vphone
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      • Networking

      Each VM has one network mode. This page shows how to pick it and how to unplug a running VM's network; the other pages in this section cover tunnel mode, addresses, port forwarding, names and machines reaching each other.

      Network modes

      ModeHow the guest reaches the internetUse it when
      natVirtualization.framework's built-in NATThe default. The Mac has no VPN, or the VPN does not need to carry the guest.
      bridgedDirectly on a physical interface of the Mac, with its own address on that networkThe guest has to be reachable from other machines on the LAN.
      tunnelThrough ordinary connections that vphone-vm opens on the MacThe Mac's traffic goes through a VPN or a proxy app, and the guest's traffic must follow it.
      noneNo network deviceThe guest must stay offline.

      The mode is stored in the VM's config.plist and read when the VM starts, so a change applies from the next launch.

      Choose a mode

      In Launchpad:

      1. Stop the machine.
      2. Choose Settings… from the ⋯ menu or the right-click menu.
      3. Pick the mode in the Network section.

      New Machine sets the mode under Advanced Options. With one machine selected, Settings… also has Address and Port Forwarding sections.

      From the command line:

      vphone-cli vm config <name> --network tunnel
# or through Launchpad
vphone-launchpad-cli exec vm config <name> --network tunnel

      tunnel needs a VPhone.bundle that lists it in vphone-cli vm config --help. An older bundle rejects the setting.

      Unplug a running VM

      vm network acts on a running VM, and nothing it does is saved:

      vphone-cli vm network <name>               # state of the NIC
vphone-cli vm network <name> --link down   # unplug the cable
vphone-cli vm network <name> --link up     # plug it back in

      The guest sees the link drop and come back. The same request is available on vphone.sock as {"t":"network"}, with "link":"down" or "link":"up".

      Info

      A running VM cannot move to another network. Virtualization accepts the change and then stops the VM with an internal error, so vm network only ever puts back the network the VM started on. To change the mode, use vm config and restart the VM.

      See also