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mindquest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2009
516
103
Hoping some Mac guru can help me find an answer. I need this set-up for work and would save me having to buy a cheap Windows 7 machine to run my software.

Set-up:

Imac (Quad Core)
Windows 7 (running either VM Fusion, Parallels,etc..., not bootcamp)

2 internet connections both DSL, access points: wireless and direct connect (ethernet)

Goal:

Have OS X use one internet access point and Windows 7 use another. It doesn't matter which VM software or which access point is utilized by which OS. I am hoping Parrellels or VM Fusion has a setting to set-up the internet gateway. As of now I could find anything on this.

Thanks in advance!
 

jzuena

macrumors 65816
Feb 21, 2007
1,122
148
I am not aware of a setting in either Fusion or Parallels to do this, but you could set up your VM to use bridged networking so that it gets its own address on your physical network and just set its default gateway to be one DSL router and set OSX's default gateway to be the other DSL router. This should work with either package.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
Another "simple" way around it would be to not let the VM have any network access by default and then use a USB network adapter made available only to the VM to connect to the wired network.

I'm sure you can do it with the built in hardware and VM configuration tools, but the USB way would be fairly clean.

B
 

mindquest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2009
516
103
Another "simple" way around it would be to not let the VM have any network access by default and then use a USB network adapter made available only to the VM to connect to the wired network.

I'm sure you can do it with the built in hardware and VM configuration tools, but the USB way would be fairly clean.

B

balamw,

Thanks for your thoughts on this! I do have some follow-up questions after doing some more reading. Please let me know if I am incorrect on explaining the type of set-up you are describing.

I am not sure which product to use (Parallels or VM Fusion) so any suggestions would be appreciated!

I read this doc about VM Fusion networking:
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-2527

Would this configuration work:

Set-up:

Imac (Quad Core) OS X using DSL(1) via ethernet cable, wifi disabled

VM: Windows 7 (running a VM set to host-only) using a USB wifi card connecting to a wireless router accessing DSL(2)


If I understand this correctly the VM will be isolated from OS X for networking allowing internet access ONLY through wifi. And the OS X will not see the wireless card.

Files can still be shared or mirrored from OS X to Windows 7 because that is done through a different resource.

Am I close on this? :confused:
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
If I understand this correctly the VM will be isolated from OS X for networking allowing internet access ONLY through wifi. And the OS X will not see the wireless card.

Files can still be shared or mirrored from OS X to Windows 7 because that is done through a different resource.

Am I close on this? :confused:

Yeah, I was thinking wired USB (very cheap and more liikely to provide a robust link than USB wireless due to antennas), but otherwise exactly what I was suggesting. I haven't looked at Parallels recently, but in Fusion there is a USB icon on the VM that lets you "push" a USB device into the VM only.

Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...019&cm_re=USB_ethernet-_-12-125-019-_-Product should do the trick.

I haven't tried any of this, but it seems like it is likely to work.

B
 

mindquest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2009
516
103
Thanks for the follow-up! Glad to know I am on the right track.

Using the USB ethernet connection I was wondering how OS X would see it? Or if it will see this USB cable at all?
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
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mindquest said:
Thanks for the follow-up! Glad to know I am on the right track.

Using the USB ethernet connection I was wondering how OS X would see it? Or if it will see this USB cable at all?

It won't see it at all once you allocate it to the VM.
When the VM isn't running it might be seen, but probably won't do anything without an explicit driver install.

B
 

mindquest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2009
516
103
Thanks again balamw!

I got an email into Trendnet to make sure their driver is windows 7 compatible and then just wait for the Quad core delivery! :D

I'm definitely going with VM Fusion base on your advise and some further reading regarding USB capability.


Cheers!
 

jtara

macrumors 68020
Mar 23, 2009
2,008
536
You're making this WAY too complicated. jzeuna has the right idea.

You don't need to configure anything in VMWare at all. You can do all the setup you need in either OSX or Windows. Just do exactly what you would do if you had two physical machines.

Set one to use DHCP, and the other has to be configured manually. This is what you would have to do if you had two machines.

In any case, you need to disable DHCP on one of the routers, as you can only have one DHCP server on a network. You'll need to put a switch in front of the routers.

One computer will get it's address and gateway address from the router that has DHCP enabled. The other, you will need to set-up the address and gateway manually. I'd recommend you use DHCP for OSX and manual configuration for Windows. Of course, the two routers will need to be set-up with different IP addresses, within the same subnet.

I'm assuming your purpose here is that one of these is for work, and you are using a router with a VPN? You probably have a company policy prohibiting storing your work stuff on your personal computer. Some companies will accept a VM as a dedicated computer. Just make sure that is cool with them, and make sure you don't enable disk sharing.

You'll need to use bridged networking, which you'll need to do anyway if you are going to be accessing Windows shares.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
You're making this WAY too complicated. jzeuna has the right idea.

What's easy for some is complicated for others. While I'm pretty comfortable myself editing routing tables and such, DHCP has made people soft and their eyes tend to glaze over. ;)

My goal in providing the hardware method that I did was to fully satisfy the spirit of the problem. Two separate network connections. By bridging, the Windows connection "goes through" the Mac, and the Mac still has access to both access points violating what seems to be the original intent.

B
 

mindquest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2009
516
103
What's easy for some is complicated for others. While I'm pretty comfortable myself editing routing tables and such, DHCP has made people soft and their eyes tend to glaze over. ;)

My goal in providing the hardware method that I did was to fully satisfy the spirit of the problem. Two separate network connections. By bridging, the Windows connection "goes through" the Mac, and the Mac still has access to both access points violating what seems to be the original intent.

B

jtara,

Thanks for your take on this! But balamw has a more straight forward solution given the problem I am dealing with. By changing one setting in VM I can go plug and play for both internet connections without any further customization, also my DSL connections are dynamic IP's so that goes into the bag of hurt with your potential solution.

But I do appreciated everyones feedback!


Cheers!
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
Sure hope it works! (Did I mention I have not tried this) ;)

Anyhow, please post back here when you try it!

B
 

mindquest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2009
516
103
Sure hope it works! (Did I mention I have not tried this) ;)

Anyhow, please post back here when you try it!

B

Just a follow up that balamw instructions worked like a charm. I now run 2 DSL lines one into the MAC and one into my VM session running Win 7 (32 bit)


Thanks for all your help!
 
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