2007 Dave Parsons Page 1

Step 1 – Reset Fusion Settings

Before you start, please ensure you have no running guests and that you have closed the fusion
application. The first stage is to ensure we are at a known state with the various files used by Fusion.
The simplest way to do this is to remove the “locations” file and re-run the Perl configuration script.
Start a terminal session and then switch to the main directory for Fusion. We will then remove the
file:
$cd /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/

$sudo rm locations
Next is to run the Perl configuration script, which will regenerate all the relevant files:
$sudo ./vmware-config-net.pl
Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.
'ping' -q -t 10 192.168.119.1 > /dev/null status = 2

The subnet 192.168.119.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.
The file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/dhcpd.conf that

this program was about to install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases that this program was

about to install already exists. Overwrite? [yes]
The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases~ that this program was

The file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.conf that

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.
Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet?

(yes/no/help)
[yes]
'ping' -q -t 10 172.16.225.1 > /dev/null status = 2

The subnet 172.16.225.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.
The file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet1/dhcpd.conf that

The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.leases that this program was

The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.leases~ that this program was


You won’t need to answer any questions as the vmware-config-net.pl script auto answers them for
you. Next we want to restart the services with these new values just to check that everything is
working:
$sudo ./boot.sh --restart
VMware Fusion 50460: Shutting down VMware Fusion:

No matching processes were found
kextunload: unload id com.vmware.kext.vmcrosstalk failed (result code
0xe00002c2)
kextunload: unload kext /Library/Application Support/VMware
Fusion/kexts/vmmon.kext succeeded
Fusion/kexts/vmci.kext succeeded
Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext succeeded
Fusion/kexts/vmnet.kext succeeded
VMware Fusion 50460: Starting VMware Fusion:

kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmmon.kext
loaded successfully
kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmci.kext loaded
successfully
kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext
loaded successfully
kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmnet.kext
loaded successfully
Internet Software Consortium DHCP Server 2.0
Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 The Internet Software Consortium.
All rights reserved.
Please contribute if you find this software useful.

For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/dhcp-contrib.html
Configured subnet: 192.168.119.0

Setting vmnet-dhcp IP address: 192.168.119.254
Opened: ?
Recving on VNet/vmnet8/192.168.119.0
Sending on VNet/vmnet8/192.168.119.0


Opened: ?

Check that the network interfaces have been correctly configured:
$ifconfig -a
< Removed other output for simplicity >

vmnet8: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.119.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.119.255
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08

ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01
Note that your IP address ranges will almost certainly not match the ones in the sample output
shown above. Don’t worry we are going to fix that with the next step.
Step 2 – Modify the IP address ranges

We should now have a clean “locations” file to work from. Using an editor, such as nano, open the
file with write permissions via sudo or as root user, if you have enabled the account. Here nano is
being run under sudo:
$sudo nano locations
This should bring up the nano editor screen.
GNU nano 1.2.4 File: locations
answer LIBDIR /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

answer NETWORKING yes
answer VNET_8_NAT yes
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_HOSTADDR 192.168.119.1
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0
file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/dhcpd.conf 1185970219
file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases
file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases~
file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.conf 1185970219
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 172.16.225.0
answer VNET_1_DHCP yes
file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/config 1185970239
[ Read 17 lines ]
^G Get Help Ô WriteOut ^R Read File ^Y Prev Page ^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit ^J Justify ^W Where Is ^V Next Page Û UnCut Txt ^T To Spell
We need to alter the following settings in the “locations” file:

 VNET_8_HOSTONLY_HOSTADDR
 VNET_8_HOSTONLY_NETMASK
 VNET_1_HOSTONLY_HOSTADDR
 VNET_1_HOSTONLY_NETMASK
 VNET_1_HOSTONLY_SUBNET
In the example below vmnet8 is set to use 172.16.8.1 and vmnet1 to 172.16.1.1. You may wish to
change masks etc., but for this simple exercise we will concentrate on address ranges.
GNU nano 1.2.4 File: locations Modified
answer LIBDIR /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

answer NETWORKING yes
answer VNET_8_NAT yes
file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.conf 1185970219
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 172.16.1.0
answer VNET_1_DHCP yes
file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/config 1185970239
^G Get Help Ô WriteOut ^R Read File ^Y Prev Page ^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit ^J Justify ^W Where Is ^V Next Page Û UnCut Txt ^T To Spell
Use Ctrl-O and Ctrl-X to save the file and exit nano.
Step 3 – Apply modified settings

