Learn more about VMware bridged network replicate physical option and its benefits. Our VMware Support team is here to help you with your questions and concerns.

What is Replicate Physical network connection in VMware?

Did you know that we can find the Replicate physical network connection state option under Bridged network option if our VMware Workstation is installed on a laptop or a mobile device?

In fact, by selecting this option, the IP address of the virtual machine will be automatically renewed when we move from a wired or wireless network to another. This comes in handy for VMs that are running on laptops or other mobile devices.

In other words, the VMware bridged network replicate physical option allows VMs to connect to a physical network via a bridged network adapter.

According to our experts, this configuration enables VMs to interact with other devices on the physical network.

How does the Replicate physical network connection configuration work?

A bridged network adapter establishes a virtual connection between the virtual network adapter in the VM and the physical network adapter on the host machine.

Furthermore, the bridged network adapter creates an exact copy of the physical network adapter’s configuration. This includes the MAC address so the VM will appear as if it is directly connected to the physical network.

Hence, when a VM connects to a bridged network, it gets an IP address from the host’s network.

In other words, the VM can communicate with other devices on the physical network, like other VMs, etc.

For instance, a VM on a bridged network has the ability to access network resources like printers, file shares, and web servers.

A key benefit of the bridged network is that it permits easy integration of VMs into an existing physical network. This comes in handy for testing as well as development environments. Especially, where we may want to replicate the network environment of a production system.

However, our experts would like to point out that we have to be wary of the potential security risks of using a bridged network. Since the virtual machine is connected directly to the physical network, it is vulnerable to attacks from other devices on the network.

In order to reduce these risks, we have to use several security measures, like firewalls and access controls. This offers protection against unauthorized access to the VM. Moreover, we have to keep the VM up-to-date with the latest security patches and software updates. This helps prevent vulnerabilities from being exploited.

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Conclusion

To sum up, our Support Techs introduced us to VMware bridged network replicate physical option and its many benefits.