For VMware Fusion on MacOS
Add custom domain names and DNS servers in dhcpd.conf
/Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion/networking
Edit this networking file for custom DHCP subnet for the NAT network.
After updating, run the vmnet-cli commands to refresh the dhcpd.conf file.
VMNET_1 is for the Host-only network config.VMNET_8 is for the NAT network config.
% cat /Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion/networking
VERSION=1,0
answer VNET_1_DHCP yes
answer VNET_1_DHCP_CFG_HASH 6F9F0D5B42DF4B1CD96ABA0FAC47C832F734E086
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 172.16.130.0
answer VNET_1_HOSTONLY_UUID E7240614-CDF8-4C68-985E-9EC49AA10A2C
answer VNET_1_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes
answer VNET_8_DHCP yes
answer VNET_8_DHCP_CFG_HASH 952DFC97E625D4EDDB55B21440DCC1FD758EE523
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.255.0
answer VNET_8_HOSTONLY_UUID C1F9A403-6906-4B52-AA3A-19F01BA7B418
answer VNET_8_NAT yes
answer VNET_8_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes
These parameters are not well documented, however examining the strings in the binary, I was able to extract some potential parameters that can be used to automatically configure the dhcpd.conf file.
Add the necessary answer VMNET_8_ infront of it.
Run the vmnet-cli --configure command to regenerate the dhcpd.conf file.
% strings '/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx' | grep -i ^DHCP_ | sort | uniq
DHCP_CFG_HASH
DHCP_PARAM_BROADCAST_ADDR
DHCP_PARAM_DEFAULT_LEASE_TIME
DHCP_PARAM_DNS_ADDR
DHCP_PARAM_DOMAIN_NAME
DHCP_PARAM_LEASE_END_IP
DHCP_PARAM_LEASE_START_IP
DHCP_PARAM_MAX_LEASE_TIME
DHCP_PARAM_NETBIOS
DHCP_PARAM_ROUTERS
DHCP_PARAM_SUB_DEFAULT_LEASE_TIME
DHCP_PARAM_SUB_MAX_LEASE_TIME
DHCP_PROGRAM
Refresh the dhcpd.conf and other files sudo /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmnet-cli --configure
sudo /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmnet-cli --stop
sudo /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmnet-cli --start
Updating the dhcpd.conf for custom DNS servers and other options
The file is located in the subfolder vmnet8.
Update the dhcpd.conf file as necessary. Add customizations after the 'DO NOT MODIFY' section.
This is because when runing the vmnet-cli commands, it will erase any customization within that block.
After update, run the vmnet-cli start and stop commands.
% ls -lha /Library/Preferences/VMware\ Fusion/vmnet8/
total 40
drwxr-xr-x 7 root wheel 224B Apr 8 09:53 .
drwxr-xr-x 8 root wheel 256B Apr 8 09:51 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1.6K Apr 8 09:01 dhcpd.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1.6K Apr 8 09:01 dhcpd.conf.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1.6K Apr 8 09:01 nat.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1.6K Apr 8 09:01 nat.conf.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 18B Apr 8 09:02 nat.mac
