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Added by Rick Trader December 19, 2014

If you are running your virtual machines in an Internal or a Private network and you need to provide them with internet or connectivity to your corporate network there are a couple different solutions.  One solution is to use a virtual machine as a router.  In this blog I will discuss how to configure your host as the solution.

If the Virtual Machines are using an Internal Virtual Network check out this blog on how to configure a NAT on your host machine to provide the access to your corporate network and the internet.

Note:  Before configuring the Virtual Machine to provide network connectivity there are a few networking prerequisites that have to be completed within Hyper-V.

I have not configured any virtual networks  yet.  Figure 1 shows that I only have the host’s physical network card available in Network Connections pane.

Figure 1.

Use the Hyper-V Manager to create an External and a Private virtual networks.  The steps would be the same if using an Internal virtual network.

1. Click on Virtual Switch Manager .

2. With External highlighted click on Create Virtual Switch.
   

3. Replace New Virtual Switch Name your desired name and press OK.
   

4. Click Yes to the Apply Network Changes dialog box.
   

5. Click on Virtual Switch Manager.
   

6. With Private highlighted click on Create Virtual Switch.
   

7. Replace New Virtual Switch Name with your desired name and press OK.
   

8. Network Connections on the host machine will now show 3 network adapter cards.
   

Note that the cards names will include the names you used when you created them in Hyper-V.

Using Hyper-V Manager configure the virtual machines to connect their Network card to the newly created Internal Virtual Network.

Note:  The virtual machine that will be configured as the router must have at least 2 network adapter cards.

1. Select the appropriate Virtual Machine and Click on Settings…
   

2. In the Settings window select Network Adapter in the hardware pane and then select the appropriate network from the drop down Virtual switch menu in the right hand pane and click OK.
   

Configure the Virtual Machines NIC with an IP Address from the Private virtual network.

1. Start the Virtual Machine if Required.
2. Logon to each of the Virtual Machine and configure their IP addresses or allow DHCP to configure them.
3. Using the Properties of the network adapter set an IP Address from the Private network. I will be using 172.16.0.10/24 with Gateway of 172.16.0.1 and a DNS server address of 8.8.8.8.

Configuring the Virtual router.  In my example it will be server 2

1. Select the appropriate Virtual Machine and Click on Settings…
   
   

2. In the Settings window select Network Adapter in the hardware pane and then select the appropriate network from the drop down Virtual switch menu in the right hand pane and click OK. One Network Adapter will we set to External and one to Private.  As seen below.
   

Configure the Virtual Router Computer Private NIC with an IP Address from the Private virtual network.

1. Start and logon to the router.
2. Using the Properties of the network adapter identified as Private, set an IP Address from the Private network. I will be using 172.16.0.1/24 with no Default Gateway or DNS server addresses.
3. If DHCP is not being used on the external network using the Properties of the network adapter identified as External, set an IP Address from the External network.

The computer’s network prerequisites have been completed.  It is now time to configure the router computer to provide connectivity to the corporate network and the internet.

Install Routing and Remote Access on the router computer.

1. Open Server Manager, select Add roles and features.
   

2. On the Before you begin click Next.
3. On the Select installation type, ensure Role-based or feature-based installation is selected, click Next.
4. On the Select destination server, ensure the proper server is selected, click Next.
5. On the Select server roles, select Remote access.
   

6. On the Add Roles and Feature Wizard, click Add Features then click Next.
   

7. On the Select features, click Next.
8. On the Remote Access, click Next.
9. On the Select role services, select Routing, click Next.
10. On the Web Server Role (IIS), click Next.
11. On the Select role services, click Next.
12. On the Confirm installation selections, select Restart the destination server automatically if required, click Yes to prompt, click Install.

WARNING:  Server will restart after installation is complete.

      13. After the server restarts, Logon, on the Installation progress, click Close.

Configuring Routing and Remote Access as a Network Address Translation (NAT) server.

1. Open Server Manager, Select the Tools drop down menu, select Routing and Remote Access.
   
   

2. Right click on the server and select Configure and Enable Routing and Remote Access.
3. On the Welcome screen, click Next.
4. On the Configuration page, select Network address translation (NAT), click Next.
   

5. On the NAT Internet Connection, select which Interface is your external interface (Public), click Next.
   

6. On the Name and Address Translation Service, select I will set up name and address services later, click Next.
   

7. On the Complete the Routing and Remote Access Server Setup Wizard, click Finish.
8. If a prompt appears saying unable to open VPN Ports click OK to acknowledge.
9. Nat is now installed.

Your Virtual Machines now have access to the internet and your corporate network.

Until next time, RIDE SAFE!

Rick Trader
Windows Server Instructor – Interface Technical Training
Phoenix, AZ