Finally we run through the same sequence of commands as in Step 1 to apply the settings to Fusion.
Firstly run the Perl configuration script, which will show slightly different output this time.
$sudo ./vmware-config-net.pl
Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.
Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.
The host-only network is currently configured to use the private subnet

172.16.1.0/255.255.255.0. Do you want to keep these settings? [yes]
Secondly, restart the Fusion daemons and kernel extensions, plus re-configure virtual NICs.

$sudo ./boot.sh --restart
VMware Fusion 50460: Shutting down VMware Fusion:

kextunload: unload id com.vmware.kext.vmcrosstalk failed (result code
0xe00002c2)
Fusion/kexts/vmmon.kext succeeded
Fusion/kexts/vmci.kext succeeded
Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext succeeded
Fusion/kexts/vmnet.kext succeeded
VMware Fusion 50460: Starting VMware Fusion:

kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmmon.kext
loaded successfully
kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmci.kext loaded
successfully
kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmioplug.kext
loaded successfully
kextload: /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/kexts/vmnet.kext
loaded successfully


Opened: ?


Opened: ?
Finally, we double check to see the virtual Ethernet cards are correctly configured.

$ifconfig -a
< Removed other output for simplicity >

ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01
You should now be able to start Fusion and power on guests, and make use of the re-configured
virtual networking. All this was tested on the release version of VMware Fusion 1.0 (build 51348).
The test machine was running Mac OS X 10.4.10.
In the second part, I will be looking at how to add additional virtual adapters to Fusion.
Contact details:
VMware Forums: DaveP
Web site: www.daveparsons.net

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VMware Fusion Network Settings – Part 1

VMware Fusion Network Settings – Part1

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/

config Holds vmnet1 subnet and mask settings

locations Installation database, settings, folders and files

vmnet-dhcp.conf Template for DHCP daemon configuration file

vmnet-nat.conf Template for NAT daemon configuration file

vmware-config-net.pl Perl script to configure Fusion

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet1

dhcp.conf DHCP daemon configuration file

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8

dhcp.conf DHCP daemon configuration file

nat.conf NAT daemon configuration file

nat.mac MAC address used for NAT device

© 2007 Dave Parsons Page 1

Step 1 – Reset Fusion Settings

$cd /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

'ping' -q -t 10 192.168.119.1 > /dev/null status = 2

The file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/dhcpd.conf that

The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases that this program was

The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet8.leases~ that this program was

The file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet8/nat.conf that

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet?

'ping' -q -t 10 172.16.225.1 > /dev/null status = 2

The file /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmnet1/dhcpd.conf that

The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.leases that this program was

The file /var/db/vmware/vmnet-dhcpd-vmnet1.leases~ that this program was

© 2007 Dave Parsons Page 2

$sudo ./boot.sh --restart

VMware Fusion 50460: Shutting down VMware Fusion:

VMware Fusion 50460: Starting VMware Fusion:

Please contribute if you find this software useful.

Configured subnet: 192.168.119.0

Please contribute if you find this software useful.

Configured subnet: 172.16.225.0

© 2007 Dave Parsons Page 3

Check that the network interfaces have been correctly configured:

< Removed other output for simplicity >

inet 172.16.225.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.16.225.255

Step 2 – Modify the IP address ranges

$sudo nano locations

This should bring up the nano editor screen.

GNU nano 1.2.4 File: locations

answer LIBDIR /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

We need to alter the following settings in the “locations” file:

© 2007 Dave Parsons Page 4

GNU nano 1.2.4 File: locations Modified

answer LIBDIR /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion

Step 3 – Apply modified settings

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

The host-only network is currently configured to use the private subnet

© 2007 Dave Parsons Page 5

$sudo ./boot.sh --restart

VMware Fusion 50460: Shutting down VMware Fusion:

VMware Fusion 50460: Starting VMware Fusion:

Please contribute if you find this software useful.

Configured subnet: 172.16.8.0