Use 2 NICs to separate host from guest VM traffic in vmware

I am using VMware Workstation 12 on a Windows 10 host with two wired nics connected to the same switch. I want my guest VMs to use NAT through nic1 and the host to use nic2. No network traffic from the host should go through nic1 and no network traffic from the guests should go through nic2.

My current config is shown. Vmnet0 is bridged to nic1.

switch <--+ (nic1/vmnet0; VBP) 192.168.1.1 --+
          |                                  |
          |                          (vmnet8; NAT; only VBP) 
          |                                  |
          |                                  +----- All VMs
          |                                 
switch <--+ (nic2; no VBP) 192.168.1.2 -- HOST

VBP = vmware bridge protocol

If I disable one of the nics, all traffic (host and VM) ends up going through the other nic, which is not the desired result. I am not sure how to proceed from here. Are there additional changes in vmware, windows (static routes), or both that I can make for this to work?

UPDATE: Here is the desired result. If I disable nic2 I want the host disconnected from the network, not automatically redirected through nic1. Same for disabling nic1.

switch <--- (nic1/vmnet0; VBP) 192.168.1.1 --+
                                             |
                                    (vmnet8; NAT; only VBP) 
                                             |
                                             +----- All VMs

switch <--- (nic2; no VBP) 192.168.1.2 -- HOST

UPDATE2: I checked the vmware doc. It talks about a virtual switch that gets created through the virtual network editor - is that vmnet0 and/or vmnet8? In the windows host, they both just look like network adapters. I didn't see an explanation for the relationship between vmnet0 and vmnet8.

I checked these related questions but they didn't quite fit my scenario:

isolating guest to a separate internet -- I only have 1 network
2nd network is wireless -- both of my networks are hard-wired
connect laptop to 2nd nic -- all internet access is through one NIC
bridge nic to VM -- no answers plus my host can still connect to internet

cb4

Posted 2015-11-26T04:39:06.400

Reputation: 218

What exactly are you hoping to achieve here? Connecting them via two NICs will have exactly the same effect as connecting them both to the same NIC. – qasdfdsaq – 2015-11-26T13:33:25.650

Is there a particular reason you want NAT? If you can do without NAT, then this is easy using just bridge mode. – qasdfdsaq – 2015-11-26T17:32:13.540

I'd like NAT for the security. How would you suggest just using bridge mode? – cb4 – 2015-11-27T15:39:12.863

In bridge mode, you can bridge the VM network to a specific adapter, and disable IP on the adapter in host Windows. That way Windows cannot communicate through it, if you disable it the VM cannot use the other network. – qasdfdsaq – 2015-11-27T16:45:53.173

Busy finishing a research paper. I'll have time in a few days to test and let you know. – cb4 – 2015-12-01T01:39:32.570

Use 2 NICs to separate host from guest VM traffic in vmware

No answers