Managing Virtual Networks

A virtual network acts as a binding interface between a virtual network adapter in a Container and a physical network adapter on the Parallels server. Using virtual networks, you can facilitate the process of managing networks. For example, virtual networks can help you avoid possible problems with migrating virtual machines between Parallels servers. If you assign a virtual machine or Container virtual adapter directly to a physical adapter on the source server and migrate the virtual machine or Container to the destination server, the virtual adapter may get broken because the physical adapter on the destination server is different from that on the source server. To deal with such situations, you can create a virtual network on both servers, set the same name for both networks, and assign the virtual adapter to the virtual network on the source server.

You can create the following types of virtual networks:

• Host-only
• Bridged

Host-only virtual networks

A Parallels sever can have several host-only virtual networks. A virtual machine connected to a host-only network can connect to the Parallels server and virtual machines connected to the same network. If you have, for example, two host-only virtual networks, the virtual machines connected to the first host-only network can connect to each other and to the Parallels server, but they cannot access the virtual machines on the second host-only network.

For more information about host-only virtual networks, see Configuring Host-Only Network Settings .

Bridged virtual networks

A Parallels server can have one or more bridged virtual networks. The number of bridged virtual networks cannot exceed the number of physical adapter installed on the Parallels server. A virtual machine connected to a bridged virtual network can connect to the network (local and/or Internet) where the physical adapter associated with this virtual network is joined. In a bridged network, a virtual machine is treated as a stand-alone computer on the network and can be configured in the same way as a real one.

For more information about bridged virtual networks, see Configuring Bridged Network Settings .