CloudShare enables you to configure networks to connect VMs in your environment to each other and to the public internet via CloudShare's remote access gateway. The remote access gateway provides services such as:
- Secure in-browser access to VMs over SSH, RDP, and VNC.
- Direct SSH/RDP access to VMs using native SSH/RDP clients or any Inbound public IP access.
- Outbound access from VMs to public IPs.
When you create a CloudShare environment (custom environment), it comes pre-configured with one network in which:
- All VMs are connected to the network, with the remote access gateway set as the default gateway for every VM.
- All VMs are accessible via secure access.
- All VMs have outgoing access to the internet.
This original configuration might be sufficient for your needs. Otherwise, you can edit this network and/or add as many more as you like.
Editing VM Access
To configure a VM's connection to a CloudShare network:
1. In the environment's details page, select Edit Environment and Edit Networks.
2. On the topology diagram, select the VM you want to configure.
3. If the VM is not already connected to the network, click Add Adapter to add a new net adapter.
4. Click the More Details link on the net adapter to modify the settings:
- MAC Address: Configuring a machine’s MAC address:
- MAC Address Type: Set to Dynamic or Static.
- Dynamic (default): CloudShare auto-generates an address and could change it.
- Static: The set address will not be changed. You can manually insert a specific MAC address in the following format: 00:50:56:YX:XX:XX, where Y is a hexadecimal digit between 0-3 and X is a hexadecimal digit between 0-F. The static address must be unique per machine for the environment.
- Network: Select the target network for the adapter.
- Inbound Access: Choose how the net adapter can be accessed from the internet:
- Secure Access: Inbound access is available via CloudShare's environment viewer only.
- Public IP: The machine is exposed to the internet with a unique public IP.
- No Access: The machine cannot be accessed via RDP and SSH in the Environment Viewer nor by direct RDP/SSH access. It will be available in the Environment Viewer via the Console interface only.
- Internal IP: The IP address assigned to the net adapter. This IP must be on the network's subnet. The same IP address must also be configured as the net adapter's static IP in the VM's OS.
- Adapter Type: Select the type of net adapter:
- VMXNET3 (Recommended): Select this type for best performance. It requires VMWare Tools.
- E1000: Select this type only if VMWare Tools is not running on the VM.
Troubleshooting: If connectivity or network problems occur - especially for Linux machines - consider using the 'Static' MAC address type.
5. Click Save Changes.
- After configuring the MAC address or changing its state, the machine will be restarted in order to apply the updates.
- For the change to be applied to future environments, take a snapshot.
6. Connect to the VM to configure the adapter in the VM's OS as well. Note the following:
- The adapter's IP address must be a static IP and must be the same as you set in the Internal IP field on the Edit Networks page.
- If you want to ensure remote connectivity via the CloudShare gateway, the adapter's default gateway must either be the IP you assigned to the CloudShare remote access gateway for the network (in the CloudShare Gateway IP field for the network, on the Edit Networks page), or another IP in the subnet. At least one of the VMs in the network should have the CloudShare Gateway IP value set as its default gateway.
Important Tips:
- How to connect to the VM: Even if the VM is not connected to a network or some configuration mismatch has rendered the network unusable, you can connect to it over the console interface. To do that:
- On the Environment Details page, find the VM in the VMs list.
- Hover over the arrow at the right of the View button and select View in Console. The VM opens in the viewer and connects to the VM over Console. You can now make your configuration changes.
To identify the corresponding net adapter in the VM's OS, use the MAC address, which is displayed when you select the net adapter in the Edit Networks page.